I *hate* water...

Then don't drink water. As long as you are consuming liquid, it's the same thing. If you consume calories along with that liquid, well those are still calories. I like water, but I drink more tea than I do water because I like it too and it has antioxidants, so it's a win-win.

My trick is that I have a liter water bottle. It tricks my mind into thinking its much less water than it really is since I only have to drink two of them in order to hit 8 cups. I've already done that and its not even noon yet! I don't mind water now (considering its pretty much all I drink these days) at all but it just seems so daunting when you are thinking about it.

I've done the same thing. It's much easier to drink 1 bottle of water than 4 glasses for some reason. Apparently I have my mums bad habit of drinking nowhere near enough each day so I started off by making myself drink 1 litre a day. Then I upped it to 1 and a half litres a day. Now I'm up to 2 litres a day which works out at the 8 cups a day if I'm not mistaken.

I am really, really weird about water. I only drink certain brands of bottled water because others taste funny. I think Brita-filtered water tastes funny. I can drink the filtered water from my fridge, but only sometimes. I think it's due to the fact that when I was growing up, we had well water that was undrinkable because it had a lot of iron in it (you could smell it, nevermind taste it), so we had an office-style water cooler in our kitchen. (My parents now have city water, so they have gotten rid of the cooler). As a result, I got used to spring water and have a hard time drinking flat water unless I'm really thirsty!

However, I love club soda/seltzer water/sparkling water. They usually have a tiny, tiny bit of sodium of them, but to me it's better to have that tiny amount of sodium with my water than no water. I buy generic seltzer in 2-liter bottles, since that's the cheapest way to go.

I also use Mio from time to time, and occasionally I get a glass of ice water from the fridge and will add a bit of lemon juice. I have heard (but have not confirmed) that lemon juice has a slight diuretic effect and will help your body shed excess water.

Water helps your liver and kidneys function more efficiently and so is believed that a side effect is additional weight loss.

I count my iced green tea! Good Luck it will make a difference in how you feel:)

My trick is that I have a liter water bottle. It tricks my mind into thinking its much less water than it really is since I only have to drink two of them in order to hit 8 cups. I've already done that and its not even noon yet! I don't mind water now (considering its pretty much all I drink these days) at all but it just seems so daunting when you are thinking about it.

I've done the same thing. It's much easier to drink 1 bottle of water than 4 glasses for some reason. Apparently I have my mums bad habit of drinking nowhere near enough each day so I started off by making myself drink 1 litre a day. Then I upped it to 1 and a half litres a day. Now I'm up to 2 litres a day which works out at the 8 cups a day if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah a liter is something like 4.2 cups of water, I usually end up drinking something like 12 cups a day because of the water bottle lol

Have you tried vitamin water, tastes like powerade/gatorade to me!

There's 8 teaspoons of sugar in a bottle of vitamin water - really not a healthy drink at all.

I really used to hate the taste of water too. At first I had to have it REALLY cold to be able to tolerate it... but it only took a few weeks or making myself drink it to get to the point where I don't hate it anymore. I wouldn't say I like it anymore, but it's okay now, as long as it's cold. I still can't stand warm/tepid water. I fill up a big cup several times a day and just keep drinking it at my desk all day. It's something to do, keeps me full, and of course, water is good for you.

Just make sure you take a multi-vitamin if you are going to drink a lot of water. Otherwise you may be down on nutrients you really need.

A couple of days ago someone posted a link to an article that explained all this better than I can and if I find it again, I'll post it here.

Good luck all.
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Found the link -- http://www.experiencelifemag.com/issues/june-2010/health-wellness/drink-to-your-health.html

Here's my trick: I ordered some really wide diameter drinking straws off the internet. I'm talking about the really wide ones. They make it easy to gulp down large quantities in just a few pulls from the straw. It sounds silly but it really has worked for me.

You should drink more water than any other type of liquids (at least 90% of the day)...

It just takes time to get used to. Sooner or later, you'll get the hang of it. No worries.

Since I had a habit of drinking water, all day, since my Army days (since basic training in 1995), I can't stand to drink more than 1 soda a day or anything with caffeine more than 1 time a day...EWWW! to me. Sometimes, I can't even drink the whole can, that I can't stand the taste after a while.

So, I LOVE water. It is my first choice. I quit buying soda years ago because it is so easy to go to when your thirsty and its cold in the fridge. So first, stop buying it

I need to practice what I preach but heres what helps me. I have a big cooler jug, I think I got it at walmart that has a lid and a straw. Try filling it up with ice and then water. I will drink a lot more water when it is ICE COLD. Yum.

When I don't have that, I take my plastic water bottle and put it in the freezer for about a half hour or an hour so the edges freeze. Then I crush the bottle so there is ice floating and again, I actually drink more that way. This is the easy way when your at work all day.

Maybe I am crazy LOL but I love ice water and find that I consume more when it is good and cold.

Hope this helps!

I do the same thing! I use a travel mug filled with ice/water. It keeps the ice from melting for hours so I can just keep refilling it with water. If I don't have my mug for some reason then I freeze the water bottle and drink it that way.

i NEVER drank water for years, hated it, it made me gag. I couldnt even take a mouthful to take medication. I especially hated it out of glasses, I'd obsess there was dust in it and nasty floating things! I thought it had a nasty taste, and i was so into sugar id rather have pop or tea. When i did a placement at a summer camp in USA, i couldnt drink the water there, so I lived on mountain dew and milk (hence the stone I gained over summer 2009!).

Ive only recently got into water. I like it really fresh and cold. After I started taking up exercise, i found it easier as I was so thirsty I would drink anything. I also started off with sugar free squash/cordial and you can just make it weaker and weaker until you wean yourself off it.

I dont drink nowhere near 8 glasses a day, one or 2 if im lucky, maybe a bit more if im working out. I find having a plastic bottle with me is handy. But sugar free squash shouldn't make too much of a difference, and you can drink lots of it (within reason) in different flavours.

Sorry folks, but there is absolutely no substitute for plain water. All other drinks that people use as water substitutes (coffee, tea, flavors, sparkling water, seltzer/soda waters, etc, etc) contain something that inhibits the absorption of whatever water it contains into the blood stream meaning it never reaches the cellular level where it's most needed.

The only acceptable exception is fruits and vegetables with a very high water content (watermelon, cucumber, etc). From what I've read, if you absolutely must flavor water, it's best to use the juice from a fresh lemon, lime, or orange.

Water does enable proper kidney and liver function as someone else wrote, but if it isn't absorbed into the blood stream you can't reap the many other benefits - such as lowered blood pressure, improved digestion and metabolism, etc.

A couple of days ago someone posted a link to an article that explained all this better than I can and if I find it again, I'll post it here.

Good luck all.

Sparkling water/seltzer/club soda without flavoring is not a "water substitute." It is water with CO2 and a trace amount of sodium added. To quote the very article you quoted, "if you’re looking for a pick-me-up, try sparkling water with a squeeze of citrus."