Waterwaterwater? How do you do it?

I drink La Croix when I want a fizzy pop. That always gets me by,,

I shoot for 64oz a day, and I find that I do better with an 8oz glass in front of me that I can finish in two or three helpings than a big water bottle that takes forever to empty. I have a bullet journal which I use daily, and I draw 8 little water droplets near the date and fill them in when I empty a glass. It's small but satisfying, and I get my water in! There is also an app I liked, called "Waterlogged", which I used until I created a habit. When I've assimilated myself to 64oz a day, I'll slowly increase the goal.

@kgirlhart Technically coffee and tea dehydrate you, because they contain caffeine. They give you the fluid, but the caffeine works as a diuretic and you pee out much of what you've taken in. In the day to day it's not a huge deal, in normal amounts, but if someone is perennially dehydrated, coffee and tea should not be at the top of the list.

I used to work drawing blood and people would always come in saying they were hydrated because they had coffee or tea, and 10:1 their veins were hiding or rolling from dehydration. But you're right about other foods, especially fruit.

Most of my water is first run through some ground coffee beans or tea leaves, while hot, before drinking. The rest of it I usually drink with some sort of enhancer like Dasani Drops.

Most days I get in 8-10 cups. Sometimes more in the summer, less in the winter.

Remember, when it comes to water. The human body's blood has a ph balance of around 7.3ish to around 7.6. It ranges up/ down, but around those numbers. So make sure your drinking water with a ph balance of that or higher. The higher the better. Anything lower than 7 it starts getting pretty acidic, which isn't good for the body.

I've heard of getting a Gallon jug and using a sharpie to mark how much they need to drink by a selected time during the day

jaedizzle01 wrote: »

I've heard of getting a Gallon jug and using a sharpie to mark how much they need to drink by a selected time during the day

Similar to that. I heard of people numbering their water bottles and drinking and "x" amount of numbers by the end of the day. I guess whatever works

@Songbird1104 Coffee and tea are mild diuretics. Unless you are dehydrated they aren't a problem. My point is that you don't need to worry about trying to drink a gallon of water per day. There is no need to force yourself to drink a certain amount of water each day.

I have a 24 oz bottle which goes everywhere with me. I also keep one gallon bottles all over the house. If I need to fill up, it's right there.

I have 16 oz cup of filtered water (or more) with my morning workout. A 32 oz jug of iced tea made with that same filtered water goes to work with me and comes home empty. And another 16 oz glass of filtered with ice for dinner. There is sometimes additional coffee or tea, but these always happen. I've always been a camel who rarely drank anything at all. It was usually coffee or soda (mostly soda) and I HATED water. Getting a good tabletop filter made a huge difference in my ability to drink it and having something on hand with flavor has made resisting soda possible.

I bought a couple of the 32oz Smart Water bottles and refill them at home. I also bought a few with the sport caps because I think that makes it go down faster. Just like I plan meals, I plan water: 1 bottle by 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 9pm. So that's about 150oz and keeps me full all day long.

Sure, I'm in the bathroom about 25 times a day, but it's a good excuse to get up and move around.

Christine_72 wrote: »

It's winter here and I'm struggling to get down 1.5L of water a day, I do however drink lots of milky cups of tea throughout the day, so I'm still getting in fluid.
I can't drink ice cold water, so I keep mine at room temperature and guzzle as much as I can get down, 2 or 3 times in a row and keep doing that all day. I won't use a straw as I don't want those wrinkles around my mouth that drinking from straws too much can cause.

I'm not the only one! Can't stand cold water unless it's a mist after gardening or running in the sun.

i go up and down about water. kind of fall off the wagon sometimes and then i do struggle with it. but when i'm on, it takes a certain amount of focus but the focus is easier to maintain.

creatine has probably made the biggest single difference to my water habits. idek if it improves my strength/stamina, but i don't care. i know it has this effect on my system where the water i drink seems to actually get into my muscles. i can physically tell the difference, and it's really dramatic. it also means i can also tell when i'm dehydrating because my muscles lose that totally-smooth feeling and start getting gritty and twangy again.

so i might skip water but i never skip creatine. i dilute my dose in a 5-cup container, so that's a basic beginning right there at the beginning of every day. technically, my smoothie takes care of the other 3 cups, but i tend not to count that. i think carrying a 3-cup blender bottle around all the time really helps.

the times when i take bcaa's helps as well. i fill the blender bottle and dump my scoop into it . . . most of it sinks to the bottom, so i set myself this game to drink it down to the residue, refill, drink it down . . . it's like a mental game. i don't think of it as 'drink your water'. it's more like 'get your bcaa's', but the special challenge is not to disturb that residue too much with each successive refill.

tbh, it seems like it takes up to 4 litres of water to really make my body feel like it's at its best. i don't always make it but i shoot as high as i can.

Supposedly research says by the time you're thirsty you're already dehydrated. What I've been doing for a few months now is drink a full cup when I first wake up, do my bathroom business, make my quick breakfasts/lunch to go and have an extra cup during am this, take my 24oz blender bottle and that's with me all day. I'm usually done with that by the time I'm at my destination. By that time I'm takin a bathroom break before really starting work. Refill it and take sips throughout till lunch with whatever snacks I brought with me. Before lunch I'll have a full cup or so befor my first bite and drink all throughout so by time my lunch is over I've had another 3 cups. Then repeat from lunch till gymtime. Gym another blender bottle full staying hydrated then repeat before/during dinner and maybe one last cup during finishing up my night with enough time to use bathroom one more time and I slow down so I'm not waking up in the middle of the night 1-2x to pee. I don't firmly clock this but my general practice. Usually if I feel a little hungry I'll drink a few big gulps or a cup or two of water to see if I am truly hungry, sometimes the water will fix it, especially if you're in a calorie deficit to lose fat or cutting. That's what I do!!

olympicpoledancer wrote: »

How does everyone get all that water in per day? Best practices and tips? Also, do you have a favorite water bottle or method to drink it?

I bought a plastic VOOS water bottle that I keep at my work desk. It's 28.75 oz, so about 3 cups of water. I drink at least 2 bottles a day and one during a workout after work, or 3 if I know I can't make my training that night. Boom, 8-10 cups a day every day. Weekends are a huge challenge, but I'm getting there.

Frankly, the best advice is don't drink anything else. I don't buy soda except for the husband, I don't buy juices at all. I buy almond milk for my cereal in the mornings and alcohol because I like to enjoy a beer in the evenings once or twice a week. But I account for the beer calories and don't make a point to drink all the time. I just drink my water and enjoy being hydrated. Trust me, once you know what your body feels like hydrated, you won't want to drink anything else anyway. Good luck!