Howdy Cat! I tend to agree with Satylite. While I believe in the importance of being well-hydrated, I think sometimes we do aim for too much water. Why not just stick to the traditional 8 x 8oz glasses per day, every day, and see how your bladder feels? From my running days, I've always tried to make sure I have enough fluids. I just monitor my pee, and if it's darker than a pale lemon yellow, I'm not drinking enough. Of course the more you exercise and sweat, the more fluids you need. When I go hiking, I'm always the one labouring under a pack with a 3-litre water bladder - and an extra bottle just in case.
Several years ago I worked at a medical conference where one of the speakers was presenting on incontinence and ostomies. She maintained that the trend towards drinking too much water (at that time she felt 8 glasses was too much) was HARMFUL to the bladder as it distended it too much and put too much pressure on the wrong bits. Her advice: drink when you're thirsty, don't let your urine get dark, and never pass a bathroom without going in to empty your bladder.
I'm convinced that the point of all the water is only partially hydration. It's also to get us off soft drinks (sugar, caffeine, sweetener, carbonation), and to fill us up a little so we feel less hungry. It also gives us something other than food to obsess about
. But too much does deplete your electrolytes which can leave you feeling cr***y and is in fact dangerous in extreme cases.
I don't know if you drink soft drinks. But I seem to remember reading that both carbonated drinks, sweeteners, and caffeine can exacerbate stress/urge incontinence. In my case, I don't know what brings it on, apart from my advanced age
. I think alcohol may be involved (no problem so far since I started the challenges), and I KNOW that jumping on the rebounder (mini-trampoline) is an extremely damp experience for me. (The propaganda claimed that regularly bouncing on it would improve the situation, but as usual I gave up instead and turned it over to the cats as an expensive toy/jungle gym.)
If you really want to drink 96 oz of water per day, have you tried mixing some of it with unsweetened cranberry JUICE (not cocktail)? One half cup of juice to 28 oz water is very refreshing. Also water with some fresh lemon in it is better than plain. Drinking a lot of soup and eating plenty of tomatoes also provides a healthy and easy to take source of water.
Mscat, I'll be back on the week-at-a-time soon. I have a pretty good challenge in mind, one I'll want to try out for a week before I commit to 21 days of it. Take care, and don't be hard on yourself. You're doing a great job, and you're a great support to the rest of us.
Water dilemma
) and the 21 day challenge. I have been successful with other challenges - exercise, tracking my daily weight watchers points, staying under my points, etc. But that darn water is not coming easily. 
to all of you, carla, susanb, laurab, sarahyu,and satylite for your comments and support. I don't drink anything other than water on a daily basis - only a half cup of coffee a day and occassionally a little no sugar sparkling water to spike my water because I am more likely to drink it - don't like plain. Mrs. Fubby - I too have a special bottle with a sipper closure I really like and it helps me a lot.
I do know because of my body type and my health issues (I am on a diuretic so I must replenish) that a certain amount of water is necessary for my personal health and weight loss. I am comfortable with my amounts and many of the tips I received on getting a daily minimum in. I have to work at it in some structured fashion or I will go without any water all day