Thanks everyone for all the replies. It has really helped me....not only to realize that I really do need to increase my intake, but how to do it.
Before I started this journey, I rarely drank any water at all, unless it was the summer time. During the summer I drink alot of water, but when the cold temperatures move in, it seems my water consumption goes down!

In the few days since I started, I have increased it so that I am drinking about 3 bottles of water a day. And for me thats alot.
For now, until I can keep drinking the water on a regular basis, I will probably add something to it to make it a little more appetizing!

Somewhere in my head I knew it was important, but actually practicing it is something completely different!!

This seems to be an urban myth, too. I'm not sure there's any evidence that caffeinated drinks have a net negative effect on hydration. (I'd love to see some research if anyone knows it)

In fact, recent research suggests that caffeinated beverages do NOT significantly affect our hydration.

The article I linked to discusses an experiment in which men were given beverages with various levels of caffeine. Later, hydration was examined. There was no difference in the hydration levels for those who had caffeinated beverages and those who had not.

Here's a link to the abstract to THAT article, which appeared in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in 2000. http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abst...e2=tf_ipsecsha

The conclusion of this research is that: "advising people to disregard caffeinated beverages as part of the daily fluid intake is not substantiated by the results of this study". In other words, they found no evidence that caffeine significantly dehydrates us.

I got curious about the effects of caffeine on hydration, and did a further literature search to see what the researchers have found.

An article from the Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics in DEC 2003 looks to be a good review, examining all the relevant literature from 1966-2002.
The link to the abstract is here: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/lin...X.2003.00477.x

They conclude the following:

"The available literature suggests that acute ingestion of caffeine in large doses (at least 250–300 mg, equivalent to the amount found in 2–3 cups of coffee or 5–8 cups of tea) results in a short-term stimulation of urine output in individuals who have been deprived of caffeine for a period of days or weeks. A profound tolerance to the diuretic and other effects of caffeine develops, however, and the actions are much diminished in individuals who regularly consume tea or coffee. Doses of caffeine equivalent to the amount normally found in standard servings of tea, coffee and carbonated soft drinks appear to have no diuretic action."

In other words, drinking caffeinated beverages does NOT result in dehydration, except for a short term effect in people who do not regularly drink it.

Wyllen, I'm not saying that your research is wrong, this is going on my own personal experience. I'm a long term tea and coffee drinker. When I drink only coffee (4+ cups a day) and don't drink much water, I generally pee more and feel dehydrated. When I don't drink much coffee (1 cup a day) and drink lots of water, sure I still pee a lot due to the water but I feel refreshed, vitalised, more energy. So based on my personal experience, I have to disagree with your findings, sorry.

I do get frustrated at times with this water debate. I feel there are two camps who are constantly rebuffing each other. It also bugs the heck out of me when I hear someone telling me what I am doing is the "wrong" thing when I know that it's been working for me for as long as I've been doing it . Which probably explains if I have come across as a little feisty.

This is the same thing I've been taught. All fluids count, even ones with caffeine in them.

Julie

That could be a reaction to the caffeine that has nothing to do with its diuretic effects.

When I'm at work, I drink black tea, getting an extra 20-40 ounces of fluid on those days. On workdays, I am demonstrably better hydrated than on days I don't go to work.

That doesn't mean that everyone should drink lots of black tea. It's what works for me, so I'm the only one I'm talking about.

Julie

Hmm. That whole caffefine and dehydration thing is interesting. I swaer I saw some research somewhere that said otherwise, but may that was just some random thing which morphed itself into being research in my head over time. :P It's also interesting that caffefine has a more dehydrating effect on people who haven't had it in a long time - come to think of it, they only times I've felt dehydrated after coffee is when I've gone without for a while.

The best rule I ever heard for water is...if your pee is the color (on average) of weak lemonade you are fine, if it is darker than that you need more water.

Lynne -- By all means, I am not trying to say what you are doing is wrong. I initially responded to BarrieMomof2, who commented on the amount of water she "should" be drinking. I think many of us hear "water and only water" and feel guilty for not drinking enough of it.

Julie -- All that black tea may be good for you -- black and green teas are supposed to have excellent benefits (check out the "Superfoods Rx" book for more research on the topic.)

A number of people are commenting on the color of our urine telling us if we're dehydrated. That original article I linked to discussed this issue as well, also calling it a myth. I don't know much about it myself, but those researchers concluded that "the warning that dark urine reflects dehydration is alarmist and false in most instances." You could check out the original article for more info.
http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/pdf/8x8.pdf

HUGE debate! I think that advising 8 -10 glasses of water each day is an easy way to make someone think that they are indeed doing SOMETHING about their weight! I personally am concerned about my uric acid levels (high levels are associated with gout!!! And I'm far too young to have a gouty toe!!!) and my physician recommended increasing my water intake. Also, a nicely hydrated person has nice full veins! Your blood volume often depends on your hydration level, and my MD recommended that 12 hours before having bloodwork done, I should really drink alot of water as it makes it easier to draw blood. As a result of this advice, it occurred to me that higher hydration levels might make it easier to pump your blood through your system. Result? I drink lots of water. Wyllenn does have a good point, though - the question is "Does it have to be straight water? Does coffee count? Tea???" I think it might be a combo of diet marketing, diet DRINK marketing (sorry, Crystal-lite!), and "work of mouth" (urban legend territory?). I know my diet group leader said that to determine the amount of water you need, you should divide your weight by two. That equals the number of ounces you must drink each day. Divide this number by 8 to get the number of glasses you need. Round the number UP if it is not a whole number. Unless I can find a job I can do from the bathroom, I'll pass on that particular recommendation!!!

Freiamaya brings up an excellent, excellent point. One of the ways to ward off an attack of gout is to drink a lot of water. Many of us here, myself included, are on high protein diets - okay here's another debate - which is directly linked to gout.

My WW leader gave us the same formula for calculating our water intake (your weight, divided by two, and that's how many ounces you drink). I am all about the water, and I know when I stay on top of drinking all day, I DO lose weight faster, but dude... that much water? I would start having tides.

My husband has gone hiking on the Appalachian Trail (stupid skinny husband), and he drank the same amount of ounces every day to keep himself hydrated that _I_ was trying to drink to lose weight. That's with a full pack and a whole lot of exertion. So I don't know if little old me needs that much, really, but I do know that I sure feel better when I drink it! I try to get two or three liters in, depending on whether I've gone to the gym or not that day.

And in answer to BarrieMomof2's original question - the only way I can get my water in is to just keep a full bottle sitting next to me all day. If I do that, I don't even think about it and it gets drank. If I don't carry it around with me, I forget, and then I end up chugging at the end of the day and waking up a million times a night to pee.

And that just annoys the cat. So we can't have that.

Thanks for that! I love it!

To answer the original question, I used to hate water and would never drink it. When I stopped drinking sweet tea and found that diet sodas made me swell horribly, I started drinking water. I'm also a coffee addict and could go all 9 hours at work and have nothing at all to drink other than coffee. Now, when I get a cup of coffee, I get a cup of water. I don't allow myself to drink any of the coffee until the water is gone. It hasn't reduced my coffee intake (but I haven't tried to - I like coffee), but I drink water throughout the day. In the evenings, I only drink water. I have a filtered water dispenser in my fridge so it's very convenient. My husband, on the other hand, drinks little "straight" water, but drinks Crystal Light almost exclusively.

Good luck!