Drinking Water

[ShirleyL]

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here.

Been LC for three weeks now. Began because I wasn't feeling good at all - tired, sluggish, moody, didn't sleep well at night. Totally different now - amazing! (And I've lost 10 pounds to boot!)

What do you guys do to get yourselves to drink so much water? I've always struggled with this, and I know it's important. But so far can't come anywhere near 8- 8 oz glasses of water a day.

Open to suggestions.....

Thanks for having such a great forum! Incredible support!

Shirley
Florida

[TJensen441]

Sometimes I have the same challange but I just slam it.

[doreen T]

Fran McCullough, in her latest book "Living Low-Carb" offers these tips, and they work ... Start the minute you get up, with two 8-oz glasses, and have another glass before breakfast (assuming the shower/bath/grooming regimen happening here). All this water should have run through your system within 90 minutes, or before you leave the house ... if you get up in time. Do the same thing at noon -- three glasses -- within 30 minutes. Between 5 and 6 p.m. have two more glasses. If you drink your water too late in the evening, your automatic overnight antidiuretic mechanism will kick in, and you'll keep that water locked in for a very long time.Personally, I have no overnight antidiuretic mechanism, and there is often a struggle as to what gets out of bed first, my foot or my bladder .. :eek: .. That being said, she does have a point that it's best to consume more water during the day when you're up and active, so it flushes through your system quickly ... as opposed to drinking liters of water in the evening when you're slowing down and at rest.

Maybe this will help you. I was never a big water drinker either ... but I just made myself do it, now I drink 2 to 3 liters daily with no problem, often more. If taste is a problem, why not get a Brita or other water filter system?? It will make your tea and coffee taste better too .. ;)

Doreen

[ShirleyL]

I tried the old "add a lemon slice to the water" yesterday, and lo and behold, I was able to drink LOTS!

As I'm just up now, off to drink a couple 8 oz glasses now! Hopefully my long commute to work won't be affected.... um..... LOL!

Have a good day, everyone!

Shirley
Florida

[Bonnie]

The trick for me is to keep a pitcher of cold water in the frig at all times... when one opens the door to grab something cold to drink... there is that pitcher of water staring me in the face... another trick I have found to be successful for me especially in hot weather is freeze several small bottles of water and then when out and about in the heat you have nice ice cold water to drink..

:) Bonnie

[dalene]

What works for me (and I hate drinking water) is to drink it out of a 16 ounce styrofoam glass WITH a straw.

The longer you are eliminating carbs the thirstier you get naturally also so if the water is there you will drink it. Just keep the glass full! ;)

[Lexy23]

I freeze lots of bottles of spring water. If I'm at home I leave one in just about every room I am active in. If I'm at work, I leave it in a convienient area, (out on the desk, in the cafiteria, or some place you tend to walk by several times.) Any way, as the day proceeds, the ice melts, leaving you a very appitizing bottle of ice cold water, where ever you rome. How can you turn that down?;)

[debbiedobson]

we have britta filter water in the fridge, so cold water is always on hand. at work i have a 1&1/2 litre bottle that i keep in the ice chest, so it's always freezy! i also top it up from our water cooler at work. 1 drink 5-6 litres a day. i slow down my water compsumtion in the evening! after dinner i only have about 1 glass an hour. i go to bed at 9:00 so that's only 3 glasses. i just get up once in the night, but i've done that for as long as i can remember. during the day, your body gets used to the extra fluid intake and you eventually won't have as many ladies room visits!:D

[lteaney]

I too am not a big water drinker. When I started low carbing 3 weeks ago, I thought I would die without my Diet Coke. Now, I can say that water isn't so bad. In fact, I actually find myself craving water. My best advice is keep it cold and readily available. I can say from my experience that this once thought "impossible hurdle" is very liveable. Good luck!

Lucinda

[fiona]

:) We are having a hot spell here and the water is going down a treat. Yesterday I downed 4 litres and 2 pots of tea easy.

I make an effort to fill (from the Britta Water Filter) 3 litre bottles: one near the computer, one on the desk and one wherever I am sitting next. It has become such a habit to reach out, take a swig that the only time I consciously notice is when the bottle is empty ! :D

<If you drink your water too late in the evening, your automatic overnight antidiuretic mechanism will kick in> Doesn't seem to work for me. Getting up and going to the WC at 2am is also a new habit so well ingrained that I now sometimes do it without switching on the light so that I don't wake myself up ! ... well not awake enough to have trouble dropping off again.

The slice of lemon is a good idea which I will start tomorrow.
Take care.

[fiona]

If you drink your water too late in the evening, your automatic overnight antidiuretic mechanism will kick in,..

Why do I often have a problem when inserting a quote? That should have gone after the second paragraph in my previous message.

[bluugirl]

perhaps the key to drinking alot of water, is first of all to train your mind that you are going to start drinking water constantly (i used to always forget or put it on my low priority list)...
secondly, i buy 1.5litre bottles and take several sips several times an hour. I prefer this 'little at a time' method. Before you know it, by the end of the day, you've drank 3/4 of it!. This is what i've started doing recently at work. water is so beneficial!

[Lessara]

I was a not much of water drinker myself. But by accident I found out that I can drink a half a liter at a time if the water isn't cold.
For some reason my somach likes that. Anyone else like that? :daze:
Oh, Beware of H20 Water! It has sucrolose in it to sweeten it.
I was drinking it three to four times a week and it made me gain weight! or Water! (I still can't tell the difference). I think my body is sensitive to artifical sweetners so its just water for me. I haven't tried it with a lemon slice in it.. I wonder if lime would be good... :spin:
I use a 1 liter bottle with I refill three times.. today it will be 4.. (big dinner last night, all LC though) Is it true you can drink too much? :confused:

[dwala]

Idea One: As I was reading your post I was eating a porkchop I had peppered heavily. The pepper had me reaching for water and wanting to drink several long swallows even though I don't need more water today.

My thought then is: if self-discipline (that fickle wench) isn't working and you know you need to increase your water consumption, could you make yourself desire it by heating up your mouth a bit?

...

Idea Two: Pretend you have a little monster inside your tummy that eats away your fat, and he breathes water. If you fail to drink enough, he'll starve, and quit gobbling up your fat. Name him and talk to him. When you've had enough and can't stand the idea anymore, you can yell at him. "Do you see what I go through for you?" When you're feeling great you can thank him for helping you. If you decide to cheat, you can look guilt directly in the eye and blame your inner monster.
:devil:

[Natrushka]

Originally posted by dwala
Idea Two: Pretend you have a little monster inside your tummy that eats away your fat, and he breathes water. If you fail to drink enough, he'll starve, and quit gobbling up your fat. Name him and talk to him. When you've had enough and can't stand the idea anymore, you can yell at him. "Do you see what I go through for you?" When you're feeling great you can thank him for helping you. If you decide to cheat, you can look guilt directly in the eye and blame your inner monster.
:devil:

LMAO

What do you call your monster? Ever thought about a career writing childrens' books?

Nat

[jesdorka]

i always drank litres of diet coke and no water. when i started LCing almost 2 yrs ago i didn't think i could give up the coke and drink water but i KNEW i had to so i devised a plan. 1st thing in the am i HAVE to drink 4 8oz glasses of water b4 i can have my coffee. then i fill the brita jug and leave it on the counter so it reminds me it has to be emptied and refilled. to replace the coke i found that carbonated spring water did the trick. a 2 litre bottle fills 6 small bottles and i drink 12 of these through the day the same way i used to drink coke, this way it's cheap and portable and i usually end up having 5-6 litres a day. at the end of the day i MUST reach my quota and enter the amt on the calender for all to see. (mind games!)

[dwala]

Originally posted by Natrushka
LMAO

What do you call your monster? Ever thought about a career writing childrens' books?I have named my inner monster "nawhooshka" in honor of you and your tremendous contributions to this forum.

If you hear me yelling, "Shut up, nawhooska!" don't take it personally.

[Natrushka]

Originally posted by dwala
I have named my inner monster "nawhooshka" in honor of you and your tremendous contributions to this forum.

If you hear me yelling, "Shut up, nawhooska!" don't take it personally.

:devil: I have always named things "George" (bruises, bumps but mostly the occaisional zit).

I do hope your monster will listen to you, your choice of christenings leads me to think otherwise ;)

Nat

[dwala]

My inner monster, being a reflection of my inner self, will CERTAINLY have a serious problem with being told what to do.

In early alternative education, we were graded on things such as cooperation, taking direction, yada yada. I always had "needs improvement" in the "follows instructions" category—and I wouldn't have it any other way.

:read2:
"Get this 'grade' up, Dwala, or we'll put you in REGULAR school!"

[dwala]

On a serious note again:

I'm eating the other over-peppered pork chop I baked last night, and in the course of it, i've consumed 44 oz. of water. I just had to get another glass to put the fire in my mouth out. I won't be suprised if i go through 66 ounces on this pork chop alone.

This is very effective for me! Somebody else please try it and tell me if it works for you!

I think I'm the great idea lady now.

:idea:

[itsjoyful]

;) [i]
I think I'm the great idea lady now.

:idea: [/B]


NOW?? You just came upon this gift?? See what wonders LCing has done for you.

But seriously, I did over pepper some chicken, and I had about 20 oz of water w/ it.

Keep it comming, dwala, you crack me up ;)

[Gemini]

Yes, it is possible to drink too much water, believe it or not!

People can overdose on water. Sometimes patients admitted to psych units will drink excessive amounts of water to reach a feeling of "altered consciousness" (sort of a "high").

It's not recommended that we try this, however. It's actually quite dangerous. Not only does it mess up our body's electrolytes & chemical balance, but our brains are quite the water sponge, and will absorb some of the excess water... Unfortunately, our brains don't have anywhere to expand to after absorbing the water (due to our skulls)... :)

So while it's good to drink lots of water while LC eating, we shouldn't go way overboard, either. (In other words, we shouldn't start drinking 3 or 4 gallons a day! LOL! :daze: )

(and no, I'm not a medical doctor or anything, this is just stuff I've read about...)

Gem <who gulps a few more ounces of water, grateful for this discussion, which has reminded her of the importance of drinking water> :D

[Holly]

Gemini:

Your post reminded me of something I learned when I worked in a coffee store.

Apparently you can commit suicide by drinking too much coffee, I cant remember the actual amount but it was something like 250 cups in one hour. I remember thinking that one would explode from the amount of liquid before the caffeine would kill you. They said it wasnt a popular method of suicide for this reason.

Just my 2 cents

Holly

[cmteodosio]

It you have a hard time drinking water, try drinking it from a straw. It goes down much easier. Also, try to find the largest mug you can (7 eleven big gulp 53oz.) fill in the morning and start drinking it all day. I've found this much easier. Hope this helps. :sunny:

[Ka3n]

>>Apparently you can commit suicide by drinking too much coffee, I cant remember the actual amount but it was something like 250 cups in one hour. I remember thinking that one would explode from the amount of liquid before the caffeine would kill you. They said it wasnt a popular method of suicide for this reason. <<
Holly, didn't you say that you're a nurse in another post? Can you imagine that much coffee, or 250 cups of anything! :daze: UGh. Now wait a minute...250 cups of chocolate, now there's a suicide attempt... joking of course! ;)

I don't count my cups of coffee as water since it has a diuretic effect. Do you count things other than water towards your daily water?

[mum's girl]

I bought a 32 ounce Rubbermaid bottle at Walmart. The top is a screw off lid. It has a built in straw that extends to the very bottom of the bottle. It has a flip-up top that you drink from. When closed properly the whole thing will not leak. It is perfect. You can either squeeze the water or suck it out. You are in control of how much comes out at one time. No hassle with screwing lids off and on (except to fill) no tilting your head way back to get a drink--it's perfect!

All this said, I must mention that I ALMOST NEVER drank water before starting LC. So this is quite a feat for me! I'm going to get one or two more. I drink one before noon--my goal. One before dinner time rolls around and one before seven or eight in the evening. This schedule is working for me. I'm the person who hated to drink water but realizes it's necessity! Once you come to the realization that drinking it is a KEY component in the amount of success you can achieve, perhaps it will go down a little easier.

Now, If I can just get the exercising thing straightened out in my head, maybe I'll see some results!

Hang in there!
mg

[gecolon]

Dwala :wave: :) ;)

I have decided to name my inner monster ADONIS. Poor Adonis. I know he is hungry cuz mommy has been a bad girl. She has been neglecting him and not feeding him propperly.:)

[LindaC6724]

Hi Shirley, my name is Linda

I had the same problem also. My suggestion to you, is just buy a large glass that holds at least 16 ounces, and fill it up:

As soon as you feet hits the floor in the AM

Mid morning drink another

Lunch

Mid Afternoon

Dinner (don't drink after 10) or you will be up all night...until your body gets use to it.

The trick is to get at least 56 to 64 ounces per day. If you can get 48 ounces in, then you give yourself at least 2 weeks to work up to 64 ounces (you know, like a liter of Coke/Pepsi).

You can put a twist of Lemon in your water, if you don't like the taste of plain water. :wave:

Hope that this helps you. If you need any more information that I might can help you with don't hesitate to contact me at LindaC6724~aol.com

Have a good low carb day.

[Lessara]

I found if you drink a liter of water before going to work, you tend to want to drink more water during the day. My two cents :p

[Ageless]

Hello. My name is Adrielle, and I'm a bloater. :(

With that said...if I drink too much water, or in this case the necessary amount, I bloat.

A while back I found a natural way to get rid of the bloat:

One cup hot water + juice of one lemon + sweetener.

It will make you pee like a racehorse for about and hour or so...but those jeans and rings feel a whole lot better!
Just my $0.02


:wave:

[mary71]

I take one of those coffee mugs (the ones you can put in your car) and I fill it halfway with ice and the rest with water and I can drink like that all day long.
--mary :wave:

[madpiano]

Hiya

I have the same problem. I have tried all tricks and ideas, but I still don't drink enough water. I am usually fine for a couple of days, then I forget, or I am out and about ( I don't take water with me when shopping. McDonald's Toilets are disgusting :rolleyes: ), and without noticing, I am back to 0 water again. Yes, that is 0 :exclm: . I end up drinking about 10 cups of coffee, but no water or other drinks. I can go for days without drinking water :( .

I know I have to change it, and as I am now officially back on this WOL (after a last meal of pasta tonight), I will make the effort tomorrow to drink my 8 glasses of water. :yum:

I have noticed, that after a couple of days of struggle to drink enough, I automatically crave water, and it just comes easy. It usually takes about a week. Now I just have to work on my aversion to McDonald's Toilets :p as x-mas shopping is coming up.

Good luck
Sabine

[gecolon]

I def. agree with you madpiano. The more water I drink the more I crave it. Your right within a couple of days [of drinking enough water] I develop cotton mouth. It feels so good to know that you are doing something so good for your body, but like you I some how end up drinking less and less. So I'm trying to drink at least 100oz (I need to drink around 140oz). Today so far I'm at 64 :)

[Sh'ra]

The best way I've found to drink enough water is to make sure my food isn't bland. I LOVE spicy food, from jalapenos to tobasco to louisiana hot sauce. Just find spicy things you like (that are low or no-carb) and add zing to the meat. A favorite way of mine to roast chicken is to gently lift up the skin and stuff butter under there, pulling the skin back over the chicken, then spice it up with garlic salt and cayenne pepper.

If it's spicy, you'll drink water unconsciously to put out the fire :D

Sh'ra

[gecolon]

You are so right sh'ra! I love hot things. I made this turkey dish (with the leftovers from ThanksGiving). I took strips of the turkey breast, strips of Hot green peppers, chopped mushrooms, some chopped onion, and layered them in a casserole, then I microwaved some sour creme, creme cheese and heavy creme (to blend), then I top the turkey mixture with the creme cheese mixture and topped with shredded cheddar. I baked the mixture for 40 min ~350

This was soooooooooooo good. I felt bad for eating it (psych):)

[Meeker]

Try different brands of water.

I only like reverse osmosis water. I hate ground water, and spring water is often worse, and we won't talk about river project water.... Luckly RO water is cheaper than spring water.
My new job has bottled spring water and I thought I'd drink it and save some money. It tasted ok, but when it comes down to it, I only drank .5 liters a day that week. Yesterday I brought in my RO gallon, and it's gone today and I want more....

[gecolon]

Only thing is that you have to be careful with bottled water. What ever they use to filter it can lead to kidney stones. I used to buy bottled water all of the time. I started having pains in my back, because I was developing kidney stones. My Dr asked if I drank a lot of soda? (no), do you drink bottled water? (yes) "well then stop".

[Meeker]

Cool. Another reason to drink reverse osmosis water. It doesn't use a filter.
The river water here is so hard that I've heard stones are a big problem if you drink tap water. It leaves a nasty white film on everything it touches. I'm not drinking it. I can barely stand to brush my teeth with it.

[gecolon]

I don't remember if he said spring water, but that was what I was drinking. I now use a Brita filter with no problems.

[Meeker]

You replied while I was rewriting my post...what are the odds?

[jenny32]

i drink all i can glass after glass .....good luck :thup:

[Schwarz]

I have always struggled to get my water intake up. I didn't like the taste (or rather, the tastelessness) of water, neither did I like how cold water made me feel cold :mad: (I have hypothyroidism). It was about a year ago that I tried heating my glass of water up in my microwave. I was surprised how a couple days of warm (warmer than room temp but not so hot as to have to sip it) grew on me. As far as the taste ...I can handle it better warm than cold.

[FavreFan04]

I have the same problem as you! I used to find it so difficult to get the recommended dose of water a day, but then I found an easy way to constantly drink GOOD tasting water. Go out to the store and pick up a Brita Water Bottle. It has a filter built in to the cap and makes the water taste great. It's wonderful for exercising, work, or just lounging around the house. Also, I find it easier to drink more water when it is at room temperature instead of ice cold. Best of luck to you! :daizy:

[u28rt59]

I drink all of my water at room temp. It goes down a lot faster that way.

[odd sock]

I have a guilty confession with water...
I am a Lurisia addict!

Lurisia is a non carbonated bottled mineral water from Italy that, to me, tastes like drinking air. I buy cases of it... my indulgence!
When I want something with a bit more oomph, I drink San Pelligrino (sparkling) which is heavy on the mineral side.

Try different water types and filtrations!

[tonytiger]

I had the same trouble with water too.. I could hardly drink it..

Until I found that municipal water was the culprit, it had a weird flavor, once I first tasted my first bottle of store bought water it was so so different!

now my body craves water all day long... so first I was buying those half liter bottles for about 4 pesos (about .70 US) then I found that buying the 1.5 liter bottles was cheaper at about 7 pesos (.90 US) but the real kick came when I discovered the way huge 20 liter bottle would cost me only 17 pesos (about $2 US) so you can bet now I buy by the case... haha!

So I just refill my 1.5 litter bottle everytime and put it in the refrigerator... I take it out when I am working at the computer and start drinking and drinking and about 30 minutes later I noticed I just drank 1.5 in a sitting!

I noticed that this way I can take like 3 liters or so in a sitting... and now my water consumption has increased from 0 to 5 liters a day in a matter of 3 weeks, so my suggestion:

just drink water without thinking: eeesh! I got to drink that! like the nike ads say: just do it!

I bet you will adjust easily!

See you later!
Antonio

[juicyjacki]

i was wondering if anyone had any insights into sparkling mineral water? Has anyone had any problems with it yet? I am thinking of switching this over as it might be a bit more interesting taht plain old tap water.

I read somewhere in the forum that some people stalled on decaff diet coke because of the citric acid - has anyone had a problem with water being carbonated?

I am one of those people that goes through fazes of I will drink loads of water and then will forget for a couple of days. I try to stick to a rule that my Doctor gave me when I had a kidney infection - If your wee is clear - then you are drinking enough (admit it - we all look in the bowl to make sure we are ok!). If there is any colour at all - go drink

[odd sock]

hee hee hee!

As for sparkling mineral water, I don't think that it should have citric acid in it, especially if it is natural. Compare labels and tastes.

gecolon says something about kidney stones, but couldn't find anything on it when researching. Is it a particular filtering process, gecolon? The only things that came up were the prevention of the stones by drinking lots of water.

[Vonnovich]

I have trouble drinking cold water except in little sips, but I can down 2 large glasses of warm water no problem. So I stand at the sink and guzzel, several times a day. I plan this around the bathroom availability ie 30 minutes before leaving the house!! :daze:

[Schwarz]

Kinda nice to know that I'm not the only one that prefers warm water to cold water. I had thought I was a strange one ...now I know I'm not so strange afterall.
:wiggle:
Warm [or even semi-hot] water is actually a great appetite inhibitor. I found it works better than drinking the water cold. I used to be teased that only seniors drink hot water to keep themselves regular. Well, that may be so [I don't need any help in that area], but I'm not a senior and I find drinking warm/hot water has more benefits than just keeping a person regular.

[lyttlefish]

I connect with your comment on warm water or room temperature water
it is much easier fo rme to consume this as well
I also like hot water with nothing in it
my mom showed me a great idea a few years back when she had several kidney stones crushed and was required to drink a lot of water...... 14 glasses a day
she would put 14 pennies on the table and as she passed that table during the day and saw the pennies she would have a glass of water then move the penny for that glass over to the other side of the table
as soon as all the pennies were over to the other side she knew she had completed her water drinking requirements for the day.
thanks for all the great ideas in this thread
<')))><

[phat]

I have been a room temp water chick my whole life. Only in the summer do I like "refrigerator water" with ice.

For more than a decade, I had vehicles with no a/c, so it's long been a habit that I have one or two bottles half full of water in the freezer that I can add to, in order to take with me in the car. So I always drink water like crazy when driving when hot.

With my shift to this, I've begun ordering club soda in bars. I ask for a couple different kinds of fruit if they've got it. I realized, I *can* forego beer and diet sodas with this stuff . . . it's the bubbles I love! Read labels; there are brands out there boasting no sodium. Club soda is keeping this thing very tolerable! It's wild to find I'm buying more club soda than I ever did beer, and it's so easy to grab one from the fridge if I'm on my way somewhere.

:)

[mbschlgr]

I was never a water drinker, but since we put in a water filter and it removes everything from the water, it actually tastes good! So now it is either bottled water or from my house.

Since I started drinking it, I am now naturally thirsty, and some days can't get enough... I usually have consumed at least 40 ounces before noon.

So drink up and your natural thirst will kick in!!