I need some help with this water thing. I've been on atkins for three months now and am happy with the results so far. I just cant get in to the water part. I know how important it is to drink lots, but I'm not thirsty and can't drink it if I'm not. How do you all drink so much?? I don't drink a lot of anything!! Any tips will help.

Hi Driftide:

When you are thirsty, then you are dehydrated.

I keep water near me all the time. I set min goals for drinking water.

50 oz before lunch and 50 oz before dinner and 20 before bed. This helps alot.

I drink Diet Rite, but only after I have finished my water and try to limit the Diet Rite to 2 a week. This makes the water taste better...

Good Luck.

Dee

Before this way of eating, I did not drink water, period. I drank Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper or Dt Canada Dry Ginger Ale. I hated the taste of water, hated the smell of water. Yuck!

I have a water filter on my kitchen sink - the water tastes OK and the water smells OK. After reading of all the nasty things that the colas have potential of, and how much our bodies need water - I was swayed. I've drank nothing but water since the beginning of February - I took a sip of diet coke - YUCK, didn't want anypart of it.

Once I forced myself to drink, I find myself actually "craving" water.

Did you know that when you are "hungary" that often times your are actually thirsty and a good drink of water will satisfy you?

Hey, thanks guys. I've really got to get this water thing going. Starting today I am going to drink more, maybe lots!!! I usually drink about 16 oz of water with breakfast and I might not drink anything again until 4:00. Thats a typical day for me. I might drink a diet rite or decaf iced tea in the evening and thats it! If I go out for lunch I do get a large water to drink not soda. I dont always get lunch at lunch time, sometimes its 4:00. I will continue to drink as much as I can and maybe I will get the "CRAVE".

I find that if I drink ice cold water it goes down faster. Luke warm/room temp water gives me a tummy ache or makes me slightly nausious. Pretty weird I know.

So you see me refilling water bottles all day with fresh cold water

You may want to add just a slice of fresh lemon or lime to your water to give it a little flavor for the first couple of weeks.

I keep a 1.5 litre bottle of water on my desk - between 8:30 and 11:00 it's gone, then refill, takes me until an hour before I go home (don't want any accidents on the bus) then another 1.5 litres before 8:00 p.m. - after that a diet/caffine free coke for a treat (2 x weekly only). It seems like a lot but if you have the bottle always in front of you, it becomes second nature just to drink it.

I have to drink between 85-95 ounces of water a day, and I like to get it all in before I leave work. I have a 20 ounce glass I use at work that I constantly had to run back & forth to fill, but that got really old really quickly. Instead, I picked up a little 1-gallon plastic Thermos container, marked the 95-ounce line inside with a knife, and I fill this up every morning & keep it at my desk. My goal each day is to have the container empty by the end of the day and it works like a charm.

As for liking it, I can't say that I've fallen in love with water quite yet (I'd rather be downing Diet Rite all day)...but it's not a matter of liking or not liking; it just has to be done if I want to lose weight, so I do it. Simple as that.


-- Nicky

I use to drink Diet Coke all the time, too... Never much water. It wasn't until I was on a well known diet program that I realized the importance of it! I lost 30 lbs and even worked for that company for quiet a while as a weight loss consultant. I've had to totally change my way of thinking about the food group and carbs since then, but I've held on to the belief that water is vital!!! It doesn't matter if you're "dieting" or not, water is so important to our very existence.

I keep a bottle with me all the time, too, and I'm always refilling it throughout the day. After you've gotten use to drinking it all the time, it becomes second nature and you actually crave it.

cindi

I was a faithfull Dt Dr Pepper girl!! Even first thing in the morning!!YUCK!! And now I live for water. I can usually frink 1 liter while on this forum. Between typing..while I am reading I drink and drink and drink. That helps to get it in for me. I usually drink 3-4 liters a day. My skin feels better also fron the water.

i find the more i drink the more i feel like drinking. If i don't drink water for a few days, it's difficult to get going again but if i'm drinking a lot on a regular basis, i don't really notice it's gone until i need to refill my 3 litre container. I usually drink about 4.5 litres a day now.

Deb

I drink 144 oz of water every day...

...and I drink it bottled. The bottles have nothing to do with water "quality" or anything like that. But it's easier for me to keep track of how much I've consumed using the per bottle method.

I drink them cold and at the same time each day. I almost always have water near me, except after 7:30 p.m. or so because I have to get up several times during the night as it is.

For me, the secret to drinking a lot of water:

---water fills me up

---water flushes me out

---water makes my skin look good

---I view each and every emptied bottle as an accomplishment on my road to success!

Drink up!

Donald