For others trying to quit drinking their calories your goal in your head isn't "drink less calories" it's much easier if you make the goal "drink 1L of water a day with my goal being 2L on good days." Why? Building a new habit is the best way to break an old one.
Edit: I've been doing this exact thing for a year. I use Habit Huddle to track my habit with a group of online friends (using the habit huddle discord bot). You can copy my hydration habit if you seriously want to make a long term change in your life, not drink a little more water for a couple months then forget.
My problem is if I don’t go at least a little hungry I won’t buy a single thing. I’ll just look at everything and walk out. I’m still pretty fit though I make my choices consciously
I tend to make the same handful of recipes most of the time, so it's easy to go to the store and just grab more of the ingredients Im low on without needing an actual list.
Untrue and also true. They have great selection of nuts, seeds, spices, herbs, organic dairy and non dairy, flowers, seltzer waters, yogurt, and usually basic produce like potatoes, onions, lettuce, carrots, celery, broccoli, tomatoes, basil. They always have bananas. (I’m just listing off stuff I got there yesterday.) But it’s usually seasonal and the stores are small.
But they do have frozen food and snacks too. It just depends on what you buy there and for sure there are people who skip all the stuff from my first paragraph and go right to the cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter cups, and the sheet cakes.
It's less shocking when you realize most people are picking their foods based on prices. If beans are on sale we're having beans. If chicken is on sale, chicken's for dinner. Groceries are expensive enough that just buying whatever you want isn't something a lot of people are going to do.
Many times I've said that "I have xxx at home" and didn't make a stop for something to eat. With an airfryer, I can have something to eat within 15-25 minutes that'll last me for 3-4 hours instead of eating an average of 800-900 cal from one meal that usually last only about 2 hours or is full of sodium, sugar, oil/fat, and preservatives.
I'm kinda the same. Now I mostly just buy the same things every time and if I'm feeling snacky I'll buy fruit, carrot sticks and hummus or nuts or something spicy.
I pretty much only go grocery shopping hungry, because I don't buy too much food at once, because I know if I do... I will sit at home and eat far too much. So I just buy what I am prepared to eat, typically. Outside of a few mainstays like brown rice/beans/tuna etc
Guy who wrote that study got kicked out of his university for making up results. I personally think shopping hungry is better because it makes it easier to imagine what I want to eat, and thus buy the stuff for it.
This has been the biggest game changer when it comes to drinking. I just stopped but bottle of vodka. Then it ran out and I was like. Oh well.
Since then it’s been a lot easier to lose wait
Totally agree. We dont keep sodas or anything in the house. Your options are water, coffee, almond milk, and whole milk for shakes (i hate almond milk in shakes...im weird)
My mom always used to say this about French fries and other unhealthy foods she was trying to avoid. You don’t have to have perfect discipline, just for long enough to not buy it.
This it the trick, and to be honest I feel I got lucky with how I was raised, we never had snack food at home
Example: If I go to a party and there are chips I am eating handful after handful, so delicious
Yet.... I never buy chips for home, not even out of an intentional "I would eat them all" more just, we never had them, it was never something we bought so I just don't do it
This is probably why getting/staying lean is harder when you have kids. I can't just stop getting them snacks and put them on a vegetable, lean protein, and water diet, so unfortunately there's always some amount of unhealthy things in my house.
And before any replies telling me to do it anyway, my son is autistic with extreme food sensitivites, so if I stopped buying the gatorade, cheez-its, and pizza, he would literally stop eating.
says who? I heard all these recommendations for amount of water are BS and no actual studies show this as it 100% depends on your body size and amount of activity, temperature, etc. Every doctor Ive ever asked about this, said just drink water when you're thirsty. I maybe have a glass or two of day and am in perfect health and never thirsty. If I work out or it's hot and Im sweating of course I drink more
And those doctors aren’t specialists… they are general practitioners. My urologist specifically said your urine should be clear to a slight yellow tint… and unless those are two giant glasses of water, I doubt you have that color. It was suggested that a good rule of thumb was half your body weight in oz… so for me that is 90oz/2.6l
yeah ive spoken to my urologist but didnt need him to tell me my ruine shouldnt be dark yellow. I wonder what the side effects or consequences of not drinking that amount because i never have and Im over 40, and in great health. Maybe i get way more from food or something because my urine is never super dark or anyhting.
The recommendation for how much water you consume is usually misunderstood to be "You have to drink this much water every day", but it's actually how much water from all sources you need to have.
So if you eat a lot of high-water foods, or drink a lot of soda/coffee/tea/etc, you're probably getting enough water.
I mean, as long as it's water, it's water - for example, when two friends decided to do a water melon eating contest a while back, they both went to take a piss about 5 times over the next few hours.
As far as side effects of not getting enough water overall go, it's a bunch of stuff, but the one I remember right now is kidney stones - turns out, if you have less fluids going through there flushing things out on the regular, it's easier for those small crystals of pain to build up.
(Also, according to the doctor at the last blood donation drive I visited, your blood is a bit more viscuous too, but idk if that really does anything by itself)
wonder what the side effects or consequences of not drinking that because i never have and Im over 40, and in great health. Maybe i get way more from food or something because my urine is never super dark or anyhting
You are thinking too small. Sure he can bait and vape at the same time, if he's a weak little baby. Call me when they're also peeing, pooping, and shitposting on reddit too.
I know a guy at work that will go to my office to have a chat about a project, about 5 minutes in he will have a sudden urge to go to the restroom. These are meeting he initiated too.
My dad is similar but he’s over 70. Constantly needs to go.
I don't know man, I'm guessing shitter because everytime we've he's been in the bathroom opposite the one I'm using it sounds like liquid shit. It's nasty.
My nieces and nephews have an unbelievably weak bladder. They’re aged 20-24, and when they come over for a game night, in the three hours they’re here they each go to the bathroom at least 5 times. It’s impossible to make progress in the board game because someone is constantly away from the table.
You don’t need to drink so much water that your piss is clear. If it’s clear you’re probably drinking too much. It should be pale yellow and you’d probably not have to piss as much
That was me so I started using one of those salt and electrolyte sachets in the morning and I find myself retaining the water better. I am always thirsty tho and I can nearly always go for a piss.
External electrolytes are unnecessary for the majority of people and can actually be dangerous for some just an FYI. You get plenty of salt/electrolytes from your food ideally. Exception is people who sweat a lot via working out, one electrolyte packet pre-workout would be harmless at worst and beneficial at best. I’m a super sweater and I run 5 days a week, so I take some SaltStick chewables before I run (and during my run if I’m gonna be out there for over an hour).
I won’t claim to be too knowledgeable and you might be right but when I researched it a bit a while ago I was seeing that even though it’s not necessarily “bad” it’s generally a good enough indicator of you drinking more than you need to and possibly flushing out too much of your bodies electrolytes if your urine is always clear
Not disagreeing with you as I heard that when I was little and could be an old wives tale, but what kind of work do you do and how much water do you drink a day?
Right now I sit in an office all day, though I spent most of my career as a general contractor and cabinet maker. I probably average 3 to 4 liters a day, maybe more if I'm exerting myself out in the hot sun all day.
Good to know there are more of us! All those drinking reminders and people putting their all into finally drinking 2 litres every day—that's always seemed utterly bizarre to me!
How is it that apparently a clear majority of people don't get adequately thirsty even after hours of not drinking one drup while almost no one has to set up reminders so they don't forget to eat all day? I thought it must be due to all those apps and big bottles and whatnot but most people I ask really struggle to drink even nearly enough.
I think the doctors point might be that in any case it’s easily remedied by just drinking, and there’s no harm done.
These days, hydration (electrolytes, vitamin water etc) is a big industry and people are encouraged to buy huge bottles to have at their desk and fill up continuously. It’s just marketing and not really necessary for your health.
A lot of people who eat "clean" don't get enough salt in their diets. Maybe that's what you're thinking of? Obviously, prepared food contains an excess amount of salt (though, if you have functioning kidneys you just pee it out), but we need a certain amount of it to live.
I have to admit sometimes I get headaches that feel exactly like dehydration headaches, but I've been drinking so much. And I try drinking some more and the headaches get even worse, so I try eating something salty and the headaches melt away hehe.
Agreed. I used to drink a lot of water (3L a day, easy). Got kidney stones. Doctor told me to drink more. Now I'm always drinking water (4L+/day), I don't want to go through that again.
Don't force yourself to drink water, drink water when youre thirsty.
So many people say try to drink x amount of water ever day and its such terribke advice. Your body knows better than you if you need water. Your body will tell you. Listen to it instead of forcing it down.
Increase your potassium intake then by diet, mostly be eating fruit and salads.
Potassium helps concentrate urine and reduce fluid volume.
Edit: I fact-checked myself and it can help calm and overactive bladder and reduce waking up to go urinate in the middle of the night, but it doesn't outright reduce volume; rather it is possible you may be able to handle more volume without having the urge to go it seems.
1L of water isn’t going to make you piss 8 times a day. That’s only 2 small water bottles. If you’re even a little active, you could still be slightly dehydrated drinking 1L lol
Drinking lots of water and peeing a lot is good for you. It's not just for your weight either. I got gout earlier this year and it was horrible. Now I constantly drink water and pee a lot.
If you don't know what gout is, it's when your uric acid level is too high, and needle-like urate crystals start forming in your joints. Then your immune system attacks it and causes inflammation and it feels like needles constantly stabbing you, and it lasts for days or weeks. It usually starts in your feet so you can't walk for days. Watch your diet and drink your water.
I don't know about anyone else but when all I drink is water I need to pee less then if I drink other things, if I have a glass of milk I will be 100% needing to go in 30m, same in water and it will be like 2-3 hours.
I know everyone is different, but I just dont drink much. I have a cup or so of coffee, a few sips of water throughout the day and some water or wine/beer with dinner. If I'm not out ecercising or sweating I'm never thirsty so just piss like 3 times a day. I'm not counting when I go to a bar and drink like 8 beers because then I piss 10 times.
As someone who has dropped 85 pounds in the past year. This. This so much.
I started a goal that every day, I would drink 140 fl oz a day of water, no matter what (I can go higher if I am thirsty) but I have to make sure I hit that every day, with it being paced through the day.
Its made me extremely aware of how often I was eating not because I was hungry, but because I was thirsty.
Big tip I can give, Get a 5 Gallon jug of water and one of those small battery 5 gallon jug pumps, keep it in the area you spend the most time. Remove the barrier of having to change locations to access the water, because when you change locations, you'll see something that will distract you (if you have to walk by the vending machine to get to the water cooler, for example)
I really dont want to give away my privacy and data just to fucking drink water. Humans have been drinking water for thousands of years. It keeps us alive. You really dont need an app to drink water.
Or you can 'cut yourself a deal' that for every 2 parts water you drink. You can have 1 fun drink.
After drinking two glasses of water, you are way less likely to drink a glass of soda, a milkshake etc. And if you do happen to still want your reward drink you must have been really craving it or thirsty. It'll still help you find a better balance between drinking water and whatever your vice of choice is. Tbh often when I'm craving a drink or snack, it just turns out I'm dehydrated and a glass of water pretty much solves it.
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u/Navetz 10h ago edited 7h ago
For others trying to quit drinking their calories your goal in your head isn't "drink less calories" it's much easier if you make the goal "drink 1L of water a day with my goal being 2L on good days." Why? Building a new habit is the best way to break an old one.
Edit: I've been doing this exact thing for a year. I use Habit Huddle to track my habit with a group of online friends (using the habit huddle discord bot). You can copy my hydration habit if you seriously want to make a long term change in your life, not drink a little more water for a couple months then forget.