chronically dehydrated

Thank-you

Does skim milk count?

You'll be better off if you don't drink your calories. Seriously, drink water. There are literally hundreds of flavors of tea if you just can't bring yourself to drink water. If you don't want hot tea, brew it and chill it or drink it room temp. This is a molehill, not a mountain.

Of course skim milk counts!  Anything you can drink through a straw counts towards your liquid goal.  Some people have a strict "rule" against drinking calories yet they make an exception for protein drinks.... but milk IS protein, and many people use milk to MAKE their protein shakes, so I don't understand why they don't also make that exception for milk!

As long as you aren't drinking several glasses of milk a day, don't worry about it. 

Lora

If you can't get that much into your day, how do you know you feel better when you do?

That's a great question! Yes, you are absolutely right...I can do it.

I carried a jug with me everywhere and sipped constantly

My surgeon/dietician recommends 64 oz a day.  I'm up to 32.  I just don't like it, I rarely feel thirsty, I forget, I procrastinate... you get the pictures.  I bring it up when I go to support group meetings, so I get new ideas and new inspiration.  Currently, I have a bottle of water in each room of my house that I go into (bathroom, kitchen, dining room, bedroom) and when I see the bottle, I pick it up and take a swig.  At work, I have a reminder set for every 10 minutes.  I little thing pops up in my Outlook program that says "drink," so I do.  If you're drinking NONE, and want to get up to 64-70 oz, work on increasing from where you are now.  We don't have to get it all right, all the time.  Improvements and progress help us eventually achieve our goals. 

Right on. I'm right there with you. I'm already off to a better start today.

I have a GREAT app and it's a repeat timer.  You can set it to whatever you want and it resets itself.  I have mine set for 15 minute increments and when it goes off I drink.  Before you know it I've gone through three 32oz bottles by the end of the day.  LMK if you want the name of the app.

Not drinking water stalls your weight loss AND keeps you bloated by retaining water.  When your body doesn't get enough fluid it holds onto what it has cuz it's thinking you'll not drink water again... we turn into mini-camels.  If you can't stand water, I drink decaf iced tea.  I make it with Lipton instant, a 1/4 teasponn of Splenda brown sugar mix and 1/8 t of sugar free lemon Koolaid.  I love it.

Basically, you must drink water... it's just not an option.  I.V. drips in place of drinking your water is ridiculous btw.