Making water taste better (without gimping the benefits)

[Chickensoup23]

Hello boys & girls,

I've been hitting the gym for the past couple months & I've noticed a massive difference. I used to be 130 lbs & stuck on a strick 225g of protein/200g carbs diet & around 2k calories a day, plus drinking lots of water every day, and I gained 7 lbs in the past month (I never was able to before, and on top of it, its not fat!). There's only one problem; I'm getting tired of plain water.

I'm looking for a way to make my massive water intake a little more enjoyable. I checked stuff that you could add to water bottles, such as Crystal Light or Mio, but they all come with added aspartame or sugar. Is there a way to make water, perhaps less watery? I thought about adding some natural juice, such as perhaps cranberry juice or the like.

Any input would be more than welcome! Thanks,
Chicken

[Antherios]

I started doing heavy cardio like 6 months ago, and i switched from everything i use to drink to water.

So yeah, after the first few weeks i had the same problem as you, water starts to get dull, i started by adding some sugar to it, then some flavors like lemon and stuff, but that led me back to the old regular sugar drinks, and i found that they didnt quench my thirst like water, and that they make me taste the food different.
I came back to my H20 on bottle.

So, its always water or coffee for me, (coffee with bread for breakfast, not with the meals) food taste better, you actually feel like you quench your thirst.

You can add stuff to it if you want, but you will feel the difference imo

[Pickynerd]

Slice up fruit plop it into a pitcher let it sit in the fridge all night. Get a decent water bottle and enjoy.

[Bolson13]

Perhaps you can go and find a chinese store with a selection of teas. They mix some of the teas with herbs that make it taste a lot sweeter. I forgot the name but there are some that makes it taste exactly like a very mild tea flavour with sugar. Going for at least a little bit quality green tea it will taste a lot less bitter to begin with which is why I recommend going to a chinese store.

And then of course you can make it into icetea. I don't know if you like it but it sure doesn't contain any of the sweetners you mentioned.

[daniel4masters]

Boil the water and then simply add a drop of lemon juice.

[schwarzkopf]

Cold + light (very light) carbonation + a drop of lemon.

[lvlark]

Perhaps you can go and find a chinese store with a selection of teas. They mix some of the teas with herbs that make it taste a lot sweeter. I forgot the name but there are some that makes it taste exactly like a very mild tea flavour with sugar. Going for at least a little bit quality green tea it will taste a lot less bitter to begin with which is why I recommend going to a chinese store.

And then of course you can make it into icetea. I don't know if you like it but it sure doesn't contain any of the sweetners you mentioned.

This, however, won't work out as well with all sorts of tea. Some of them do get pretty bitter and/or sour when cooled. Hence why store-bought ice tea contains so much suger/aspartame.
I'd just go for the lemon juice tbh. Don't need alot because it tastes pretty strong.

[Rooflesstoofless]

I feel for you, OP. I get pretty burnt out on the 'water flavor' but throwing some lemon juice in there and making sure its so cold it starts to form ice crystals seems to work best for me.

Hence why store-bought ice tea contains so much suger/aspartame.

Does it really? Are you talking about the sweetened/flavored kind? Or does the unsweetened Lipton iced tea have that shit in it too?

If I knew what box my iced tea was in (just moved, no idea where it is) I'd be checking that out real close because I've been drinking iced tea for years and would be none to happy if the unsweetened stuff had sweetener in it.

[lvlark]

Does it really? Are you talking about the sweetened/flavored kind? Or does the unsweetened Lipton iced tea have that shit in it too?

Just a quick browse through http://www.liptontea.com/product/cat...ipton-iced-tea, reveals that their bottled iced tea's mostly contain 13g of sugar per serving, with sweet iced tea going up to 23. The diet ones have no sugar, but aspartame. As for the unsweetened, I can only find a mix for that, which indeed contains no sugar or aspartame (although it does contain maltodextrin, which could be counted as a sweetener. It's a sugar from a chemistry point-of-view.)

So yeah, I was talking about the sweetened/flavored kind, but that one appears to me to be far more common.

Maybe the OP could consider that unsweetened mix, or one of these: http://www.liptontea.com/product/cat...brew-iced-teas

[jbhasban]

... there is nothing wrong with soda and juice. I mean, what the hell? Gatorade is also fine. Honestly, you should have some electrolytes in your diet. There are a bunch of workout powders that are high in salt that you can find. I also never understood the whole fear of artificial sweeteners. I have yet to see a study that shows its dangerous to humans. Only studies I've seen show its dangerous to rodents at INSANE dosages.

<-- athlete

[Fogkin]

... there is nothing wrong with soda and juice. I mean, what the hell? Gatorade is also fine. Honestly, you should have some electrolytes in your diet. There are a bunch of workout powders that are high in salt that you can find. I also never understood the whole fear of artificial sweeteners. I have yet to see a study that shows its dangerous to humans. Only studies I've seen show its dangerous to rodents at INSANE dosages.

<-- athlete

soda, juice and gatorade all contain quite a bit of sugar and for someone who is dieting they try to want to avoid unwanted calories. Plus we all know how chugging a soda really doesn't quench your thirst because of all the sugar in it.

OP:

Check out this site, has some nice little recipes for low cal drinks that also contain electrolytes for when you're working out. http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articl...yte-drink.html

[formerblizzemployee]

There is no general consensus no what is best and there never will be. Hell until recently it was assumed caffeine caused dehydration and now they realize that drinking a coca-cola while you're dehydrated is perfectly fine, only in very high doses is caffeine a diuretic.

USUALLY keeping it all appealing is worth more in the long run than fretting over a few calories here or there. If you are unhappy/dreading what you eat, drink or how you work out, YOU WILL QUIT IN TIME.

[Masark]

... there is nothing wrong with soda and juice. I mean, what the hell? Gatorade is also fine. Honestly, you should have some electrolytes in your diet. There are a bunch of workout powders that are high in salt that you can find.

Most people already get quite enough sodium in their diet. Unless you're going at near-peak exertion (e.g. competitive sports or long distance running), electrolyte beverages generally aren't necessary.

[Deleted]

Slice a lemon and let it sit on the fridge over night.
Dunno how bad that becomes to your teeth tough, overtime that is.

[Deleted]

Imo, if you cant drink water on its own, you're spoiled.
Think of the people that can barelly drink water because its contaminated.

[jbhasban]

soda, juice and gatorade all contain quite a bit of sugar and for someone who is dieting they try to want to avoid unwanted calories. Plus we all know how chugging a soda really doesn't quench your thirst because of all the sugar in it.

OP:

Check out this site, has some nice little recipes for low cal drinks that also contain electrolytes for when you're working out. http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articl...yte-drink.html

Diet soda. Plus it seems like the OP is trying to gain weight.

Most people already get quite enough sodium in their diet. Unless you're going at near-peak exertion (e.g. competitive sports or long distance running), electrolyte beverages generally aren't necessary.

Sodium is only one type of electrolyte. Most people don't get a lot of potassium, magnesium, etc.

[xxf2dxx]

Imo, if you cant drink water on its own, you're spoiled.
Think of the people that can barelly drink water because its contaminated.

You seem lacking. Is there someone that's supposed to look after you? They're saying water is getting boring, not that they can't drink it. Having variety in your life clearly means you're spoiled.

[staart]

Like a lot of people said, lemon is a strong taste so you can add just a bit to it to differentiate it from water.

I'd also like to add that there's nothing wrong with aspartame, many conspiracy theorists seem to think so, but I'm a chemist and it's a simple harmless dipeptide of phenylalanine and aspartic acid.

[Sussex]

You need water as a bodybuilder. The 2 key ingredients for muscles are water and protein. You NEED it.

Just buy trace-calorie drinks (No added sugar) Cordial and a few mls of it to your water.

I drink about 3-5 liters of water a day, some just plain, some with added flavor. The flavorings I buy have no aspartame (even though I don't care about that) and they're only 6 to 10 calories per 1.2 liters of water (depends on the flavor)

Just remember there's no point lifting unless you have your diet 100% based around your goals....without eating around a goal-based diet you'll be spinning your wheels, ie wasting your time.

[jbhasban]

You need water as a bodybuilder. The 2 key ingredients for muscles are water and protein. You NEED it.

Just buy trace-calorie drinks (No added sugar) Cordial and a few mls of it to your water.

I drink about 3-5 liters of water a day, some just plain, some with added flavor. The flavorings I buy have no aspartame (even though I don't care about that) and they're only 6 to 10 calories per 1.2 liters of water (depends on the flavor)

Just remember there's no point lifting unless you have your diet 100% based around your goals....without eating around a goal-based diet you'll be spinning your wheels, ie wasting your time.

Some of us lift because we enjoy it. I frankly dont care what I look like or how much I can lift or if I progress. I just enjoy the physicality. Dieting is not fun, not sure why people do it if they are healthy.