So, it looks like my plan is to:
With I think a heavy emphasis on #2. I like the idea of flavored water, but I’m a water snob. I know it is healthy so if I could mask the taste, I’d do that. I hate to even shower in that swamp water. I like coffee, too, but I avoid places that are smug about it, so Starbucks etc are out.
Right. And that’s the part we always seemed to forget! 
So, we found it best to avoid the mess by just using a plastic bottle…for ignoramuses such as ourselves!
I’m another soda addict, though the volume I drink is more moderate. My one true love is Coke Zero Vanilla. I have one can every morning with breakfast. I usually drink regular Coke Zero at lunch. At dinner lately I’ve been having Cream Soda Zero (Ok, cream soda is my real true love, and the Zero version is actually quite close).
I don’t like drinking water - it makes me sad. And nothing makes me sadder than those shitty flavored waters that just taunt you with almost flavor but not quite. It’s like, “oh you like X flavor? Wanna taste of that? Nope! No soup for you!”
Unlike you, I am not cheap and will pay whatever it takes to satisfy my craving in the parks, though I usually just get one beverage (usually regular Coke - I need sugar in the parks) with each meal and that’s enough.
So funny. I never would have pegged you for a heavy soda drinker. Something about you says “healthy” and… well…
Water is really really good 
My motto is “moderation” - I don’t eat a lot of healthy foods but I am very careful not to overdo it. And I do actually drink water in the evenings … and sometimes in the afternoon at work I even have one of those shitty waters that make me sad … but I indulge from time to time to keep my spirits up. 
I hate water. I don’t drink water unless forced - ever. And if I do drink it, it has to be glacially cold.
I actually drink very little in general. Most days, including today, I drink a coffee at breakfast and an iced tea at dinner. Maybe a swig of iced tea in the afternoon. My family jokingly refers to me as “The Fremen.” Which only makes sense of you’ve read/watched Dune.
When I’m at Disney I try to drink more, but I struggle.
You get that where you live? DH would be jealous. He even asked the coke guy at the store the other day. They don’t even have plans to bring it back here. I think coke is one of the many companies that is doing what they’d wanted and blaming it on Covid.
My fellow addicts might be amused by this. Note, I don’t do drugs and have never been tempted. Once at lunch with work friends I said, “I apologize if I’m dragging a bit. My coke stash ran out.” They knew when I said things like “Better living with chemistry”, I meant Diet Coke and I kept many 2-liters of Diet Coke in my file cabinet. The people nearby in the restaurant gave me dirty looks.
Best description ever. Reminds me of when I was little and went to a very frugal relatives house where they always used half the amount of Kool Aid the label said to save money… You’d expect a big glass of lemonade and instead get a glass of water that maybe sat near a lemon.
Man you nailed it. Fortunately for my health I have to drink a lot of water or I’ll puke when I run. On non running days though, I’m all about the caffeinated/alcoholic/sugarific liquids
I’ll keep this in my back pocket for the next time my sister lectures me about my water intake.
I love the girl and doing the marathon with her will be fun. But she is a little more than a little overbearing. She told me about how bad my water intake is the other day when we were talking about marathon. Surely I haven’t done a marathon before but I am not new to running and I know what I personally need for hydration each day.
Everyone is different. After my first marathon I thought I was going to pass out. It was hot as hell and I was downing water and Gatorade like crazy at each station on the course. After crossing the finish line I went straight to medical. I really thought I was going to pass out. Turns out I was fine. I was probably over hydrated.
As you get into the training, especially during the long runs, you will figure out what is right for you. If you don’t hydrate properly you will bonk. And you won’t want to do that again. Same with nutrition, but that isn’t really important until you’re getting over 10-12 miles or more maybe
I actually had a metal water bottle in my bag, but I held my bag in front of me and it never set the things off.
Yeah, the scariest thing is the symptoms for dehydration and hyponatremia are so similar - and often the default is to treat for dehydration. I have a friend who finished the 2020 WDW Marathon with hyponatremia and they were about to start giving her fluids for dehydration when her boyfriend went running in and said how much water she had been drinking, which saved her life. Had they given her fluids, they could have inadvertently killed her.
They were pushing fluids on us like crazy because it was so hot. I wonder how many others were drinking too much
I’ve heard that this is a real problem with kids at camp. They no longer do like when I was a kid and make water and lemonade freely available. They mandate 8oz every hour. The kids that dump out the extra water are fine. The rule followers end up getting sent home because they are ‘sick’.
This is what I do in the cases where I’m not drinking beer or margaritas.
Isn’t it a problem even getting into a counter service restaurant? Because they want everyone to Mobile Order?
This has been relaxed a lot, but even when it was more strict you could always just go to the person gatekeeping and tell them you needed to get water.
I hear you loud and clear!
I tried to like flavored seltzers. I tried so hard. I even had myself convinced for one season.
I love pop. Love it. I was a Pepsi drinker for decades, switched to Coke, and now am back to Pepsi. When I allow myself.
@Shmebulock - I can go months and months with pop, but once I let it back in I am hooked gain.
@shawthorne44 - We normally travel with a stroller and bring pop in. I don’t know what I will do now that our stroller days are over. (That said, I have taken strollers places just for gear…,not people). Since my family also likes soda, I often bring small cups and we share a pop when we get one. Then we aren’t carrying any WARM soda around. (I won’t drink warm or flat pop) Then we still get multiple pop exposures without wasting the last of bottles or hurriedly finishing them.
Same. But I do drink coffee all day long.
It’s 5:53 PM. I’ve had one cup of coffee… That’s it. I had a salad for lunch but no drink. I’ll probably have a Coke or an iced tea at dinner. But that’s probably all. 