No Stupid Questions

For me, it was having a water filter and drinking out of glasses, not cups. I don't like the way water tastes coming out of plastic or steel as much.

Squeeze-it water enhancer. There’s several hundred different flavors, you can add however much you want at that time, so you can make it stronger or weaker as the mood hits you. Most are typically 0 cal, but IIRC there are some that have no sweetener at all. Search for “water enhancer”, but here are some examples. I’ll also make them go further by adding them to some iced tea, so you can make an Arnold Palmer. Variety is the spice of life.

Maybe eating foods that have high water content like cucumbers, watermelons, etc? Or if you find a non-water beverage more enjoyable than water, drink that—all beverages contain water.

I heat it up and pretend its a hot drink (it is)

if you really are worryingly dehydrated and find regular water unpalatable, just get some cheap sugar-free drink.
Yeah it's technically better to drink regular water but who cares, you should enjoy life and if you struggle to drink enough then that is an infinitely bigger problem.

Step one, fill cup with water.

Step two, drink cup.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you've drank enough water.

My wife also hates drinking water. I then bought a soda stream and her consumption increased 5X. No flavoring. Just water.

I have since bought an external soda bottle to reduce cost.

Try drinking tea or flavoured water. Coffee can also hydrate you or juices but don't drink too much sugary drinks and coffee. Drink when you feel thirsty.

I also grew up barely drinking anything, definitely never any water. Now I buy carbonated (mineral) water. It tastes better and is refreshing. It helps to buy a few and put them within reach so you're reminded. Keep one next to your bed. After a while you'll notice dehydration when you forget to drink. Probably you never noticed before if you were always used to it.

Maybe you need to make the experience better? I saw that you have a water bottle, but I personally find drinking straight from a bottle or canteen less enjoyable. What has helped me was making it more a 'ritual.' I have a cute stainless steel canteen, and when I'm at home I also have a nice glass. Pouring water into a glass cup and drinking from there just feels nicer. I use a specialty glass that's more designed for drinking coffee, and it makes the water feel so much smoother and overall more enjoyable.

Cleaning a little glass cup is also easier than washing a canteen or bottle.

learn to enjoy drinking it.

good habits don't magically happen, you have to use your willpower.

You can also try seltzer or flavored waters if that helps or filtering it. plenty of tap water can taste bad.

I don't get the whackadole 'hacks' people are going on about here. I drink 2-3L of water per day, and 4-5L if I'm active. I drink it because I'm thirsty and it's delicious.

My water intake is pretty high, but it does vary seasonally - in summer, I’ll go through 5L easily. I think that most people could stand to increase their water intake, and reports of hyperhydration are overstated - it’s mostly a paediatric problem.

• Learn to just drink a whole cup at once. Then do that on a schedule. Every hour through the working day gets you to the 2L per day generic recommendation. Then add a couple glasses at and after dinner.
• I don’t want to recommend bottled water because it’s environmentally reprehensible, but find a way to make water taste neutral. Part of that, though, is just getting used to it.
• building on that taste thing - it’s probably better for the long term to get used to it than to always add flavor.
• Find out if you like it better warm or cold. A lot of people insist on cold water, but I don’t like cold water. It takes too long to drink without a brain freeze effect, unless I want something specifically to cool me down, which is infrequent.

I have a filtered water bottle that I keep full. I just keep it handy. If I'm thirsty, it's less hassle to take a drink from my bottle than to go to the kitchen/break room/café and get a different drink. When it's empty, I'll let myself grab a different drink IF I fill the bottle up too.

Carbonated water. Either with or without a hint of something

what about fizzy water (get a water fizzing device) or hot/warm water or filtered water ?

It helped me a great deal to get a hydration backpack usually intended for sports. I dont even leave the pc a lot but its 3L of water storage that can be consumed while having both hands free (except start&end for like 3 seconds). It needs a bit of getting used to drinking out of a mouth piece but else its the most convinient way of drinking water

Electrolytes

Would an alarm reminding you to drink help? And then tracking how much you drank? If you're not motivated to drink the water, you might need an external cue. And if you dont track a new habit you won't know how well you are doing, might only remember/focus on failures, etc.

A watch or phone alarm every 30 min could be good. As for tracking, anything from pen and paper to a fancy fitness tracker.

Try high pH water, normal water is painful to drink, but high pH water is much smoother.

Walter with lemon or lime taste and lots of sizzle

The advice about keeping water nearby is good. I do that. Although I still sometimes forget anyway lol.

Besides that: Is flavor the problem or do you just not like having to drink period?

If it’s flavor: Add a tiny bit of a drink you do like. I add maybe like 5-10% apple juice to my water at meals. Just enough to get some of the flavor without adding too much sugar.

If it’s the 2nd: There are others sources of water. Most fruits work and they also come with fiber, which is also important for hydration.

Also, unlikely to apply here, but worth mentioning: When I was having problems being dehydrated, I talked to my doctor about it and we figured out that one issue was that I was mostly drinking filtered water, which will lack a lot of the electrolytes you normally get in water. I fixed this by getting a powder to add to my water. (Filtering bc of town water supply issues.)

Get your doctor to prescribe it and/or treat it like medicine and take your prescribed "dose" on a schedule.

force yourself, after a while you get to the point where you can taste the difference between different brands of water or from which tap it came from

I'll sometimes boil water and steep a few tea bags in a 1 bottle. Put it in the fridge and have it the next day. There are plenty of types of tea out there, so it's flavoured water.

I sometimes prefer this to fruits and veg because by the end of the day if I've forgotten to eat the fruit and veg, they just go mushy and it gets wasted.

Im in your boat being a soda holic but I have found that having water with you always cold and plenty even if you have something else. You will find you drink it and the more you drink it the more you do. Its the habit of keeping it on hand at that point which is the limiting factor.

Have a source within arms reach 24/7 and drink as much as you can everytime you think about it. That’s it. It’s one of the many annoying maintenance items of life, just get used to it like brushing your teeth. Eventually you’ll hate how you feel when you don’t do it, and this outweighs the annoyance.

My daughter eats spicy food when she decides to drink more water.

Maybe try ice water? I'm not much of a water person myself, but I love some cold ice water. Aside from that, my top 2 are tea/juice and Gatorade or similar.

Tea/juice is basically water with flavor. Gatorade/Powerade/similar are a great option cause it'll hydrate you and the electrolytes are good for your gut bacteria.

Another idea is to just water down the things you already drink. For sodas I think it actually makes them taste better.

I got into drinking water by buying some good apple juice and adding some (no a lot. And less over time) to the water in a thermos bottle.

Eventually I got a water filter jug for the fridge and switched to mostly just drinking water, still by filling up the thermos bottle.

I think it's more important to get into the habit of drinking enough first, and you can transition to water later.

Step 1) Drink a glass of water.

Step 2) Repeat.

Step 3) Repeat.

Add as many repeat steps as desired.

Eat salty and spicy snacks. I like jalapeno kettle chips and wasabi almonds.

Water enhancers. Mio, Gatorade tabs, etc.