Drinking iced tea

In the past I had always heard that you can drink decaffeinated iced tea and it will count towards you daily requirements. Now I have heard that you can not count it. I do not like drinking water so I drink decaf iced tea with sugar substitute and can get enough that way. Can anyone tell me what is accurate?

Sugar substitutes still contain calories.. you should count them in.

I think they meant more as fluid requirements...and I think it should...basically just flavored water. I too drink more tea then water.

I drink quite a bit of iced tea as well. I have my 2 cups of coffee in the morning, 2-4 bottles of water during the day, and then 2-3 16 oz mason jars of iced tea in the afternoon/evening. I've always been a constantly thirsty person, but, then again, I smoke. My fluid intake goes up quite a bit during the summer ( it got up to 112 this past August). I only drink the coffee in the winter because of the cold weather. I think the natural in caffeine is a diuretic, but depending on how much water you drink during the day it normally shouldn't be a problem.

I work for Teavana (www.teavana.com), tea does not contain calories unless you put artifical sweetner or sugar in it. Its better to drink tea than drink water because at least with tea you're getting antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Oolong tea, Mate tea, and Pu-erh teas are especially known for their weight loss abilities.

I usually don't sweeten tea, but my mother does, and she uses Splenda. When she was on Weight Watchers her tea counted toward her water count and cost her no points, as Splenda doesn't really have calories.

So, Splenda is your friend. Find it. Embrace it. Long live iced tea.

Thanks for all the thoughts. I really appreciate it.