Hello Denice,
I have different thoughts than the others...
I remember a thread a while ago on another forum that talked about getting too much water (I mean like 2+ gallons per day) and that it was NOT good for you. There is actually a name for this!
But on the topic of the 32oz of water first thing, I heard a sports nutritionist/trainer speak who said that studies showed that athletes who were super-hydrated when they began their "event" performed better - she had worked with the New York Giants. Anyway, the 32 oz of water first thing in the am (especially if you are an am workout type) sounds okay with certain assumptions. If you assume dinner at 6pm and 8-12 oz of liquid with dinner then nothing until breakfast at 6 am the next morning, you have essentially gone 12 hours without liquid. 32 oz, although a lot isn't really all that much. Before I eat breakfast, on a non-workout day, I have at least 1 8-oz glass of water and 8 oz of coffee (and I drink at least 8 oz of water during the night and 8 oz before I go to bed)
Now about the juice an aspartame, is this a requirement? or is this an allowance so you can have a drink with some flavor? Cuz water with lemon and sweetener is better than a coke and certainly less artificial sweetener than a diet coke!
Just another way of looking at this...
-joy