move it monday.
Davina
18 Comments
drink more water.
I'm so excited about everyone who is on board for this month's contest! Yay for all of you. It's not to late to jump in and share your hints and tips for losing weight, sticking with it, little ways to stay motivated, etc. and get in on the contest. (Read more about the contest here.)
Water is an important part of keeping your body healthy. Make sure you are drinking enough of it. Eight 8-ounce glasses are recommended for keeping your body hydrated through out the day.
Here are a couple of tidbits about water and your body:
*Drink more when you exercise. "If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to compensate for the fluid loss. An extra 400 to 600 milliliters (about 1.5 to 2.5 cups) of water should suffice for short bouts of exercise, but intense exercise lasting more than an hour (for example, running a marathon) requires more fluid intake. How much additional fluid you need depends on how much you sweat during exercise, the duration of your exercise and the type of activity you're engaged in.
During long bouts of intense exercise, it's best to use a sports drink that contains sodium, as this will help replace sodium lost in sweat and reduce the chances of developing hyponatremia, which can be life-threatening. Also, continue to replace fluids after you're finished exercising." Mayo Clinic. Read more here.
*"the liver's duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but you're also setting yourself up to store fat.* Maia Appleby at inch-aweigh.com Read more here.
*If you think that drinking that much water sends you running to the toliet all day long don't give up. Maia says, "What is really happening is that your body is flushing itself of the water it has been storing throughout all those years of "survival mode". It takes a while, but this is a beautiful thing happening to you. As you continue to give your body all the water it could ask for, it gets rid of what it doesn't need. It gets rid of the water it was holding onto in your ankles and your hips and thighs, maybe even around your belly. You are excreting much more than you realize. Your body figures it doesn't need to save these stores anymore; it's trusting that the water will keep coming, and if it does, eventually, the flushing (of both the body and the potty) will cease, allowing the human to return to a normal life. It's true. This is called the "breakthrough point."
*Do it for your skin. "You've heard this since high school, and it's true. Water will do wonders for your looks! It flushes out impurities in your skin, leaving you with a clear, glowing complexion. It also makes your skin look younger. Skin that is becoming saggy, either due to aging or weight loss, plumps up very nicely when the skin cells are hydrated.
In addition, it improves muscle tone. You can lift weights until you're blue in the face, but if your muscles are suffering from a drought, you won't notice a pleasant difference in your appearance. Muscles that have all the water they need contract more easily, making your workout more effective, and you'll look much nicer than if you had flabby muscles under sagging skin." Maia Appleby. Read more here.
Water and Weight loss myth:
*"Drinking water in and of itself will not lead to weight loss. Of course, water is key to a healthy lifestyle and drinking enough has many benefits, but when people lose weight due to drinking water, it's most likely because they're substituting it for high-calorie juices and sodas." about.com Read more here.
Whether it's possible to lose weight drinking water or not it, the overall health benefits are huge. I think it's definitely true that water can help you avoid things that make you GAIN weight. If you are replacing soda or other drinks with water than, to me, water is helping you lose weight. If you are drinking water instead of putting food in your mouth, then water is helping your to lose weight. If you are drinking water before, after, and during your daily exercise and helping your body to run more efficiently, then your body may be losing weight.
I know that, for me, when I drink water before dinner my stomach gets the message sooner that I'm full. I also know that when I drink water instead of having that high fat snack I'm much less likely to eat the high fat snack and reach for something more healthy. If nothing else, it buys you some time to rethink what you you are eating instead of mindlessly shoving whatever is in front of you in your mouth.
Here's another take on hydration.
No matter the reason for drinking water you can't go wrong with making eight 8-ounce glassesof water sprinkled through out your day part of your daily routine. Your muscles and skin will definitely thank you.
So here's to water and better health.
healthy. LIFE.
Reader Comments (18)
I always feel so much better when i'm drinking plenty of water. My skin shows it also!! Dr. Pepper is my weakness, i've given it up a million times...I'm gong to give it up again today!! :) My best piece of advice is to just find a glass that you love and use it everyday, (maybe buy 2 so one is always clean!!). I personally love those big plastic tumblers that sometimes have pieces of embroidery inside. They are kind of insulated, you can buy really big ones at like Bed, Bath and Beyond. I just love drinking ice water out of those!!
You have to get a tervis tumbler ( http://www.tervis.com/ ) ....my husband had bought one for himself and quickly realized he was able to get his water in for the day much easier than a typical water bottle due to the design! he got one for me all cute and monogrammed and it is a must-have for all you at-work water drinkers, especially! The beautiful thing about this cup (I have the largest size, complete with a lid and straw) is that it does not sweat! no more slippery cup, drops of water getting all over your paperwork or on your desk and it is insulated to keep your drink cold for hours!Plus, the straw helps me drink my water better (and faster for some reason). We even got one for each of our children for xmas.....it cuts down on the gazillion cups a day they would use and they cant ever say "not mine" when we ask who's cup is this? It is a great cup and with the straw and lid feature, makes it a great on-the-go cup as well! Try one....
Hi Davina, Thanks so much for sharing these tips especially the one about the breakthrough point! I have heard that if you drink a lot of caffeinated beverages and coffee they can dehydrate you, so you should drink 10 glasses of water. Also, if sometimes when you feel hungry or are having a craving, you could actually just be dehydrated and need to drink more water.
I have been told my whole life to "drink more water" and so I am not sure why it is SO hard to get all of my water in! I finally figured out how I can get it in...through a straw. Yep, for some reason I gulp more and drink it faster when I use a straw!
Three things I am concentrating on the next three weeks is to; increase my water, excercise and find 10 minutes of everyday for me just to sit and relax, I can understand Nicole and Dr. Peper as mine is Pepsi. This will be hard!
I read to the topic and immediately went and got some more water before I sat down again to write... Thank you for the information and reminder.
I realized a couple of things last week:
* Reading food labels and counting calories can be fun!
* To encourage my daughter to eat, I'd eat some of her food and that was adding up. I'm trying to be more aware of that.
* When you slow down to eat, the food actually tastes better!
* I shouldn't go grocery shopping when I'm hungry - I made some not-so-great purchases recently.
* Exercising gives me energy.
* Oh, and did you know that a cup of miso soup is 547 calories and 10,000 mg of sodium? Crazy! I found that out after I already eaten it (and the rest of my sushi dinner). But I know now for the next time! :)
Thanks again, Davina! :)
Getting my 8, 8 oz of water is the BIGGEST difficulty I have.
I'm truly interested to learn the more I drink (eventually) the less I'll have to run to the toilet. Most interesting. :-)
But tracking my daily food/drink on mydailyplate is truly interesting ... but still, not enough water.
*trying* ...
I love water, but I never can tell if I am drinking enough of it. The only thing that works for me is to have a huge water bottle (like 100oz!!) and drink it throughout the day. When you can physically see how much water you have (or have not) had in one day it's easier to track your intake. A huge water bottle is my best friend, especially when I'm working out. And if you hate water, try drinking it ice cold! There is definitely a difference in taste.
This is something that I need to be reminded of all the time. Drinking too much water at one time makes me sick to my stomach and always give me heartburn, so I have to sip, sip, sip and I know I never get enough. But I know I need to try harder, that's why I look forward to Move it Monday! I finally have cut out soda so I'm excited about that!!! Davina, does a blog count as a journal?
I absolutely hate water. I can't stand the taste or the lack of taste as some would say. I don't really like to drink at all really. I will eat an entire dinner... uh... I will eat an entire breakfast, lunch, and dinner and not have anything to drink with any. I'll go a whole day and realize I've had nothing to drink (in fact i did that today and then wondered why i have such a huge headache). I've found two things to help... drink at room temperature with a straw and gulp it until it's gone... preferably before a meal. Another thing that makes it taste better is to flavor it with slices of cucumber!
Thanks Davina. I've tried to hold on to the move it monday mentality throughout the start of your postings (your original postings) and find that I am a stress eater and it's been stressful these last months due to work and deadlines etc. So I guess my advice is really important. Know why you eat when it's not about hunger and find a replacement. Once you figure out what drives you to overeat you are more likely to stop and reflect, find a substitute and eat for hunger.
Hi Davina. I am a little late on this contest, but our church has recently began our yearly kick-off with the Daniel Fast and it seems to really be an incredible way to jump start some weight loss as well and feel better overall. On this fast (and if you google "Daniel Fast" a lot of information is available about it.) you eat only fruits and veggies and drink only water for 21 days. Now, since this is a "fast" I have to say that this is clearly tailored to each person's individual needs and you should def check with your doc. if you have medical issues. But I am one week into it and I have to say that I feel great! I have not had my morning coffee- with oh so yummy creamers, or my lunch time soda or evening tea. It has been somewhat of a challenge to find interesting foods- but that has also been the fun too. We tend to get so busy in our daily routines that we eat in a hurry and don't really take into account what is going into our bodies and we end up getting run down and tired. Anyway, not to babble endlessly, by eating only fruits and veggies for 21 days your body has time to be cleansed and your mind clearer- not to mention that after the third day or so your body isn't craving the sugars and caffeine. It also makes your body want to eat every few hours which keeps our metabolism constantly burning. It is funny how people associate losing weight with not eating. When you don't eat- you are cranky, tired and think about everything you can't have. When you eat every few hours your body is not lacking and you have energy and you don't crave the sugars and carbs. If we look at children and how they eat it is no wonder they are full of life and their bodies are healthy. I would highly recommend at least researching a little into it. It seems really easy at first but then you realize that everything we eat from sandwiches to pasta has refined flours or sugars... we add butters and creams. This process has really opened my eyes to what I have been putting on my plate and into my body.
Whoa!!!! Way to go ladies! I love all of this help. Isn't it wonderful ladies? I'm so glad we're all in this together. This is so fun!!
A doctor of ours once told us something very interesting about drinking water. He said that the feeling/sensation of hunger and thirst are very similar (as far as the brain goes). And as we get older, and snack on junk when we’re actually hungry, the brain now has a hard time differentiating between hunger and thirst. So many times when we think we’re hungry, we’re actually thirsty. What he suggested, is that when we think we’re hungry (and it’s not time for a meal), try drinking a glass of water. If we’re still hungry 15-30 min later, then yes we’re really hungry. But if the hunger feeling does not return, then we were just thirsty (dehydrated).
This may sound silly to some, but I always drink more watering if I drink it from a straw. The smallest I have ever been was right before my wedding and my concentration (besides the wedding itself) was to drink at least three large Chick-fa-la cups of water a day. It was not the Chick-fa-la part that made it meaningful. I would go get a grilled chicken sandwich with a large water and keep refilling the cup. Of course this could be done with a Nalgene bottle, but for some reason the magic has always been in the straw for me (and I just love the size of the LARGE chick-fa-la cups even though they are styrofoam...yikes..okay, go buy a bottle that has a straw). Well, hopefully this quirky (to some) habit may help somebody out there :)
Better late than never:
So this past week of exercise and eating right didn't go quite as planned. My husband was in a car accident which totaled the car (everyone is completely okay Thank God!) This threw my exercise plans way off course. I didn't give up though. I was reminded of a Move it Monday post you had a while back about your habits and routines. You said that we wouldn't know how we would do for about a year. Until we had continued through difficult situations, and the different seasons, and holidays. What a great post! There were a couple of times this past week when I walked for 1/2 of my planned time, and once when I ran part of a lap of my walking to make up for lost time. Then I felt back on track. But, I was getting caught up way too much in the counting calories thing last week and was feeling like a failure everyday when I would go over. So over the weekend, I went back to my old ways of paying strict attention to ingredients. I am still mindful of calories of course, but I'm not letting that control me (so far=)
The best advice I heard this week came from Dr. Oz. He said to remember that the best foods are the ones without ingredients. For instance, they are what they say they are: A potato, fruit, rice etc.
And Thanks Davina for reminding us about the importance of water. It's so simple, and it's just about the only thing I drink. But I forgot about the importance of making sure I am getting enough. I'll add that this week. My goal for this next month is to be able to run 1/2 a mile of my walking routine. Right now I can only run just under a lap before I give up. Wish me luck!
Great post! I cannot believe how many changes I can tell in my life from just 12 days of drinking a lot more water! Thanks!! You gave so much more info on this subject!! I really helps! We have also been making fresh juice every day. That has almost taken the place of a big dinner. Fresh oranges, carrots, spinach, grapefruit, apples make for a yummy combo! Buy a juicer! That is my 2 cents for today! :) Thanks again Davina!
where is today's "Move it Monday!"??? :-)