Battle for the Best Water

Appetizer
Don't waste your precious daily calories on high-calorie drinks.

Main Course
Your personalized recommended daily calorie intake is based on your sex, height, weight and activity level. It may also take your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) into consideration if you have access to that information.

Despite all of the mixed messages we hear in the media every day, the secret to success is actually quite simple. If your body gets more calories than it needs to function day-to-day (by eating too many calories or not burning off enough calories), you will gain weight. If your body gets exactly the number of calories it needs, you will maintain your current weight. And of course, if you take in less calories that your body needs or if you burn extra calories through physical activity, you will lose weight.

When dealing with this type of somewhat delicate balance, it's best to consider every calorie carefully. With only a limited number of calories with which to work each day, try not to waste them on drinks. Use them for nourishing and fulfilling meals instead.

Dessert
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a Cafe Physique post about utilizing too many calories on drinks rather than food which typically provides more nutrients and keeps you feeling full longer. Back then, there were relatively few low-calorie drinks on the market that actually tasted good, but some companies have listened.

I still favor water over any other drinks, especially before/during/after workouts, but when you're really committed to increasing your daily water intake, it can get repetitive and boring... In comes the new craze of flavored water. HOWEVER, most of these "waters" are nothing short of watered down sugary Kool-Aid with tons of empty calories. Make sure to read the label rather than fall into the trap of thinking that anything that says "water" is good for you. I haven't tried them all yet, but right now my personal favorite is Propel because it has only one-fifth of the calories normally found in other vitamin waters.

I'm usually skeptical of changing anything in my routine, but I replaced my normal water with Propel last week after seeing this video http://youtube.com/PropelFitWater, and I must admit that I was impressed. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Fitness Advice You Should Avoid

Appetizer
Be wary of the advice you hear on the internet.

Main Course
Bad fitness advice abounds, especially on the internet. While this is not the only advice you should ignore, these things are particularly frustrating for me to hear coming from fitness “experts.”

Cardio Before Breakfast – The idea behind “fasted cardio,” or doing your cardio first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat, is that the exercise will work directly towards burning fat, rather than burning the calories in the meal you just ate. There are a couple problems with this. Firstly, most people don’t have much energy to exercise before eating anything, so it might make the exercise difficult or even painful. Second, doing this might cause you to metabolize muscle, which will slow down your metabolism.

Take This Supplement – Not all supplements are bad. But for every nutritional supplement that might actually be useful, there are a thousand that are total garbage. Besides, who has the money to spend on all those pills and powders? Despite what ads on the internet or television might have you believe, they have yet to invent anything that will help you lose weight and get lean as quickly, safely, and effectively as a smart diet and exercise plan.

Drink A Gallon of Water a Day - Most people need to drink more water, but the actual amount you should be drinking for optimal hydration depends upon your body weight, the amount of physical activity you get, your altitude, and a few other factors. While it’s very difficult to drink too much water, you shouldn’t really be drinking so much that you feel the need to go to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. A good hydration measurement is the color of your urine: if it’s clear, you are drinking enough.

Dessert
If you ever hear fitness advice that sounds a bit off or just too good to be true, try to seek out a second opinion. There is nothing worse than spending months or years trying something to lose weight, only to discover it is totally ineffective. I certainly don’t like to waste my time like that, and I know my clients don’t either, so I always double check the sources and data on every piece of fitness or diet advice I hear.

Metabolism Boosters

Appetizer
Burn more calories around the clock.

Main Course
Wouldn’t it be nice to burn a ton of calories without lifting a finger? Well, in a way, you actually already do. It’s called your “base metabolic rate,” which is the measure of how efficiently you burn calories while doing nothing but sitting on your rear. Here are a few tips to increase your metabolism and burn fat faster.

Drink Green Tea
Various studies have shown that green tea can help burn calories and increase fat oxidation. It is also associated with a lot of other benefits, such as disease prevention, thanks to the large amount of antioxidants and carotenoids in green tea. To get the really good (and most effective) stuff, go down to your local health food store and buy it loose leaf. The prepackaged tea bags work too, but they usually provide fewer benefits.

Eat Frequently
Like I said in my previous post, snacking lightly throughout the day keeps your metabolism up. So make sure you eat something every two or three hours or so to keep your metabolic fire burning.

Make Sure You Get Enough B Vitamins
B6 and B12 in particular are important for keeping up a strong metabolism. Make sure you eat foods that are rich in B vitamins such as leafy green vegetables, eggs, fish, whole grains, beans and peas.

Spice it up
“Hot” herbs like ginger, cloves, cayenne, coriander, bay leaves and dry mustard have been shown to burn fat. Plus the hot stuff also helps encourage you drink more water, which is a must for any exercise and diet plan.

Dessert
Of course, even if you are blessed with the natural metabolism of a Brazilian supermodel and use all of these tips, it won’t take the place of a solid nutritional plan and exercise regimen. In fact, regular exercise works better than all of these tips for getting your metabolism up. Just like everything else in life, there are no shortcuts to fitness. But there are a lot of little things you can do to make your journey to getting fit a lot easier.

Water is KING! (and Queen!)

Appetizer

Drink more water. Don't wait until you're thirsty - drink up before, during and after exercise to prevent symptoms.

Main Course

According to the Mayo Clinic, dehydration occurs when you lose more fluid than you take in and your body doesn't have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If lost fluid remains unreplenished, you may suffer serious consequences.

Common causes of dehydration include intense bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, fever or excessive sweating. Inadequate intake of water during hot weather or exercise also may deplete your body's water stores. Anyone may become dehydrated, but young children, older adults and people with chronic illnesses are most at risk.

Mild dehydration can cause symptoms such as weakness, dizziness and fatigue. Severe dehydration is a life-threatening medical emergency.

You can usually reverse mild to moderate dehydration by increasing your intake of fluids, but severe cases need immediate medical treatment. The safest approach is not to become dehydrated in the first place. You can do that by monitoring your fluid loss during hot weather, illness or exercise, and drinking enough liquids to replace what you lose.

Dessert

As you know, I use this section to shine light on my own thoughts and experiences as it relates to the day's post. Unfortunately, this one hit closer to home than normal. As I right this, I'm laying in bed resting because I just returned home from the urgent care center a couple of hours ago.

Why was I there, you ask? I was there because I drank a couple of glasses of water with lunch yesterday, didn't drink anything else for the rest of the day, didn't eat or drink this morning, and went to teach a fitness boot camp in hot, humid weather without a water bottle.

The behavior from yesterday was abnormal - I was just really busy and drinking water slipped my mind. This morning's behavior was simply a case of forgetfulness. I didn't bring my water bottle and had no access to water. That combined with the outrageous heat, resulted in dehydration.

So there you have it. I spent this afternoon asleep in a medical facility getting an IV. Don't be me. Drink more water.

Bottoms Up

Appetizer
By the time you feel thirsty, you're usually already dehydrated, so drink more water before, during, and after exercising.

Main Course
Dehydration is cumulative and has long-lasting effects, so if you don't re-hydrate in between workouts, your performance will suffer during your next workout. In addition, the more dehydrated you become, the more you'll feel like you have to work harder to perform at your normal level.

Dessert
Carrying a water bottle around has become second nature to me, but it hasn't always been that way. It was definitely a learned behavior because for a long time, drinking water felt like punishment and I always craved something else. I broke the pop (soda for those of you who just said, "What?") and juice addictions by slowly replacing 1 or 2 glasses of the sweet stuff with water. Over time, I got to a 50:50 ratio where half of everything I drank was water. Now, it's very rare that you would see me drinking anything other than water, and it doesn't feel like punishment at all. In fact, I crave water. If you're a pop/juice addict like I once was, don't try to go cold turkey because you'll fall off the wagon (and get run over by it). Just take it one step at a time to ensure your success.