H20 = Body Beautiful

During this transformation year, aka my journey from Flab to Fab, I have come to realize how important water is to my health and my diet. It truly is the miracle drink! Maybe when Ponce de Leon discovered the fountain of youth...he might have discovered the first ever drinking fountain. Who knows? Water does a body good and makes your skin so much younger looking too!

My water intake for, let's say, the last 30 years of my life, before I started this diet, consisted of diet soda. I hardly drank water at all and made the excuse that soda had water in it. While soda might have helped me from becoming dehydrated...it also added a lot of bad stuff into my body! Well I've done a totally 360 on my drinking habits. I have don't drink soda anymore (very rarely) and my water intake has increased significantly! I consonantly have a 1L bottle near by just to remind me to drink and rehydrate throughout the day. I do about 3-4 liters a day or about a gallon a day.

Water intake is crucial to your weight loss plan...and if anyone tells you any differently they are lying to you! Sure you go to the bathroom consistently, but that too will subside and your body will begin to adjust. Peeing is a good thing...because it's getting all the bad stuff out of your system. When I have not drank enough water and have eaten poorly...I notice that I go pee when I start properly hydrating myself again. I also know when I have not had enough water in my day because I feel heavier and I feel much less energized...it could be psychological, but for me those two things tells me I have not had enough aqua.

There are tons of ways for calculating daily fluid requirements.  A simple equation to help adults figure their fluid needs is that for every pound of body weight, you need about half an ounce of fluid intake per day.  For instance, if you weigh 140 lbs., simply multiply 140 by .5 to estimate your daily fluid needs in ounces, then divide by eight to estimate your fluid needs in cups per day, rounding up to the nearest full cup.  [example:  140 x .5 = 70 ounces; 70 ounces divided by 8 = 9 cups of fluid per day]


0.5 ounces x Body Weight in Pounds = Daily Fluid Requirement in ounces


In most instances after calculating your water intake it will probably be in the range of the common recommendations of 8-12 glasses of water a day.

Anyway...this is my advice for the day. Drink water - Stay healthy!

-Percy