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Water. Good ol’ H2O: a necessity of life and a crucial factor in achieving you goals. Why? Well, 45-70% of your total body mass can be attributed to water (so, you’re basically a cucumber!) For every one of the 7 billion+ humans in the world, maintaining a healthy and consistent body water balance can positively impact quality of life by:
Helping to maintain heart rate
Increasing core temperature and helping to improve energy levels
Improving your cardiac output and blood flow to the skin
Achieving and maintaining a healthy level of weight
Satiating appetite
Have you ever experienced a headache late in the afternoon? One that is a dull, throbbing ache? Maybe you were at work, having stared at a screen for the past 5 hours and missed lunch due to meetings. Maybe you’re a new mom, starting your day with a cup of coffee and continuing to fuel it with several cups of caffeinated liquids. Now think: do you tend to eat more on days like this? Do you tend to have mood swings and get hangry? Now, try to remember how many glasses of water you had on the days this happens. There's a good chance your headache were your body trying to say “Hey! I need a little hydration, here!” You were dehydrated! When you’re dehydrated you have lost more water than has been replaced –through breathing, sweating, digesting, etc- which results in a decrease in blood volume, straining the heart, lungs, and circulatory systems. This makes it harder for your body to perform regular daily functions and can lead to many symptoms, including that annoying migraine in the middle of your afternoon. We have to become aware of our body's signs of dehydration and take easy preventative steps in order to avoid this water loss from occuring. Afterall, once you start to feel thirsty, you’re body has already lost its water balance, meaning DRINK UP!
I hear a lot of people tell me that they would like to drink more water to help with their healthy lifestyle goals, but they don’t enjoy having to pee all the time. * cups a day can be difficult to get in, and when you're already dreading the voiding process that comes with it, it doesn't seem that appealing. However, drinking that water can really help with maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding large fluctuations on the scale. The thing about drinking fresh, clean water is that it is flushing out toxins and helping keep your insides primed for function (so, celebrate that pee!) If it’s still not on your top priority, there are a few tricks you can do such as adding a smidge of sea salt in your bottle to help retention. If you don’t like the taste, try adding a green tea bag to your cold water, a wedge of lemon, or some mint and cucumber. Pinterest, also, has some simple solutions to help you reach your daily water intake goals!
Now, how much water should you be drinking? Well, a good guide line is 1mL for every calorie ingested. For someone like me, who eats anywhere from 1600 – 2200 calories/day, that’s 1.6-2.2L/day, and that’s if I’m not sweating! You see, for every 1 kg of fluid lost during a workout should be replaced by 1 L of water. Me? I’m way off the charts: I drink anywhere from 5-7L of water a day. It has taken me years to make this my norm by working to create healthy habits that have replace the daily consumption of pop, alcohol, energy drinks, and copious amounts of coffee. And now,when I feel that headache come on, I know it’s because it has been too long in between those bottles of water. But for the average woman, 1.5-2L (roughly 8-10 cups) is the norm.
If you are a regular at the gym, working towards a personal goal of running longer, lifting heavier, or just making it through a Zumba class, you understand that there are good days and bad days for your physical achievements. Did you know that your level of hydration can impact your level of performance in the gym? Yup! As little as a 2% drop in body hydration can impair your performance! To avoid this, there are a few things you can do pre-, during, and post- workout to help keep your energy levels up and you achieving your goals:
Pre-Exercise: to ensure you are full hydrated, try drinking 2-3 glasses of water at least 4 hours before your exercise.
During: Your goal is to replace your fluids, or at least 80% of those fluids, that you lose during exercise. This is the time you would benefit the most from having that little pinch of salt in your water bottle.
Post-Exercise: Continue to reach your daily goal of water intake.There are a lot of sports drinks out there that are advertised as a great way to get hydrated and replace lost electrolytes during and post-exercise. But, what the heck is an electrolyte? Well, electrolytes are the salts dissolved into the body’s fluids. They help regulate fluid and pH balances in the body, and contain minerals such as Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, and Bicarbonate: minerals you need in your body to keeps all functions regular! So, in theory, these drinks should be amazing for you! Why wouldn’t they be a healthy option?! Well, many of these drinks are, also, laden with sugars that will spike your blood sugar levels, and possibly set your training back. Another option: make your own. Try 1:1 ratio of orange juice and water, with a 1/4tsp sea salt and a squirt of lemon/lime.
Drinking water is the first tip I give anyone that tells me they want to lose weight. Why? Because, it is the simplest of habits to form: it doesn’t require copious amounts of time, and your body actually tells you when to drink if it has been too long. It's easy! Now you just need to get over your fear of constantly peeing throughout the day and start chugging. Your body, and your waist, will thank you!