"And So Began my Love Affair with Water..."

Sorry for the huge gap in posting, I have been quite the jet setter these past three weeks and just finished a vacation to Torch Lake, Michigan.  While breathtakingly beautiful this past week was, it had no Internet available to blog.  I decided to throw creative caution to the wind this past week when it came to dieting.  (A.K.A, I didn't follow any rules and simply just enjoyed myself; fresh fish, steaks, guacamole, alligator, Cajun food, oh my!)  And to make sure these good feelings stick, I'm not allowed to weigh myself until next week after I've had a full week back of dieting and running training exercises.  In the mean time, back to weight watchers!

But that's not what's on my mind today, I know how to combat the back from vacation eating blues.  What is on my mind, after spending a week on a crystal clear lake, is water.  As I've been tracking what I've been eating, and working out, and drinking alcohol wise, one thing I have noticed is that my diet really does lack water.  It's not uncommon for me to skip water in general during a workout, and when I get home turn to a diet coke instead of a glass of water.  And as I'm trying to figure out why my scale wasn't working with me these past few weeks I realized, could it be I'm skipping out on something as basic as water?  So  I decided to research it a bit, and surprise surprise, drinking water has weight loss benefits!  Here's why... complements of http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/fat-loss-by-drinking-water.html

To lose fat, water is the key, apart from the proper diet choice and exercise. How does drinking water help in fat loss?

• It curbs hunger: Water is a natural appetite suppressant. Insufficient fluid can lead to over eating. You brain does not differentiate between hunger and thirst. If there there is a slight dehydration the thirst mechanism may be mistaken for hunger and one may eat when the body is actually craving for water. In another word, when you think you are hungry, your body may in fact telling you that you are thirsty!
  As most food contains some water, if you don't drink enough water, you may be subconsciously driven to eat more to gain the necessary water supply and as a result, you gain more calories and more weight!
• Water makes you feel full. Because it is filling and calorie free, water is part of the solutions when it comes to weight loss and maintenance. Water takes up room in your stomach, making you feel full. This means you’ll eat less and feel less hungry.
• It replaces sugary drinks: A half-cup of fruit juice contains between 45 and 80 calories. Sodas, sugary drinks, shakes are all contain calories. By drinking them, you would be adding considerable number of calories. On the other hand water has zero calories. So, to replace sugary drinks and cut down on your calories, keep a glass of water in your hand and sip it instead of grabbing a mixed drink or any other type of drink.
• Water boosts your metabolism. The findings are reported in the December issue, 2003 of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The researchers Michael Boschmann, MD, and colleagues from Berlin's Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Center tracked energy expenditures among seven men and seven women who were healthy and not overweight. The subjects, after drinking approximately 17 ounces of water, increases the rate of burning calories by 30% within the time frame of 30-40 minutes.
If a person who increases his water consumption by 1.5 liters a day would burn an extra 17,400 calories, for a weight loss of approximately 5 pounds. Increase metabolism means increase the calorie burn and fat loss. This is how you can achieve fat loss by drinking water.

I mean, it's almost like, duh!  It boosts my metabolism and makes me feel full! So as Brad Paisley so elegantly sang last night at his concert.... "And So Began my Love Affair with Water..."  and here begin's my love affair with the H20 goodness.  Here's to hoping for that budge in the scale!

Torch Lake, Michigan