Be. A. Water. Superstar.
Hey girl. It’s HOT. The standard 6-8 doesn’t cut it, and certainly not if you’re working out too. Start early, fill up often and chug that H2O like a boss today!
Fancy it up: Lemon & mint squeeze well into a water bottle. Orange, lime, melon, mango, berries etc. Plain water’s my favorite, but there are loads of ways to dress it up!
Get on it! :)
Hahaha, this was ME today!
Between rehydrating from yesterday and beating the crazy heat, I was throwin’ back water like it was going out of style today!
No worries: didn’t drink ALL of it. Saved plenty for you! Remember to bring a bottle with you tomorrow and fill ‘er up often. :)
5 Uber Hydrating Recipes
These recipes take advantage of water-filled produce like cucumbers, jicama, and radishes to help hydrate you from within as the weather gets warmer.
(via Fit Sugar)
Are you drinking enough water? Read more.
Water reminder! Oh baby, don’t stop!
The bigger you are, the hotter it is, the more you sweat, the more water you should drink. 6-8 glasses a day is an okay guideline… but it may not be enough for YOU.
A better way to measure is to drink half your body weight in ounces, and add a wee bit more on your sweaty workout days. Water is key to getting nutrients where they are needed and drinking ample amounts will improve your overall health (including weight loss, skin, hair, digestion, kidney function and brain power).
Tips
- Always have a reusable bottle on you. Personally, I find that the fancier
the bottle I have, the more often it gets used (I like to fill it up, carry it around etc. It’s pretty!). If you’re packing light, there are collapsible bottles you can use & roll
up as well.
- Make a habit of filling up during and after each meal. Add pee break refills, and you’re unlikely to have a dehydrated day. Always hydrate before, during & after a workout.
- Don’t save it all for a BIG refill! Our body has a limit to how much fluid it can process at once. Spread it out throughout the day.
- Don’t wait until you’re thirsty. Thirst is a sign that you’re already dehydrated and haven’t had enough.
- If you head out drinking, make sure to have a glass of water for every drink (and definitely down extra before bed). Alcohol is a diuretic: it signals the body to process water faster, sometimes at a rate 3-4 times what you’re consuming (hence why we need to pee so much when we drink). At the end of the night, the only place with any water left is our brain, and the body will pull fluids from it. A dehydrated brain shrinks and pulls itself inwards, leaving us with one hell of a headache the next day. Hangover cure? Drink more water the night before, and first thing when you wake up.
Not sure if you’re dehydrated? Try this quick test.
With your thumb, press the inside of your shinbone. Aim for the side of the bone, about halfway up the leg.
Hold & press for 5 seconds. Leave an indent? You’re likely dehydrated: you need more water. The longer the indent stays, the more of an indent you’ll have.
This indent test also works for pillow creases. Those indents on your face after a rough night sleep may also be a sign of dehydration if they take longer than a few moments to disappear.
Other ways to tell if you’re drinking enough? Your pee! Dark yellow means you may need more fluid. Light yellow to almost clear is ideal. We all have different systems, so don’t worry about how often you pee, as opposed to the quality of the urine.
Remember, the sexiest people are hydrated people! Water is also important for a stellar sex life. :)
Drink up!
I’ll be honest. I don’t ‘get’ why anyone would hate the taste of water. I don’t. I don’t understand you peeps, lol.
To me it has, and always will, taste like nothing. Maybe a refreshing nothing. Maybe a cold nothing. Maybe a ‘hint’ of earthy or chlorine nothing, but still nothing. (Similarly, I don’t get why people like the taste of a certain ‘type’ of water). That’s just me.
But from what I gather, it’s not an uncommon phenomenon, and with numbers of people swearing up and down the mountain tops that they know they should drink more water but they hate it, clearly this is something we need to address.
The thing is, you need water. You need a lot of it. And if you’re working out, trying to lose weight or just be healthier, you really need it.
“I hate water” just doesn’t cut it. :(
There are a TON of ways to spruce up your water to make it taste yummier, and I’ll share my 10 favorites with ya. But first, there are a lot of water ‘myths’ out there, so before you start reaching for one to excuse your H2O-less existence, let’s break ‘em down.
Fact-y H2O Myth Bustin’
1. The water you get from coffee, booze, soda & caffeinated tea counts too. Lemme stop you right there. Caffeine is a diuretic: that means it signals your body to release more water than normal. With booze, this can be 3-4 times the amount of water than normal (ever wonder why a little booze makes you NEED to pee?). If you’re drinking from this group of beverages, your body might nullify any hydration benefit, or even create a deficit: leaving you MORE dehydrated than before.
The water content of items like juice, water & smoothies can count: but they come with a higher caloric (and sugar) price. In general, anything that spikes your blood sugar will need a extra water to process in the body: don’t count these items for more than 1/2 their water content and make sure they’re included when you do your calorie/sugar count for the day (Tip for those that keep track - most people don’t count what they DRINK when watching their calories. Your body counts it. You should too.).
Tip: If you can’t stay away, for every coffee, caffeinated tea or (ugh….) soda, flush it down with a tall glass of water afterwards.
2. We don’t all need 6-8 glasses a day. This one MIGHT be true, but it doesn’t mean you don’t need any. As a rule of thumb, men should consume 128 ounces (3.75 Liters) of water daily, and women should consume 88 ounces (2.6 Liters. The taller you are, the more active you are, the sicker you are, the hotter it is: the more you need to drink. On days you’re working out, you’ll want to increase your minimum by about 25% or more for longer workouts. Some medications, including birth control, may increase YOUR particular body’s need for water. Know your stuffs!
The App is called 8 Glasses A Day, and it’s set up like a notification system. You can set the amount of water you want to drink at the beginning of the day, then as you drink each glass, the FULL glasses turn empty. If you complete your goal, you’re rewarded with a water ‘tip’ at the end of the day.
It’s not a bad buy at $0.99… but if you’re willing to do the extra 30 seconds of work, you can set up H20 reminders on your phone alarm for free.
Some of you complained you don’t remember to drink water: 1/2 the battle is preparation! If you have the time to write in, you have the time to set yourself up. Water is an easy one and MORE important than cardio or exercise… work on it!
Student athletes have the unfortunate combination of pressure to win & pressure to please. And while coaches are supposed to get the most out of their players, some are ill-equipped to fully understand the effects of severe heat, like the heat-waves we’ve seen this summer, on their athletes. Athletes too, seem uninformed about the warning signs of heatstroke, dehydration and other heat related illnesses.
As football season starts, more teams are working out in the morning to beat the heat, but it appears it’s not enough. Last week alone, 3 student athletes & a coach died from heat related causes on the practice field. At least a dozen more were treated for dehydration. Runners are especially susceptible; they usually run outdoors in sweltering temperatures.
Currently, there are no nationwide rules that protect students or coaches from hot weather. Most school districts have guidelines, but many aren’t enforced.
Excerpt from CNN.com
Jason West, communications director for the Missouri State High School Activities Association, said its member schools have to adopt some form of policy for dealing with hot weather. Missouri’s state association advises coaches and marching band directors to take precautions when the heat index tops 95, and cut off activities when that measure hits 105, West said.
“If the heat index is over 105, then you stop, reschedule the practice for a later day or later in the day,” he said. “If you can afford to do it at night, under lights, that would be even better, but we know some smaller districts can’t.”
Among the recommendations the association makes are frequent water breaks, and a trip to the scales at the beginning and end of each session. If a player’s weight drops 3% or more, it’s considered a sign of dehydration; losses of 5% are seen as an indicator of heat-related illness.
“That’s going to be a strong signal,” West said.
But Casa says there are no rules for coaches, and the guidelines issued by state athletic associations aren’t binding.
“It’s not like the NCAA, where they mandate rules and the colleges have to follow them,” he said. “The high school association can make some recommendations, but they don’t have any power or teeth to have those policies actually implemented.”
Franklin Stephens, the head coach at Tucker High School in suburban Atlanta, said coaches have to watch out for players who try to keep going to make an impression, despite the heat.
“I think some of them do it, but as a coach you can see it,” he said.
Casa said a task force made up of professionals from the top medical organizations in the country came together three years ago and produced a set of guidelines similar to those of the NCAA. The NCAA guidelines have been in place for eight years, and there’s been only one heat-related death on a college football field since then.
Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/08/04/heat.deaths/index.html
We’ve all heard the standard ‘drink 6-8 glasses of water a day’ rhetoric over and over and over. Yet, surprisingly, most of us STILL don’t get enough water in the day. *sigh
A lot of you will eat healthy & train your butts off, but still neglect to drink enough water. And hey, it happens! Water is the easiest thing to do, and the easiest thing to forget to do. I’m constantly reminding myself to drink up, and I need to (if you follow me on twitter, I’m kinda like the water police).
Keeping yourself hydrated is one of the most important things you can do for a healthy body AND mind. Right up there with eating right, working out & getting enough sleep. So, if water consumption is an area you could improve, it’s time to suck it up. Literally.
Surprising Things About Water & Hydration
So drink your 6-8 right? Not necessarily. Here’s the thing; 6-8 glasses a day is an okay guideline, but since we’re all different it doesn’t make sense that we use the same guideline for everyone. So enters the notion of bio-individuality: the amount of water you need depends on your size, activity level, sweat rate, climate in which you live & your diet. The bigger you are, the more you move, the more you sweat, the hotter it is where you live and EVERYTHING you eat will determine how much water YOU need.
So instead of your 6-8 glasses, a better guideline is to aim for about 1/2 your body weight in ounces, and if you sweat a lot normally, about 60%. For me, that’s 62 ounces of water a day, or about 2 liters. THEN factor in how much you’re moving & other factors. For example, I drink an extra 1/2 liter for every 30 minutes I workout or so. I sweat a lot, so sometimes it’s a bit more. If it’s hot out, then I drink more than that.
Ounces to Liters Conversion Calculator
Still, getting enough to drink can involve a bit of guesswork and guesswork is a pain in the butt. If you really want to know if you’re getting enough, use the following 2 tests to tell.
This is why you should drink a lot of water if you’re trying to be healthier!
1. A healthy, hydrated body is typically 72% water to begin with
2. You know all those yummy fruits and vegetables you’re eating on a regular basis now? Well water brings all the good nutrients within those healthy foods and delivers them to your deserving cells! :) The more the merrier!
3. If you drink the RDA of water a day, it cleanses your system when you sweat or go pee. :)
4. If it werent for your kidneys, you wouldnt be able to process fluids! If you don’t get enough water, the kidneys, which are responsible for filtering our fluids and taking nutrients from them, they get clumps of salt and other compounds which turn into kidney stones. Kidney stones are very painful.
5. Because it’s summer and we’re all out on the beach and such, our homeostasis, the heating and cooling system in our bodies that keeps our body temperatures around 98.6 degree, is responsible for keeping us cool. If you don’t drink enough water on those hot days, you can get dehydrated and then cause damage to your organs! :O
6. If you don’t get enough fluids, your body goes into preservation mode. It constricts the blood vessels and uses water more slowly. This causes high blood pressure.
7. When you have high blood pressure, the blood moves more slowly throughout the body and the heart has to work a lot harder to keep up. This puts you at risk of having heart disease or a heart attack.
8. No one likes wrinkled, older looking skin do they? Well drink water! When you drink water, and especially when you sweat it out, it leaves your skin young and fresh.
9. If you haven’t noticed, water has 0 calories. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Goose eggs. As opposed to soda, juice, energy drinks, etc.
10. Water is a great appetite suppressant! Drinking it before and after meals can make you less hungry! :)
I know you hear it all the time: “Drink water. It’s good for you. Blah, blah, blah.” But this actually gives you really informative reasons that I think everyone should be aware of. :) Go get your water!
(via cruisinforlosin)
It’s summer & easy to forget that we need to drink a little bit more to offset the water we lose through sweat. Even if you’re not drenched with ‘glow’, higher temperatures mean your body’s letting go of water faster than in cooler months. So you need to guzzle it down more than usual, and that can be difficult to get used to.
Keeping hydrated is the best thing you can do to hit your fitness goals: water’s important for everything you do and the more active you are, the more you need (that 8 glasses required a day can turn actually be 16 if you’re moving more!). It also works to repair your muscles, transport the nutrients you eat to the places they need to go, and helps stave off cravings (your body can mistake hunger for thirst. Sometimes, we just need a little H2O!)
So how do you know if you’re getting enough?
