Did you drink your water today?

I know, I know - you're saying "yes Stephanie, I've heard it before."  One of the keys of weight loss/maintenance is water.  Now, I am definitely NOT an expert on this.  And yes, I have read multiple articles relating to drinking water, how much to drink, what it does for metabolism, how it reacts with your body, water retention - the list goes on and on.  If you're at all interested in weight loss, you too have read some of these articles - maybe more!

I used to laugh at my mom because when I was younger, the only thing she drank for the most part was water.  I would think, "Hello?!?!? Don't you want something different? Like milk or iced tea or lemonade??"  But almost always, she was drinking water.  I never understood why until I started wanting to lose weight.  To be very honest with you,  the very first thing I did when I wanted to lose the pregnancy weight I had gained with my son (about 5 years ago) was to force (yes I said force) myself to drink 20 oz of water before I ate ANYTHING.  So that meant that before I drank my morning coffee and ate breakfast, I slugged down 20 oz of water.  Then about 10 minutes before I would eat my lunch I would slug another 20.  And then the same before dinner.  I would also drink a little water through out my day.  Now, if you notice, by doing that, I was already at 60 oz of water each day.  The average "trend" these days is to get 64 oz of water each day.  I had it made!!!! 

What I noticed was that by drinking the water, I would be a little more full before I ate and so would not eat as much.  I can honestly say that by doing that and counting WW points, I was able to lose about 20 pounds of pregnancy weight.  Way cool!!!  Fast forward to my current weight loss/maintenance period - I find that if I haven't drank at least 80 or more ounces of water each day, that I end up 1. thirsty, 2. eating everything in sight and 3. not very regular (if you catch my drift!).  As a side note to #3 there - I was never very regular before I had my son 5 years ago.  I would go way more than 5 or 6 - maybe more days and would feel awful!  After having him, I started to become more regular and I always thought it was because of pregnancy hormones and all that.  Really - I believe I started to be regular because I started getting the amount of water my body really wanted - not just needed.  Course having fiber in your diet helps, but that is another post for another day.

For each of us, daily water consumption is different.  How and when you get it in is different as well.  I think the bottom line is that when you replace your soda, juice, and sugary drinks with water, not only will you lose weight, but your body will function better.  I know there is a whole lot more to say about this, but I don't want to bore you too much.

So, here's to all of us getting in our 64+ oz of water today and all the rest of this week!

Stephanie :0)