Water, Water Everywhere!

Drink plenty of water!

Water is a natural appetite suppressant and lack of water can lead to over-eating. This is because your brain doesn’t differentiate between hunger and thirst, so when you think you are feeling hungry; chances are your body really needs water, so drink a large glass of water before you eat.  In most cases, you will probably find this will satisfy what you thought were hunger pangs.  Ask yourself “Is my tummy grumbling?”  If it’s not – you’re probably NOT hungry – more than likely you are thirsty!

Water Facts

Your body is 70% water! It’s the second most important substance for life and a solvent for most of the nutrients in the body. It balances body temperature. It flushes out impurities in the skin leaving your skin looking younger for longer.

Depression and chronic fatigue can be linked to dehydration.  Even a 5% drop in body fluids can cause a 25-30% loss of energy in most people.

Water is the basis of all biological processes in the body – mainly for the digestive system.  Digestion of solid foods requires large amounts of water.  Water aids the kidneys in eliminating the waste from our bodies – not enough water and you poison your body as the toxins stay inside.

Water lubricates the body’s joints – cartilage needs to be well hydrated.  Water stored in your spinal disc core supports about 75% of the upper body’s weight!  It aids in muscle action as well as muscle tone. Muscles ‘work’ better.

Finally… 85% of the brain tissue is water!

How much do we need?

Nearly every diet programme, book or weight loss class recommends 2 litres (roughly 8 glasses a day).  However, a more accurate indicator is

 1 litre for every 4 stones or 56lbs or 25kgs you weigh!

We absorb around about 1 litre from our food per day – the rest we need to drink.

Water Is Your ‘Secret Weapon’ To Aid Fat Loss

Liver metabolises fat by breaking it down into its manageable compounds.  If kidneys do not get enough water, the liver has to pick up the slack and therefore does not metabolise fat efficiently which results in you storing fat!!

If you don’t drink enough your body thinks it’s in a dessert and goes into survival mode.  The more water you drink, the more your body gives up the stores of water it has been collecting in your ankles, knees and even around your belly.  If you feel bloated you may not be drinking enough water.

If your body knows it’s going to get a regular amount of water then it will start working properly!

Muscle versus Fat!

I watched the UK Biggest Loser this week and found the weigh-in concerning as it isn’t very clearly explained why the contestants who appear to have worked so hard  lose very little weight.

My own theory, based on both my own experience and coaching my clients through their weight loss journey, is that it’s the muscle versus fat conundrum.

The Skinny on Fat & Our Body

Basically, fat is lighter than muscle but takes up more volume.  A poor “diet” leads to depletion of Lean Body Mass and increase in body fat so you have to reverse cycle by losing fat and maintaining and increasing lean muscle mass.

MRI of fat stored around the body

Why increase lean body mass (LBM)?

• Every 1lb/0.9kg of LBM burns 14 calories per day
• Every 1lb/0.9kg of fat burns only 2 calories per day
• Muscle occupies less space (smaller trouser or dress size)
• More muscle = more calorie burn
• Fat is unhealthy and undesirable, studies now show fat releases health damaging hormones into your body

Our bodies use the food we store in the following order:

1^st            Sugar

2^nd           Protein

Finally      Fat

So we need to keep our lean muscle mass healthy and growing – every 1lb/0.9kg  of muscle burning 14 calories – sounds like a great reason to ensure that we have the right amount of lean muscle mass to me!! By increasing our daily intake of good nutrition we get our bodies out of starvation/survival mode.

Help your body become a “lean mean fat burning machine”

In order to effectively burn fat, we must use it as a source of fuel. To do this in a healthy way, we need to decrease quick sugars and increase protein and good nutrients. This will keep the body working at optimum and help steady and increase metabolism.

So there are three quick ways to make your body a fat burner:

1. Eat enough of the right calories (good nutrition)

2. Eat enough protein

3. Starve your body of the ‘quick sugars’ found in starches and processed foods

TIP:  Don’t obsess with the scale. Instead, look at/focus on your inch/cm loss and how your clothes fit as what matters. What your measurements will tell you is how your resting metabolic rate and fat percentage are responding to your changing habits. You WILL ‘eventually’ lose ‘weight’ if you are burning body fat.

Two Weeks complete!!

Just a quick update…

As I said last week, the real challenge for me last week was to keep my focus on my original plan, sticking to my SMART goal of 5lbs/2kgs a month and not be distracted because I achieved that in my first week.

After years of dieting I do finally know myself and, with a couple of breakfast meetings and a really packed schedule for this week, making sure I didn’t fall off the wagon in week 2 was going to be tough.

I did keep feeling tempted to set myself a new goal but resisted and so have maintained my loss and have still lost 5lbs/2kgs this month.  In reality this means I didn’t lose any more weight this week but I’m not at all disappointed by this as I am still on track to achieve my goal for the month!

I can feel my body changing shape and know that muscle weighs more than fat so that this is very likely to be the reason why coupled with the fact that I’m drinking more water as I was quite dehydrated.

I will explain more about both muscle and water in my next couple of blogs and then let you know how week 3 went!

How Did I Do Week One?

Following my last blog I said I’d share with you how I was doing with my new goal setting plan.

My plan has chunked down my overall goal to what are known in business (or your personal life!) as a SMART goal – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.  For me, this SMART goal is 5lbs/2kgs a month which I feel really comfortable about and happy with.  What I said in my last blog was that when I achieved that in one month, I will feel successful, really pleased with myself and motivated to do it again the next month.

Well, great news!  I’ve done it!! I lost exactly 5lbs/2kgs not in one month but in one week!! This wasn’t really a surprise on the Herbalife programme I’m on.  I do feel successful, really pleased with myself, I’m feeling fitter and my clothes are starting to feel much more comfortable.

There is a BUT though….. I now want to set the same goal for myself this week and I need to keep the old demons at bay that tempt me to go back to my old ways!

The reality is that I haven’t really achieved my goal yet as it is to lose that weight and keep it off for a month!  I know that if I decide now to lose the same this week and fail to do so all those nagging self doubts will set in and I’ll completely undermine myself and what I’ve achieved so far.  I’ll give up in despair and frustration and decide not to bother.

In my yo-yo dieting life, I’ve had many months of losing for a week or so but ending up at the end of the month the same weight as I started.  I’ve had to fight myself not to give in to the temptation – not of food – but of setting myself a new target.

So I’m keeping my focus on my original plan, sticking to my SMART goal and have decided that anything extra I lose will just be a bonus and bring me closer to my ultimate target!

Setting Realistic Goals

I read several really great and inspiring books while I was away over the Christmas period.  They have really helped me look at the “baggage” I’ve been carrying around and get my head in the right place to deal with my current challenges in life.

They weren’t anything particularly to do with weight loss but were about setting clear goals and focusing on achieving them in every area of your life.

One particular book, Stop Talking Start Doing by Sháá Wasmund with Richard Newton and subtitled A Kick in the Pants in Six Parts, was originally intended for people thinking about setting up their own business.  As the authors say, “But it changed.  The impetus needed to start a business is the same as anyone teetering on the brink of anything…”.

I have my goal weight that I want to achieve this year, which as I’ve said in previous blogs is losing 2½ stone/16kgs (35lbs), but perhaps here “want” is the key word!  For those fans of Blackadder what we now need is a plan, though it doesn’t necessarily have to be cunning.

The first step in that plan has to be to restate my goal as “I plan to lose…” and then move swiftly on to the next step of chunking it down.

Again to quote Stop Talking Start Doing, “losing 2 pounds a month sounds far more focused than losing 2 stone in a year” which, of course, is what you’ll have achieved. But 2 pounds a month sounds too easy!  Where’s the sacrifice? The punishing exercise programme? The deprivation? The martyrdom to your weight loss cause?

We all want the quick fix in today’s fast moving, instant society but stop and think about how long took you to put on the extra weight in the first place.

My usual approach is that I have no particular monthly goal or plan but really want to lose 1 stone/14 pounds in a month or even my whole target! But this is just demotivational and not necessarily realistic or healthy. Instead of feeling good about whatever I lost, I would just feel depressed, a failure and want to chuck the whole thing in and give up!  Sounds familiar?

My own plan is now to lose 5lbs/2kgs a month which I feel really comfortable about and happy with.  When I achieve it, I will feel successful, really pleased with myself and motivated to do it again the next month.  And if I overachieve it, it will be absolutely brilliant and truly fantastic!!

Feel free to join me in planning and, of course, doing!

I’ll let you know how I get on.

New Year’s Resolutions – Getting Back on Track

Well, as most people do for New Year but I began in December, I started with great intentions to lose weight and did lose 2kgs (just over 4lbs) in 2 weeks but an extended break when we went away to Portugal for Christmas and New Year really called a halt to my progress.

I did manage not to gain any weight over Christmas and ate pretty healthily, sticking to my Herbalife^® maintenance routine of 1 shake a day and my suggestions in my blog.  I must confess that my reason for not losing any more weight was overindulgence in alcohol! The bottle of wine, shared with my husband, every evening and local lager-type beers definitely put a stop to any further weight loss.  I did increase my exercise level with long beach walks and horse riding in absolutely beautiful sunny weather with a friend who lives out there, which probably helped damage limitation!

Now I’m back in the UK and, along with millions of others around the world, have made my New Year’s resolution to make 2012 the year that I achieve my goal weight.  I still have my target set as losing 2½ stone/16kgs (35lbs) and get my BMI to under 25 and my body fat % to between 25-30%.

To keep me on track I’m monitoring and recording weekly my weight, BMI, body fat %, body muscle % and water levels with a hand held body monitor.  Body fat monitors can be quite cheaply purchased from local chemists or online now and, while not 100% accurate, will give you consistent information.  Knowing myself well, I will probably weigh myself most days as though everyone says you shouldn’t, I just can’t resist as I have to know, particularly after I’ve had a good day, whether what I’m doing is working.

Body fat % is an important measure as I want to know that I’m losing fat and not water or lean muscle.  People who look thin and lean often have a very high internal body fat level which is a real health risk. With the right level of protein, which I will definitely achieve using Herbalife^® shakes and products combined with a healthy main meal, this should not be a problem for me though.

I’m now two days in to my new regime and feeling better and my clothes are getting more comfortable so I know I’m on the right track!