Is your progress not where you would like it to be? Ask yourself what your water intake is looking like.
Water. I love it and I hate it. It quenches my thirst. It makes me pee every 15 minutes. It cleanses my body of toxins. I have to carry a giant jug every where I go. It fills me up, it debloats me, it keeps me hydrated and healthy. Its just so freaking annoying!
It was my worst enemy when I first started this journey. I never even gave it a thought for the first 30 days…When my trainer found out I hadn’t been drinking my recommended amount of water per day she flipped!
It has now become my greatest ally in this process. And boy I tell you what, when I don’t get enough water in I wake up the next morning bloated as AALLLLLL GET UP! I can always tell. I keep this in mind, if my goal is either aesthetics and leaning out OR performance I must stay hydrated!
Your body is about 70% water, the majority of your blood and every cell in your body is composed of water. Therefore, you need water to function properly. As with most things, the amount of water for each person is different, but if your pee isn’t mostly clear you most likely aren’t getting enough H2O. Some suggest 8 (8 oz) glasses a day while others suggest take your body weight (in pounds), divide it in half and drink that many ounces. I try to down a gallon per day, but I have seen people down 2 gallons! There is 128 ounces in one gallon. A normal sized water bottle has 16.9 ounces of water in it. So if I don’t have my normal massive 50 ounce bottle with me, I will aim for 7 normal people sized bottles per day. But, listen to what your body needs.
If you are an athlete, even 1% of dehydration can equate to a 10% drop in performance. For my athletes I recommend calculating your ounces with your body weight divided by two, plus 15, and an additional 15 for each additional hour of training. If you weight 150 lbs, and workout one hour a day you should be drinking at least 90 ounces. If you workout for 2 hours, drink 105 ounces and so on.
You can add a squirt of apple cider vinegar and lemon in the morning, a squeeze of lime, a few sprigs of fresh mint or a cucumber or orange slice. You can even add a few berries or straight BCAAs (only time I will suggest these). What ever gets you to drink it up, sooooooo who’s thirsty???