KHFP Week One: The 8X8 rule of drinking water

Kandie’s Health & Fitness Project 24 weeks of breaking into new food habits and choices

Week One: The 8X8 rule of drinking water
The rule simply states: Drink 8-eight ounce glasses of water a day

We all know that we should drink water because its good for us, but sometimes we forget why. There are so many benefits of drinking water and there are just as many myths as to how much. For this project we will keep it simple and expand on it later as I do more research. The main reason for starting with drinking water is because it gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Plus, water is used by the body to help flush out toxins and waste products from the body.

Drinking water is one of the easiest efforts you can incorporate into your weight loss or weight maintenance plan. Think about it: unlike saying no to eating that delicious pastry at work or going to kickboxing class once or twice a week, making sure you are drinking enough water requires little to no will power. There's no excuse for not drinking enough water, and if you're having trouble finding a way to fit your recommended 8 glasses a day into your schedule, it's an easy fix. http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/how-drinking-water-helps-weight-loss.html　


But first, here are just a few benefits of drinking water:

 Helps You Lose Weight: There's a reason why most diets and fitness programs ask you to drink a lot of water. One of the benefits of drinking water is that it helps you lose weight. Water suppresses your appetite, so you don't eat as much. Drinking plenty of water also prevents fluid retention, because your body won't try to retain water if it's getting enough. Drinking water also helps your body burn stored fat. If you're not drinking enough water, your liver will be forced to help your kidneys detoxify your body. When you drink plenty of water, your kidneys don't need any extra help, so your liver will be able to metabolize stored fat more efficiently. Drinking water flushes toxins from your body and prevents constipation.
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/5-little-known-benefits-of-drinking-water.html
　

It Curbs Hunger: Water is a natural appetite suppressant. Insufficient fluid can lead to over eating. Your brain does not differentiate between hunger and thirst. If 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 other words, when you think you are hungry, your body may in fact be 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!
http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/fat-loss-by-drinking-water.html
　

Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. While water doesn't have any magical effect on weight loss, substituting it for higher calorie beverages can certainly help."What works with weight loss is if you choose water or a non-caloric beverage over a caloric beverage and/or eat a diet higher in water-rich foods that are healthier, more filling, and help you trim calorie intake," says Penn State researcher Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/6-reasons-to-drink-water



Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don't get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration -- and the result is constipation. "Adequate fluid and fiber is the perfect combination, because the fluid pumps up the fiber and acts like a broom to keep your bowel functioning properly," says Koelemay.http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/6-reasons-to-drink-water

 Believe it or not ladies, but this is very important when it comes to losing weight and being healthy. Because, if you are not properly eliminating that built up waist it causes all kinds of problems you may not be aware of.

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.
http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/fat-loss-by-drinking-water.html
　

Many health professionals as well as alternative practitioners suggest adding fresh lemon juice to your water. Lemons are known for its vitamin C content, antibacterial effects and alkaline effects, plus many more powerful benefits. (look forward to more discussion on lemons). It is said that the best drinking water is filtered water or alkaline water. Bottled water is practically equivalent to tap water nowadays, so do your own investigation regarding this revelation. You want to gulp your glass of water for the volume to help you fill full. So however you decide to accomplish this, just get to drinking more water. How can you realistically accomplish the task of drinking 64 ounces of water a day. This may not seem like a hard thing to do, but if you consume a lot of juices, soft drinks or other sugary drinks then this is gonna be a challenge for you. Because, the drink of choice should now be water, you are gonna have to make this a habit and chose to drink water if you want to really lose weight. This one simple tweak is a powerful step in this project and the best place to start.

 
How to break-in to drinking 8 glasses of water a day:

1).  When you wake up immediately drink 8 ounces of lukewarm water, gulp don’t sip
2).  20 minutes before breakfast drink another 8 ounces of water
3).  Around 2 hours later (about 10am) drink another 8 ounces
4).  10-20 minutes before lunch is your next 8 ounces of water
5).  Then about 2 hours later (around 3 or 4pm)
6).  10-20 minutes before dinner another glass of water
7).  A couple of hours after dinner around 9 or 10pm have another glass of water
8).  Right before going to bed drink your last 8 ounces lukewarm water

This basic schedule can be adopted to your schedule, this one is based on you waking up at 6 a.m. I however, never get up this early, but I do tend to set my alarm for 6 a.m. just to drink my lukewarm water that I already have next to my bed out of sheer habit. To clarify, I always fill a big 32 ounce cup with ice water every night and by morning it is still a little cold. I encourage you to designate a specific water container for your water consumption that has ounces on it to help you out. Or, if you plan on using bottled water, carry enough with you when you are away from home.



Assignment One:Since this project is for weight loss, it only makes since for you to take down a few body measurements. You need to know where you are now so you must do the following:
Before Photo: front, back and side views
Before Measurements: weight, waist, hips and thighs. Optional, chest and biceps
Jot down: any ailments, medical stats (like blood pressure, cholesterol etc.)
Check with your physician to make sure the added fluids or okay for you to ingest

Assignment Two:It is important for you to be aware of what you eat and drink daily. So, for this assignment you will start a daily food journal. This can be done in a planner, notebook, online or actual journal. You must be honest about what you actually eat because it will help tremendously later on when you have to add new food items.