Sunday April 27th Quick Tip

Sunday was the day that we decided to get back on the wagon and be proactive in our fitness habits once again. It must have been a long time since we've done this as the grocery shopping was both a little bit of a shocker and the whole process, shopping and preparing, was a larger endeavor than I remember it being. Either way I feel good about where we are going and for once I feel just as good about the journey as I do the destination.

Our little experience today brings me to today's quick tip. Almost every store and/or building you will ever go in has automatic doors. Why not use a couple extra muscles and go through the manual doors. I know that it isn't much but at the same time it is more than the alternative would get you.

Today is a quick post but I hope you enjoyed it anyways. As always I hope this tip finds you well and gets you a little closer to being 365 Fit. Good things.

Water, the legend, the myth, the reality

Water has always been under great debate and scrutiny so I figure I'd get this one out of the way early. There are basically two extremes to this argument with a variety of gray in the spectrum. On one end you have people who think water is the godsend and you should drink as much as humanly possible during the day. On the other end are the ones who shun waters existence and curse the day that water was born and was forced upon us to consume in those unheard of quantities. I hope that most people are going to be somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. I fall into the middle some where though I lean more towards the drinking more water than not side.

I have read through a number of different articles talking about how much water do I need, should I drink eight glasses a day, how much is too much, and is there any benefit to drinking more water. The following is what I got out of the articles.

Drink water.....

Let's start out with some basics. Below are two simple formula's for figuring out how much water you should drink.

Male Drinking Requirement, in fluid ounces:Body Weight x .35
Female Drinking Requirement, in fluid ounces:Body Weight x .31

Those are just general formulas for an average person.

Hydration Calculator
This a series of nine questions that will help you to determine how much water you need. Take it for what it's worth and not as the final word on how much water you should drink.


Water: How much should you drink every day?
This article was posted at the Mayo Clinic site. Among the articles I read it provided a good amount of comprehensive coverage. It lists the health benefits of water which include flushing toxins and bringing nutrients to the body. It goes on to explain three approaches to determining how much water you need, replacement, 8 - 8 ounce glasses a day, and dietary recommendation. All three approaches boils down to this quote taken from the article, "Even apart from the above approaches, if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate." Next it discusses different factors, exercise, environment, health conditions, and pregnancy/breast-feeding, that will affect the amount of water you need. Then it continues with other sources of water besides plain water such as fruits and vegetables, milk, juice, and other beverages. Finally it wraps things up with ways to stay safely hydrated, not relying solely on if you feel thirsty before you drink something, and to make sure your water bottle is sanitary.


Benefits of drinking water oversold?
This article from MedicineNet.com was one of a number of sources that had an article about a recent study on benefits of water. I picked this one because it seemed to be the most detailed of them all as it outlines all the claims of water instead of just glossing over them. It covers the five claims of water, Drinking water helps to excrete toxins, Drinking water helps your organs work better, Drinking water reduces food intake and helps you to lose weight, Drinking water improves skin tone, and Drinking water wards off headaches. The general consensus of all the claims on whether or not they are true is that water does not help as much as it has been claimed too.

Basically there is no real benefit of drinking more water. On the same note, there is no real benefit of not drinking more water. It just comes down to personal preference and listening to your body. The article ends with some thoughts on the placebo effect of water. It says that if you think that water is helping you lose weight, have better skin, makes you feel stronger, or any other benefit that you perceive more water consumption is giving you, continue to do it. Like I said before, science hasn't really proven that more water is better, and there is no benefit of not drinking more water. So if you feel good because you just downed your eighth - eight ounce glass of water then drink on.

I like to drink water, most of the time. It does get hard to stomach after large quantities of it, but that goes for most things in life. I am a believer in the placebo effects of water in that I think it makes me feel better, makes my skin look a little better, and it gives me a general feel of being healthier when I drink more water than less.

I hope that this write up covers some questions you might have had about water and how much you need. As always stay fit, listen to your body, and you will be on your way to being 365 fit. Good things.

Friday April 25th Quick Tip

Some time ago I watched a show entitled "I want to look like a high school cheerleader again". It was a version of "The Biggest Loser" as it had multiple "competitors" trying to lose the most weight. The difference, if you can call it a difference, was that they were all former cheerleaders who have lost their form.

During the course of the show it followed the drama and showed the girls working out which was all well and good. I got into the show, and I think I watched all the episodes, though not sure if I should be admitting that or not, but either way, I watched. At the end of the series or it might have been during I forget, they were showing some of the contestants healthy things to do while out to eat.

Everyone seems to struggle with eating out. They smell the food, they see others enjoying themselves by gorging on their meals and you think, why can't I be one of those people? There was one suggestion that stuck out from the rest of them. People think that salad is a healthy alternative to the junk that most will eat while they are out. The problem with this is the creamy dressings that they pile on. The trainers on the show used a simple, common sense solution to solving that problem.

The next time you are out to eat and want or order a salad, get your dressing on the side. Have the server put it on the side, or if it's a salad bar, get a separate dish for your dressing. Once you have your dressing on the side, just dip your fork in the dish to get your dressing. This cuts down immensely on the calories you intake, and you might even find out that you can taste your salad.

I am guilty many times over of drowning my salad in dressing. I have always thought that it would make the salad taste good, and to some degree it does. If you use that simple solution stated above, you will find that your salad will taste better. All the things that make a salad healthy will taste crisp, not soggy, and the flavor will pop like a salad should.

I hope that this dining out tip will help you in your quest for 365 Fit. Use this tip with the previous dining out quick tip, and you will be well on your way to being 365 Fit. I hope this quick tip finds you well. Good things.

Thursday April 24th Quick Tip

What we live in today is an age of convenience. We all want something for nothing, and we would like it to work that the less we do the more we get. Today I give a simple tip of convenience.

When we go to the store we usually drive around in aimless circles trying to find "the" parking space. Not "a" parking space but "the" parking space. We all know the one. The one up front, as close to the door as humanly possible. We curse the cars that get a better spot than we do and we feel let down when we have to settle for a spot that is less than optimal.

My quick tip is simply this. Park in the first available spot. Not the first available spot that is closest to the building, but literally the first available spot, even if that means you are parked as far away from the door as possible. You might be thinking, well if I park that far away it will take too much time. If you can't take the extra couple of minutes to walk a little bit further and get a little bit healthier, than you might need to reevaluate things in your life, other than your parking situation. Besides, you would probably waste the same amount of time driving around in your mini circles looking for the best parking spot, as you would just parking your car and walking. You not only save the environment by driving less, you save a little cash by not wasting your gas. You might even luck out and find that it takes less time for you to walk, then it takes to drive in your circles.

I hope you enjoy today's quick tip, and I hope it takes you to being a little closer to 365 Fit.