Camila and Belinda - you are both really maximising things and doing so well.
My Wednesday was another maximum points day. I had my full 3 litres of water and did more than enough exercise...
I did a reasonable amount of outdoor walking - then followed it up with an hour of Zumba at night...
The Zumba that I do is severely hardcore... Lots of Zumba instructors do it as a part time other job. Their other jobs could be office work or anything... Anyway my Zumba teacher's other job is that he is a dance teacher... He is a brilliant dancer and has danced in the Rio carnival for one of the samba schools... He is also a fully qualified personal trainer... He does brilliant Zumba classes and really works us as hard as we individually can go... Heavier people (like my husband) can cut the moves and that is great too... He works us all so that everyone is totally exhausted... I sweat so much that my hair is absolutely wet... He calls it hardcore and says that he cannot think of a way of making it any more intensive... I have tried out lots of other Zumba instructors - but I know which classes give me the fullest workout...
Rather annoyingly - my pedometer reset around mid-day losing my steps to that point (including past days) - but even so my step count (despite starting again at 0 well into the day) got up to 23,536... I am pretty proud of my step counts... As a general approximation 2,000 steps is taken as being the equivalent of 1 mile - and a lot of medical experts suggest that we should aim to be more active and get our step counts up around the 10,000 steps per day level... I tend to aim much higher on an "every day of the year" basis......
All this talk of weighing means that I really need to apologise in advance... I know that my weighing will not be good this week... I really need to think of this as being a long term project and not a short term diet... My weight is always going to have to be something that I am mindful about and work at... I cannot think in terms of doing it UNTIL the summer or goal or any other end point... My strategy has to be one for the long term... I resolved six years ago that there would be occasions where I would splurge and that I would accept it and behave as good as I could... That I would occasionally eat out and try to not be the diet bore and would just eat as everyone else did... Well a good friend of ours who lives in Spain is coming over to England and we are eating out at a restaurant tonight. It actually means that we will not go to salsa which we normally do on a Thursday night... I am pretty sure that even with a healthy menu choice - I will go high sodium and gain weight... Luckily there are not too many challenge points that are dependant on weight and short of injury - I would expect to scoop maximum exercise points for the duration of the challenge...
Camila - you say that you feel less bloated through TOM than usual... That would be the effect of the water... Like for me, the 3 litres of water that you are drinking is in excess of the 1 ounce per 2 pounds of weight recommendation... Basically there are certain things in life that cause us to retain water - things that affect how much water we need... TOM is one of them... Sodium is another (which is why it can be worth people checking that they are not eating in excess of 2300mg sodium per day)... We retain water, feel bloated and gain weight... Drinking plenty of water actually goes some way to counteract that...
Not drinking enough water is a main culprit for water retention. Water helps your liver convert fat into usable energy. If you don't drink enough, your kidneys are overwhelmed with concentrated fluids, and they will make your liver do extra work. Your liver works hard to turn your body fat into the energy that you use but if it has to do the kidney's work, then it simply hold onto the extra fat that would have been burned off if you simply had enough water.
And what's worse is that instead of excreting water and waste products, you body retains existing water to reuse. This is what causes water retention and bloating. When you don't get enough water, your body panics and holds on to it selfishly, as though you're in a famine. Dehydration thus can make you look bloated and fat instead of thin and taut. The best way to get rid of this water retention is to drink enough of it to return your body and its processes back to a normal equilibrium.
You'll also feel thirsty more often, and this will start a healthy cycle of thirst leading to hydration. But you have to keep it up because if you stop drinking enough water, all the good things you've gained from drinking water (balanced body fluids, weight loss, decreased hunger and thirst) will reverse back to the way they were. In the human body, water affects every aspect of our health. Water lubricates joints and organs. It maintains muscle tone and keeps skin elastic and soft. Water regulates body temperature, filters out impurities, and keeps the brain working properly while transporting nutrients to and from cells.
Keep drinking the water... It is much more important than just getting us challenge points...
Camila - Happy 1 month anniversary.
Don't mind while I cheer myself on a bit here! Ha!
or I'd try it.
but now I actually look forward to it..haha!
