Why Water Can Change Your Nutrition, Health, Weight, and More

I just bought a new water filter today. What a difference a good glass of water makes. In fact, water is one of the most common starting points when I work with clients on losing weight, losing fat, improving health, even eating less. Water is the wonder drink to cure what ails most of us. Why?

Water Helps You Consume Less Calories

A 12 oz. can of Coca-Cola contains 140 calories and 39 g of sugar. Yikes! Juices aren't much better. Nor is tea (except maybe green tea). Diet soda...don't make me go there. The artificial sweeteners are killing your metabolism and causing you to eat more food (that's for another blog on another day!).

Water is calorie free. The average person will consume 40% less calories by substituting water in as their only beverage. Try it for a week and you will be a water fiend. Water also triggers a human stomach to feel satisfied (the signals for hunger and thirst are the same in the human body). By merely consuming an 8 oz. glass of water before a meal, we are guaranteed to eat less.

Drink only water for a week and shed 40% of your caloric intake (and that's from beverages alone!). Drink water before and during meals (for the real fanatics, don't drink anything during a meal to maximize digestion) to cut down on food-based calories for a week. Weight loss is a cinch with water. And if you are overweight, losing a few pounds with a water-focused plan can improve blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and joint function. Yes, it's that simple. Simple, however, is not always easy.

Water Increases Your Metabolism

Guess what 8 oz. beverage you can drink first thing in the mornig to improve your metabolic response by 24%? Water! Our metabolism was designed to respond to water. Studies prove that drinking water upon rising is a sure-fire way to get your metabolism in gear. In addition, drinking cold water increases calorie burning (not by a lot, but every calorie burned adds up). If your metabolism is in gear, not only are you burning more calories, but you are also processing nutrients more quickly. When it comes to muscle repair, processing nutrients (giving the body what it needs when it needs it) is a really big deal!

Water Helps Cure Many Ailments

I'm going to get in trouble for this one, I just know it. The truth is that increased water consumption can improve the condition of virtually every cell in the human body. Skin is in bad shape, drink more water. Joints or muscles are aching, drink more water. Body is retaining too much water, drink more water (seriously!).

Water can help to lower cholesterol. Water can help increase brain function. Need more lung capacity, perhaps try water (and definitely eliminate carbonated beverages)! Water is a big deal.

When drinking water (64-120 oz. a day) becomes a habit for you, watch out! You may be completely unstoppable.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to change their body now! Adam follows good weather, which means he is currently training clients in Minnesota…anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Wayzata, MN When fall and winter arrive, Adam will be headed toward Florida, Arizona, Australia, and other warm climates. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work and how he can help you lose fat, keep muscle, and keep your better half.

Do You Make Successful Weight-Loss Choices?

I am advising a client in St. Louis, MO on a special fat loss and weight loss project. Kristen is making tremendous strides in her journey to lose fat and weight (her goal is upwards of 50 lbs!).

I was talking with her mother yesterday, who said, "Any weight loss she gets is going to defy her genes."

Armed with a thorough idea of her eating habits and patterns over the last few years, I said, "I'm not sure I agree with that. Genes don't make a person eat Taco Bell. Genes don't make a person take the elevator instead of the stairs or park in the closest parking spot instead of one that requires a longer walk. Choices will beat genes almost every time. You get what you focus on, whether it is fitting into a tight pair of blue jeans or fitting an entire blueberry pie into your mouth. Focused decision-making rules in the fat loss world."

She thought for a minute, smiled, and then said, "That's no nonsense right there. And you're right!" I smiled. I've learned in my time on this planet that when momma says you're right, you are right!

The bottom line, though, is that anyone who wants to lose fat can do so if they focus on what they want instead of focusing on their obstacles to getting there. "Everyone in my family has a slow metabolism." "I can't exercise very much because I have a bad case of asthma (or cholesterol, or high blood pressure, etc.)."

Almost everyone who has yet to get the body they want has a story about why they can't get it. Most of those stories include an excuse about genetic pre-disposition to being fat. To that I say, "Lean turkey baloney!"

Here are three choices regarding focus that will help you burn more fat (and lose more weight), despite your "genetic predisposition":

FAT LOSS CHOICE #1: Choose to write down what you eat, daily!

A study just came out (as of 7/8/2008 ) showing that those who write in a food journal lose twice as much weight as those who do not write down their food intake. Whether you are tracking spending or food intake, tracking inspires results. Numbers don't lie, which is why I like them. Focus on writing down your food and your genes will allow you to fit into your jeans.

FAT LOSS CHOICE #2: Choose to have a plan for your workout.

Every client I work with experiences better results in the gym when they walk through the door with a plan for their workout. When we have a paper in our hand that tells us what to do, we usually do it. Experts agree that making lists is the best way to shop for groceries, run a business, manage a day, and produce results in the gym. When you come to the gym prepared for your workout with a written out game plan, you tell your body and your time where to go instead of wondering where they went.

FAT LOSS CHOICE #3: Choose to put your goals in front of you, daily.

Remember in 2007 when our military shot down a satellite that had gone astray and was going to crash to earth if we didn't detonate it from afar? The failed satellite was the size of a bus, and was shot down 130 miles above us. Talk about hitting a far away target! Humans, however, can be even more impressive when they focus with complete intensity on their goals. If it is a pair of jeans, a dress, or a picture of you from the past, put your body goal in front you so you will see it daily. It doesn't matter how far away your target is...you can hit it if you choose to focus on it daily.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to change their body now! Adam follows good weather, which means he is currently training clients in Minnesota...anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Lake Minnetonka. When fall and winter arrive, Adam will be headed toward Florida, Arizona, Australia, and other warm climates. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work and how he can help you lose fat, keep muscle, and keep your better half.

Three Steps To Guaranteed Fat Loss

Whenever I meet someone, the conversation usually steers toward business. They ask, “What do you do?”

I answer, “I work with people who want to keep their better half.”

“Oh, so you are a relationship counselor?”

“No, I’m a personal trainer. I help people keep their muscle and burn their fat.”

They smile, sometimes laugh, and then start asking a thousand questions about fitness, food, supplements. Business is good.

Question for you…when you go to the gym, what do you burn? “Well,” you might say, “I keep very careful tabs on my heart rate so I burn a lot of fat.” Really? Few people I meet in the gym actually burn fat on a consistent basis. It’s a very hard thing for a body to do, which is why people usually burn more muscle than fat, even on shows like “The Biggest Loser.” In my time as a nutrition minded personal trainer, I have helped many clients burn fat at an unbelievable rate.

As I've studied fat loss and passed along key fat loss ideas to other trainers, I have been amazed by their feedback. A few trainers have mentioned idea #2 from the list below, but I have NEVER, EVER heard a trainer mention ideas #1 or #3. From my work alongside other trainers, it is clear that the following is uncommon wisdom.

Here are three ideas that I drive home with anyone I work with:

FAT LOSS TIP #1: Become a Believer in 10-second cardio

In 20 minutes, you can burn 3x more fat than someone else in 40 minutes. How? Utilize the body’s natural fat burning process.

Your muscles need oxygen to be available to burn fat. Your muscles have little stores of oxygen, that last for 10-15 seconds. To maximize fat loss, go as hard as you can on an elliptical or bike machine for 10 seconds, then half speed for 15 seconds (the oxygen store needs to recover its supply, which takes 1.5 times the amount of exertion). By alternating between 10-second bursts of 100% effort and 15-second recovery at 50%, you will maximize fat loss during cardio. If you can use this cardio interval for a twenty minute workout, you are a champ…a fat burning champ!

FAT LOSS TIP #2: Take the Right Fat Loss Supplement

When I first started really studying fat loss, I made one critical addition to my nutrition plan and lost four pant sizes in 10 weeks without changing my diet or my workouts. The only thing I did differently during that time span was add Tonalin CLA. Conjugated linoleic acid is a natural ingredient of the earth (linoleic acid comes from grass) that helps the body to use fat stores as a primary energy source. This is important because when the body is burning fat it is not burning muscle!

Clinical studies have shown that 3.4 grams of tonalin CLA (tonalin is the only kind proven to work) per day is the amount the body needs to initiate this fat loss in full force. Assuming each pill is 1 gram, take 2 pills twice daily. Two CLA first thing in the morning, two CLA mid-afternoon.

FAT LOSS TIP #3: Follow the most important secret in fat loss.

There is a clinically proven way to lock-in fat burning, increase workout productivity, and decrease soreness. Very few people know about the best way to guarantee a great workout and lock-in fat-burning in the process. I’m not about to give this one away, but you can email me (adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com) and I will be glad to share with you the most important secret I’ve discovered on fat loss.

Armed with the three strategies above (you have to email me for the third strategy…I don’t give away secrets to people who aren’t willing to go the extra mile), you will optimize fat loss every single time you hit the gym.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to change their body now! Adam follows good weather, which means he is currently training clients in Minnesota, specifically Eden Praire, MN. When fall and winter arrive, Adam will be headed toward Florida, Arizona, Australia, and other warm climates. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work and how he can help you lose fat, keep muscle, and keep your better half.

Tags: cardio, fat loss, personal trainer, weight loss