Take my husband for instance. He weighs in around 185-200 lbs depending on time of year and activity level and he's 5'10". The normal BMI measurement shows him as very close to obese, yet he wears a 34" waist. He's clearly not significantly overweight. He's rather trim & athletic, but muscle weighs more than fat.
As you change your eating and/or exercise habits, your body composition is likely to change. If you do a lot of working out, your weight can initially track upwards as you gain muscle mass. This can be discouraging, but IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL AND IT'S NOT A BAD THING. In fact, I have at different points in my life weighed the same amount but worn vastly different sized pants as once I was a fluffy version and later I was an athletic version of the same weight. I'm currently now a pregnant and slightly less athletic version of myself, but still at that weight. This is all fine by me, so I think it's best to keep track of your waistline as it changes, rather than just your weight. This can help you keep track of real changes. I tend to measure right at my thinnest part of my natural waistline, and again at my belly button level, because those two points are easy to see and therefore it's easy to measure at exactly the same place every time. If you have an easy way to measure (such as a prominent freckle or scare or tattoo) your hip, butt, or thigh, those are all other valid places - I just don't find them easy to consistently measure on me.
That all being said, my best, #1 trick to losing excess fat off of my frame is...
WATER! There are so many benefits of putting more water into your system.
- Exercise
- The more you work out or challenge yourself physically, the more water you need to stay healthy. If your pee is dark yellow or especially...fragrant, you probably don't have enough water - or you have a UTI or other medical issue. Drink up!
- Hunger
- If you keep your stomach and system full with more water, it needs less food to keep you feeling full. Anything that helps you eat less is always nice.
- Waste Products
- More water=more ability for your body to rid itself of wastes. That includes anything that is an end product of digestion, but also when you are working out and burning fat, drinking more water helps to flush all that out.
- Energy
- Being even slightly dehydrated can cause you to feel fatigue. This is not only going to ruin your day, but likely slow down your exercising too!
- Skin
- Water helps keep your skin healthy even from the inside. You flush out more toxins so you end up with less blemishes!
- Deterrent
- If you quench your thirst with water, you can help avoid "empty" liquid calories in sodas or other processed beverages (remember diet drinks aren't healthier just because they're low or zero calories.) Also, soda and caffeine just dehydrate you in the long run, which makes you drink MORE of them, so limiting yourself to the occasional treat is a good idea. In between sodas, LOAD UP ON WATER!
- Pregnancy (and other) Symptoms
- Drinking more water purposely leads to a reduction in pretty much all irritating uncomfortable pregnancy symptoms (other than the weight/size change itself of course!). Nausea, headaches, dizziness, gas pains, hemorrhoids, constipation, round ligament pain, and backache are ALL helped by consuming more water. The best part about that is: if you're NOT pregnant, water can still potentially help you with these problems. It's just more noticeable in the pregnant community as we suddenly have higher water needs and our kidneys work really hard to flush out all the water...at the same time.
What it all really comes down to is this: increasing your water intake has a lot of benefits and very few risks. Don't overdrink until you flush out all of the electrolytes in your entire system, but honestly that's very difficult to do.
Sidenote: if you feel like you are taking in an adequate amount of water (64-128 oz is recommended daily depending on your size, activity level, sex, and whether you are breastfeeding and/or pregnant) but if you keep being thirsty and keep losing water in urine there are a couple of concerns. 1. Could you be low on salt? You need salt to assist in storing water in your body. If you eat any processed foods or salt your foods to taste and AREN'T exercising several hours a day in the heat - your salt level should be fine. 2. If you still can't seem to keep water in and you know you get salt in your diet, please have your doctor screen you for diabetes. Excessive thirst can be an indicator.
So everyone, drink your water!
Stay tuned for a pregnancy update, hopefully this weekend!
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