weight loss and fluids

Anonymous commented yesterday asking about the use of sparkling water vs. regular water and the effects on weight loss results.

This question prompted this morning's entry about fluids in general.

In our program we recommend at least 64 ounces of water per day. Othef fluids, such as diet sports drinks, sugar free iced tea, diet sodas, etc are also allowed as part of the program.

Many people ask about diet sodas. Lots of stuff on the internet about cancer risk and aspartame. Some people do better with caffeine intake..more alert and energetic. I have read noithing in the medical literature proving that caffeine causes any significant risks, although certainly some people respond with faster heart rate, increased urination and breast cysts sometimes are worsened by caffeine.

For many people plain water is "boring" for lack of a better word and does not provide the certain "kick" that the caffeine diet beverages offer.

First: I do not see a difference between sparkling water and plain.

Second:Try to keep the diet sodas to a minimum...perhaps one a day. Iced tea? fine....not much restriction required. Crystal lite and similar drinks? Limit to 2 a day. Coffee? perhaps 2 a day.

Water is what we are made of...water is the fluid of choice

hot weather, fluids and weight loss

First of all, thank you Suzanne for the very nice comment yesterday...for those of you who did not read the comment, Suzanne was very complimentary about the daily blog and said that she could almost hear my Nuuu Yooork accent voice in her head saying the things I am writing...and that is EXACTLY what I want to do (minus the annoying accent), which is to get into my patients' heads daily with stuff to think about...because once again, if we stop thinking about issues, we go automatically back to old behaviors and the weight starts going back on.

It has been very hot outside and during the warm/hot months we tend to drink lots more fluids. Some fluids overtly are harmful to our weight loss efforts....non-diet coke, pepsi, beer, etc. As we ingest these drinks we know full well that they will impact on our weight loss efforts. However, have you seen the caloric count on a large glass of ornage juice??? Cranberry or other fruit juices??? VERY HIGH!!! Water, flavored waters such as Propel (grape is my favorite and they are now a corporate sponsor...laughing...teasing!!) Please get used to checking the nutritional labels on every drink that you take in other than plain water and if the caloric count is not 20 or below, switch to a different drink. At Starbucks or any other coffee place that sells the iced drinks, be careful of the calorie count...ask them what is the amount of calories that are in the drink you are ordering. Paying attention to these "small" details can really add up!