Welcome to Week 1 of our New Year’s Nutrition Boot Camp! I don’t know about you guys but I am ready to get this party started.

Don’t forget that each weekly challenge will start on Monday and I will post challenge details the Saturday beforehand. You have today and tomorrow to prepare! And it’s not too late to sign up if you haven’t…. click here for sign-up details.

Your goal for this week:

Drink 8 cups of water each day (1 cup = 8 fl oz.)

I know what you are thinking… water? really? Isn’t that so basic?

Don’t forget that this challenge is to build a foundation for a healthy diet that will get you started on the right track for 2016. There are 3 major mistakes I see people making in their diets, especially when it comes to weight loss, and inadequate hydration is numbero uno.

Use your Week 1 Food Diary to keep track of your food intake and water goal. Download it here!

Here’s what we know about hydration

Sometimes we think our body is hungry when really what we are experiencing is thirst.

Filling up your beverage intake with water will leave less room for calorie-filled beverages that provide little nutritional value.

What types of drinks count towards water intake?

For the purposes of our challenge, only water will count towards your hydration goal.

Some ideas for you if you’d like to infuse your water

• Buzzfeed’s 14 beautiful fruit-infused waters to drink instead of soda
• Food Network’s How to make water the most delicious thing ever
• Hello Glow’s Infused water ideas
• All Recipes’ Fresh ideas for making infused water

Studies about water intake and weight loss

The purpose of our the New Year’s Nutrition Boot Camp is really about health, but I know many participants are interested in weight loss. So I pulled a few studies for you related on water intake and weight loss:

• This study in overweight women found that increased water intake resulted in weight loss, independent of diet and exercise factors.
• This recent study published in the science journal Obesity found that participants who drank 500mL before each meal lost significantly more weight than participants who did not.
• A previous study from a few years ago found similar results
• This study on overweight girls ages 18-23 found that drinking 500 mL water 3x per day (before meals) results

 

Stay tuned later this week for my thoughts on diet soda!!