A pound is equivalent to 3500 calories. To over simplify, if you want to lose one pound per week, reduce your caloric consumption by 3500 calories per week. In order to do this you must reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories a day for seven days a week that would add up to 3500 calories in one week. Consuming less than 1500 calories per day on a regular basis reduces the basal metabolic rate. When the metabolic rate is reduced, fewer calories can be consumed. Excess calories will be stored as fat. This is why it's important to combine exercise with diet in order to affect weight loss. WATER! People always say, drink lots of water to stay hydrated, which is true, but, how much water will keep you hydrated is the question. In order to know the answer you must divide your body weight by 2.2, example, take a body weight of 180 divided by 2.2 = 81 ounces of water, that’s 10 glasses of water that day. REMEMBER! The best way to reduce your caloric intake to lose one pound a week is to cut 500 calories in half, meaning: use 250 calories for aerobics and the other 250 calories for your nutrition. This will be the best way to reduce 500 calories a day. Good luck.  

 

This sequence is critical to maintaining good health. When you drink plain water and wait a half hour before eating food, the water goes into the stomach and triggers glands to release a chemical (hormone) to coat the

lining of the stomach to protect it from the hydrochloric acid that will be released when food is put into the mouth. The water and chemical (hormone) then go into the small intestine where the chemical stays, waiting for the food, which will be coming down later. The free water leaves the small intestine and goes into all the cells of the body to fill them up (hydrate), top them off like watering a garden. After the cells are watered, the remaining water is pumped back into the stomach to water (hydrolyze) the food. Our energy does not come from the food we eat, but comes from the water that puts the hydrogen (atom) in the food. We run on hydrogen. The food we eat gives us the vitamins and minerals that we need to stay healthy. If you don’t drink plain water (1 or 2 glasses) before eating food (waiting 15 to 30 minutes) the body must borrow the water from itself. If it borrows water from the blood, then the arteries must draw up (constrict) and the heart must pump harder to pump the thicker blood. We call it high blood pressure. If the body borrows the water from the brain, you get a dull headache or a headache that can turn into a migraine. If you drink alcohol and it pulls water out of the brain, you get a hangover headache.

 Wherever the body borrows water from itself it compromises that organ or tissue, causing pain or an abnormal function like constipation. Constipation is when the body pulls the water out of the small intestine and colon, causing the body waste to stick to the walls of the intestine and colon. When your stool is moist, it slides out with no effort. When we breathe out (exhale), we lose water. If you blow on a mirror or glass window, you see the moisture (fog). When the body borrows water from the lungs, you may get shortness of breath, leading to asthma and other breathing problems. The lungs and heart are very close to each other so if the body pulls some water from the heart (muscle), you may get angina pain that may, down the road, lead to a heart attack.

 

Muscles need blood and water during exercise, so if you were to eat food and walk or climb stairs when low on water (dehydrated), you might get shortness of breath, have an asthma attack, get angina pain or leg cramps. They say never go swimming after eating because you may get muscle cramps. When in the digestive mode, the body diverts blood from the arms and legs to the intestines to process the food. Certain foods are easy to digest and are loaded with water, such as fruits and vegetables.

 

Other beverages (liquids) are not water to the body, like coffee, tea, soda, lemonade and juices. They are food because the tongue senses the additive, not plain water, and the stomach will release hydrochloric acid. The body will process the beverage as food. You will benefit from some of the water, just like in fruits and vegetables, providing the beverage doesn’t contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic; it forces water out of the body.

 

 

 Electrolytes: Electrolytes provide the proper electrical charge within the body fluids for the transmission of nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and proper body fluid levels and acid-base fluid balance.