Keeping Hydrated

I have always heard that drinking plenty of water is essential to good health and especially weight loss. I don't mind drinking water.....I just know that I don't EVER get as much as I should. The teacher of the pump class that I attend says that you should drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water each day. I have good intentions....sometimes I even start the day out doing pretty well, but I get busy and simply forget. Well, no more! I just read about a fantastic idea, and just had to share.

Set your timer for 1 hour. Each time the timer goes off, you drink an 8 oz. glass of water. Not too hard, right? The only problem for me so far is remembering why the timer is buzzing!! That old age and memory thing~!! I am hoping this will be the beginning of a beautiful habit for me. Good timing, too with summer (supposedly) coming any day and needing to keep hydrated in the hot summer sun. Here's to hydrating and re-hydrating!

Family Biggest LOSE-ORR Contest and Newspaper Article

This is an article done recently about my brother-in-law and his amazing weight loss story (well my entire family's weight loss saga). It's unbelievable!!! Check it out! Way to go Stephen!

Banana Pudding Weight Watcher Style

I recently attended a family party/picnic to which I volunteered to make dessert. You know, if you make it you will have something "safe" to eat. This was delicious and pretty lowcal! Everyone loved it.

Banana Pudding
2 pkgs. sugar free pudding (make as directed on box reducing milk to 1 3/4 cups)
1 8 oz. container fat free cool whip
1 cup light sour cream (optional)
5-6 bananas
box vanilla wafers

Mix pudding as per directions reducing milk as above. Gently fold in cool whip and sour cream. Layer in 9x13 pan: wafers, bananas, pudding mixture, wafers, bananas, pudding mixture. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Update on "30 day Shred" by Jillian Michaels

Ok, I just wanted to let you know that I have been doing this exercise video now for 3 weeks now...several times a week. Sometimes I do it twice a day (it's only a 20 minute workout) and sometimes I do 2 levels of the workout in one session (for a total of about 40 minutes). I really like it. It's tough! I have been using 5 lb. hand weights (which isn't very much, you know) but with these exercises IT IS ENOUGH and sometimes TOO MUCH!!

I like the 3,2,1 system of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio and 1 minute of abs repeated 3x for 1 session with a warm up and cool down. I think it keeps your heart rate up enough to burn extra calories the entire workout.

I like that there are 3 levels. I think I would be bored with just one. Each level has different exercises and increases in difficulty. If I do 2 levels of workouts, I just skip the cool down from the first session and the warm up of the second and go right on with the circuits. I also have used cardio from one of the easier levels for part of level 3 because I don't like the "rock star" jumps....they bother my knees. I figure cardio is cardio.

I love that it is only 20 minutes. It's easy to work into a busy day. Sometimes I do it in the afternoon before I make dinner. Keeps me from snacking a lot too, as afternoons are my "eat everything in sight" time of day.

I have lost a total of 8 lbs. so far (although I joined weight watchers 2 weeks ago, so the dvd can't take all the credit) but I sure think it has helped.