Cold Water, Hot Water, Lemon Water or Drinking Enough Water in Winter

Having some hot tea on a cold day!

It's cold outside and the last thing I want to do on some of these cold mornings is hike.  Quite frankly, the last thing I want to do is....anything.  Sometimes when it's super cold, all I want to do is sleep.  My nickname from my cousin is ClaireBear.  It actually has a lot of different reasons why she gave me that nickname, but it does play true in winter, I certainly want to act like one and sleep winter away.

Another thing that I do in winter is drink WAY too much coffee.  Between my husband and I, we drink at least 10 cups a day.   I'm sure I'm good for 5 of those if not more.  Too much of anything is not good.  I have no reason to drink so much coffee.  Other than to get myself to WAKE UP!

Good thing I have kids who have to go to school and low carb clients who expect me to be at the hiking trail and who expect me to get this blog out!!!

So today I've set my sights on water and trying to get that water up like it is in summer.  In summer, I drink a ton of water.  I'm constantly refilling my bottle.   Now, I notice I fill my bottle maybe once a day, not 4 times.  When I needed to lose those few pounds I'd gained over the holidays, it was slow going.   I still haven't lost all of them and though I'm at my goal weight, I wouldn't mind being back down to my lowest low.  So here are some of the times I'll try to get in that precious liquid;

1.  I've read that the asian cultures do a hot water cleanse in the morning and the evening.  The first thing they drink in the morning is hot water and the last thing they drink is hot water.    (2 cups)

2.  I have at least two cups of coffee by 9:30 a.m. before my hiking - (2 cups)

3.  Stop to drink 2 times on the hike (I haven't emptied my bottle yet in these cold months... (1 cup)

4. I noticed I haven't drank with lunch for awhile.  I'm now making lemon water or if I don't have lemons, weak lemonade out of Country Time Lemonade, I halve the suggested serving size and then double the water for an 8 carb drink and I drink it warm...(2 cups)

5. When I have to drive my daughter to dance I take my own water bottle and walk around town while she's in class. (1 cup)

6. Dinner, again, I'm not drinking....so I am now doing speciality tea, either peppermint or acai berry.  I try to have at least 2 cups.  (2 cups)

So that brings me to 11 cups.

I have just looked up how much water one should drink to help promote weight loss a day, paired with a healthy diet and exercise, of course.....13 cups.   Check it out yourself, they have some good tips at SFGate.

So, I'm still short...I have to add in 2 cups in there somewhere.   I guess it's going to have to be in the afternoon because I DO NOT like to get up in the middle of the night...remember, I'm part bear.

Happy Carb Counting!