Prevent Dehydration While Working Out

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

10 Jun 2006 06:00 AM

Maintaining your fitness in summertime includes preventing dehydration and the problems associated with it. We discuss water in the weight loss blog today and whether you can drink too much. The focus of this particular blog is keeping your hydration healthy when you are working, playing and otherwise enjoying the summer time fun this year.

The American Water Works Association (Yes, that is actually the name of it) offers the following suggestions:

• Drink water before, during and after your exercise.
• Drink water every 20 minutes or so when you are engaged in a strenuous physical activity.
• Do not take salt tablets.
• Stop working out if you feel lightheaded, dizzy or severely fatigued.

If your fitness program is about losing weight, drinking water will not actually cause you to lose weight, but it is a great tool to help you lose weight. You can drink water between meals or at meals to help curb or reduce your appetite. You can increase your hydration levels by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Will This Help Your Fitness Program?

Even with all the tips posted here and the research and suggestions - are you still having trouble getting your workout or fitness program started? Even with everything I know, I still get stuck some days whether it's skipping my workout or recovering from illness or stress. Or worse, I fall back on older, worse habits and I can't seem to break them.

It's hard to break habits - that's why they call them a habit. You can know and understand that a habit is really bad for you and still have trouble breaking it. If you are having trouble attacking your fitness program or eliminating the bad habit that you are looking to get rid of - try joining a group of others interested in the same thing.

If you don't want to join a gym, try checking into a local group in your area. Maybe you have community message boards - our housing association has a community message board that lets residents hook up to develop playgroups, physical fitness groups and more. Whether you are looking to run a block party, a community garage sale or just a support group to help you get your physical fitness program moving.

What do you do to help maintain your summertime fitness?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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