I’ve made the point here before about two of the most under-utilized but important tactics to get leaner: Getting more sleep and drinking more water. Boring, I know. It seems like people would rather hear about something cool and new that often doesn’t work and that they won’t follow through on then make a commitment to actually do the simple, mundane things that will.

Sad, but easily changed. And the best way to begin to institute change is with a concrete, practical action that will prompt and help reinforce the behavior. That’s what I’m sharing today.

The two pictures above are the pitcher of filtered water (with pieces of lemon) I keep in the refrigerator and my “meditation station”. I use the first to make drinking water more enjoyable (and healthy), along with keeping a wide variety of herbal and green tea both at home and at the the studio. I almost always drink water or tea before eating anything (usually vegetables before lean protein and then smaller quantities of fruit and very limited grains). This keeps my blood sugar stable and helps me to be less prone toward cravings or over-eating.

My nighttime routine at home is to get the kids to bed, read a few pages of something inspiring and then to meditate until I get sleepy (usually just a few to several minutes). I read with the room dark and a book light and light the candle before I start reading. This makes a smoother transition through the process. When I do this before 9:00pm or so, I usually wake up before the alarm goes off between 4:30 and 4:45am.

Both practices make me feel healthier, clearer, calmer, more energetic and more disciplined.

An added bonus is that I wanted to shed a few pounds of fat after the holidays and these practices, along with being a bit more consistent about emphasizing vegetables in my diet and adding 1-2 days of workouts per week to my previous 3-4 has allowed me to drop fife pounds in two weeks.

How are you doing with sleep and water intake? Room for improvement?

Try these steps and see how it helps in some very important areas of your life.

Learn more about how to get and stay in great shape? Contact Dan at Tri Valley Trainer