This night benefited two great charities: The Live Well Project & Photo Charity. Just in case you missed out on the event check out this great highlight video!

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At just 14 months old, our daughter Ella isn’t always the best at sleeping … almost always sleeping through the night, these days, but occasionally (read: LAST NIGHT) she decided she should wake up at 3 AM and not want to sleep for the next hour before we had to get up for Mohr Results Boot Camp

Sometimes leaving me and Kara woozy … tired doesn’t even scratch the surface.

But we of course need to still function during the day — at 5:30 AM during adventure boot camp and throughout the day.

As I sat drinking a few cups of green tea this morning, Kara drinking her coffee, I thought about one of the most common questions we get — “is it OK to drink coffee?” For some it’s a savior — what I call a “liquid nap.” But is this drug (yes, caffeine is a drug) a true necessity? It surely can help keep you alert (particularly with a non sleeping baby at home).

I have to be honest, I would never in a million years get between a person and their coffee. Of course not everyone is a coffee drinker, but for some it’s a staple.

So if you’re trying to lose weight and you’re paying attention to your calories and all of your food where does coffee fit in? I have to be honest, I’m fine with you drinking coffee … it’s not coffee itself that’s the “issue” it’s everything most put in it.

Sugar, cream, half and half, or that horrendous artificial, imitation, fat free creamer junk.

Those things all add up — 100 calories here, 100 calories there — and you’re left wondering why you can’t reach your fat loss goals.

A regular cup of black coffee — no calories — no worries. In fact, there are some very unique health benefits to drinking coffee — in fact, one study recently came out suggesting a couple cups per day can help post menopausal women keep their memory sharp as a tac! It’s also a powerful source of antioxidants.

However, on the downside, a coffee shop latte can pack a wholloping 400-500 calories!
Talk about sabotaging your fat loss efforts! Particularly when coupled with a scone, muffin, or whatever else you may pick up on the way to the office.

The bottom line is you need to know how many calories you’re truly taking in and how they all fit in your daily routine. Drink an extra 100 calories each day (which would be just a bit of whole milk and 1 tsp of sugar in a coffee) and you’ll pack on 10 extra lbs at the end of the year. Couple this with other added calories and that weight can come on pretty quickly.

And if you were to rationalize that you’re going to exercise to “balance” out those added calories, remember that walking or running 1 mile burns just 100 calories.

Therefore, drink a latte and run 5 miles — you’ve essentially stayed the same.

Not that I’m saying walking or running is the best way to burn fat, but you get the point.

Moral of the story? You need to account for the calories you put in your body … all the calories you put in your body.

3 Things will help you do this:
1. Eat attentively — don’t eat or drink when distracted. That means NOT in front of the TV, while reading, or in front of your computer. Doing any of those means you’ll eat more calories, without even “knowing” it.
2. Avoid the extra BLT’s – bites, licks, and tastes — tasting while cooking, finishing off your kids’ drinks or foods, or eating before putting food away (you know, when there’s leftover dinner and you take a few bites before you put it away)
3. Write down what you eat and drink — this increases your awareness and will help you lose fat.
Oh yeah, and coffee is OK — just watch those added calories.

For more information on: Dr. Chris Mohr visit: http://www.mohrresults.com/

Optimizing hydration does not take a lot of time, thought or effort. Maybe if individuals understood it’s beneficial effects on the body they may decide to grab an extra bottle or two throughout the day.

Increasing the consumption of water can enhance the metabolism of fat. The kidneys have an important role in filtering out toxins, if dehydrated they can’t work as efficiently and they then have to pass over some of their work to the liver. The liver has an important role in the metabolism of fat so if they are also working on filtering toxins from the kidney they can’t metabolize fat as well. Hydration also helps in terms of improving digestion and reducing the retention of water.

So how much is enough? It is recommended that ladies drink around 2.7 L and guys about 3.7L per day. An easy way to think about your needs is to base your fluid intake on your weight. Try to drink ½ to 1 ounce of fluid per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 140, drink 70 to 140oz of water per day.

It is important to stay hydrated when you workout or do any type of activity. Losing just 2% of your body weight can decrease performance by 25%. Once you start to lose more than 2% of your weight you will start to enter the downward spiral of dehydration, increased performance decline and then eventually issues with regulating your temperature, putting you at risk for heat illness. It is important to monitor your hydration status. This is easily done by weighing yourself before your activity and then again after your activity. You want to weigh about the same.

So as we head into summer time, maintain your health and performance simply by being a little more mindful of how you hydrate. Drink up!

© 2009 Athletes’ Performance, Inc. By: Amanda Carlson, MS, RD, CSSD Director of Performance Nutrition and Research Athletes’ Performance and Core Performance
Athletes’ Performance (www.athletesperformance.com ) is a training center for elite athletes. Athletes’ Performance integrates mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery into their programs to decrease injury potential, enhance performance, and create sustainable systems of success.
Core Performance (www.coreperformance.com) / www.coreperformancecenter.com) uses the systems and specialist used to train the top performers in sport at Athletes’ Performance to train top performers life. Rooted in four pillars (Mindset, Nutrition, Movement, and Recovery), Core Performance is dedicated to helping the top performers in the game of life prepare, fuel, train, and rest for success in their daily lives.