Make water your only beverage today. Keep it with you. Carry a refillable bottle – and refill it!

Carry it in your purse, briefcase, or backpack.
Keep it in your car.
Bring it to your meetings, classes, office, the gym.
Keep it with you while you exercise, while you talk on the phone, while you answer your email.

Drink half your weight in ounces of water each day, up to 100 oz/day.

Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilián

Make water your only beverage today. Keep it with you. Carry a refillable bottle – and refill it!

Carry it in your purse, briefcase, or backpack.
Keep it in your car.
Bring it to your meetings, classes, office, the gym.
Keep it with you while you exercise, while you talk on the phone, while you answer your email.

Drink half your weight in ounces of water each day, up to 100 oz/day.

Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilián

Continue with the daily habits you’re creating – drinking water, breaking that sweat, eating 5 fruits/veggies each day, and avoiding sugar, red meat, and alcohol.

1. Avoid dairy products – no milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, or any other dairy product. You’re not committing to this for a lifetime – just through Booty Camp. We’ll talk more about why we avoid dairy as we get into Booty Camp. Right now, drink water or herbal tea. Use rice milk on your cereal. And hold the cheese.
2. If you eat some of your meals away from home (because of work or school, for example), find an insulated lunch bag, a few spill-proof containers, and a “blue ice” pack you can use to pack those meals.
3. Join Marilu.com now, so you can get the Booty Camp recipes, plan your menus, and do your grocery shopping! (Members – check out the Current Class page!)

Continue drinking water, breaking that sweat, eating 5 fruits/veggies each day, and avoiding sugar.

1. Enjoy fish or poultry (no skin) instead of red meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.). If you already eat a lot of fish and poultry, try a vegetarian meal.
2. Avoid drinking alcohol. Not forever (unless that’s the best idea for you). Just for now. You can do it.
3. Give yourself a good full-body exfoliation. Use a dry skin brush (described here) or use a sudsy washcloth or scrubbie in the shower.

1. Drink half your weight in ounces of water each day (maximum of 100 oz/day), starting TODAY. If you weigh 200 lbs or more, drink 100 oz of water. If you weigh 150 lbs, drink 75 oz of water.
2. Clean out all the chips, cookies, and candy from the house. Do not buy more. If you want something sweet, eat a piece of fruit. If you want something salty, have a few nuts (preferably raw).
3. Break a sweat and sweat for 10. Put some effort and energy into your favorite physical activity (dancing, running, bicycling, basketball, a cardio DVD, jumping rope, kickboxing, etc.) so that you start to sweat; keep moving for 10 minutes. Whew!

You started your day with dry skin brushing again, right? Give your freshly skin-brushed body a drink.

After you stimulate your lymph system, you’ll want to keep all those toxins flowing freely, right out of your body. Water will flush them out. Drink up!

Recommended amount – half your body weight in ounces of water each day, up to 100 oz.

Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilián

Dry skin brushing is an excellent detoxifier and exfoliator. Brush your dry skin in an elongated motion toward your heart for 1-2 minutes every morning – before you shower or exercise. Use a natural bristle brush designed for dry skin brushing – Marilu’s favorite is the Yerba Prima Tampico Skin Brush (it has a removable handle and perfect bristles).

Start with your feet and ankles, and work your way up the body to your calves and thighs. Really concentrate on brushing the lymphatic areas of your body (the backs of your knees, your inner thighs, under your arms, and inside your elbows) to stimulate those glands and get them started on flushing toxins.

Gently brush up your stomach and tush, shoulders and back. Last, do your hands and move up your arms. Make sure you cover the entire surface of your body, excluding your breasts and face.

The brushing should not irritate you, but it will feel rough (so be gentle to start!). It may take a couple of days to get used to it, but if you hang in there, you will feel the difference in your skin in less than a week.

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The more you taste foods in their purest form, the more you develop a better appreciation and understanding of the difference between “real” food and “dead” food.

Think of real food as food that gives life. It has the right balance of vitamins and nutrients because it has grown and evolved in nature. Real foods are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish – anything that’s life-giving. Real food is often called “whole food” because what you eat is very close to the way it appears in nature.

Dead food is anything that no longer resembles the way it originally appeared in nature. Processing takes most of the nutrients and enzymes out of food. To make up for the loss of nutrients, food manufacturers add synthetic vitamins and minerals. These synthetics are not nearly as healthy or beneficial as their natural counterparts. In fact, they can sometimes be harmful. Processed foods usually have added refined sugar, extra salt, and chemicals used as preservatives and flavor enhancers. This is necessary because processed, dead, de-natured food is also flavorless. Along with being unhealthy, sugar, salt, and chemical enhancers dull your taste buds to “real” flavors. This leads to a greater desire for more processed foods to get the fake taste and satisfaction you now crave.

How much of your food today has been real, whole food? How much has been dead, processed food? Challenge yourself to add more real food (and subtract dead food) from your meals and snacks. Let us know how you’re doing!

Remember those commercials? They reminded us that a nice warm bath is a good way to relieve stress at the end of the day. There’s no need to use anything but baking soda in your bath, though.

Take this tip from Marilu’s 30-Day Total Health Makeover®

Take a slenderizing (and relaxing) bath with baking soda. Fill your tub half full with warm water, add 1 cup of baking soda, fill the tub the rest of the way. Soak for 20 minutes. Do this 10 consecutive days. It enhances weight loss, reduces toxins, and makes your skin feel baby smooth.

Plus – you get a 20-minute “time out” every day. Listen to your favorite music, or read a book or magazine. Relax your mind and spirit while you’re doing something good for your body.

Photo by Pam Roth

Having trouble drinking enough water? Toss a slice of citrus fruit in your glass – try lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit. It adds just a little zing.

Aim for drinking half your weight in ounces of water each day (up to a maximum of 100 oz/day). So if you weigh 150 lbs, that’s 75 oz of water. If you weigh 200 lbs, that’s 100 oz of water. If you weigh 120 lbs, that’s 60 oz of water.

Photo by Martin Walls