10 Days, 10 Ways to Slim Down and Tone Up - 10.) Hydrotherapy

I have to be honest, I could so use more than just 10 days to slim down and tone up. And although I eat pretty decently, I have my decadent days also. And when it comes to working out, well, that's something I flirt with from time to time, but never fully commit to the way I should.

With an upcoming trip to Miami, I want to slim down just a tad, mainly in my ab area. Plus I would love to tone up a bit all over. So with just 10 days until trip time, I figured I'd better get started and also figured I'd share the journey. Now keep in mind, I do have a bit of a head start as I began preparing for a detox in May. I'm going to do the detox within this 10 day period which should help a lot with both slimming down and toning up.

One way that I plan to slim down and tone up is with hydrotherapy. I'm using the term hydrotherapy fairly loosely. It typically refers to the use of water in its various forms for pain relief. I've learned that water in its various forms can also be very useful for beauty treatments and regimens. Here are some of my favorite ways to use water to slim down and tone up. I've used most of them before and found them to be very beneficial.

Drink Water

There's often debates on how much water we should drink. I know I feel my best and feel well hydrated when I drink 8 glasses (64 ounces) of water a day. I'll increase my water intake gradually over the ten days to a gallon of water. Water is so great for helping to keep the skin taut thus being a great way to tone, especially when paired with light weights. Water also helps to push toxins out of the body helping to keep metabolism regular, possibly even speeding it up which can assist with weight loss.

Ice 

Another water regimen that I like and find helpful when I'm consistent with it, is water in its ice form. When I would use a cube, sometimes up to 3, and massage it over my face, neck and chest, it made my skin look so radiant, healthy and helped to decrease the fine lines I have around my mouth. I later learned that ice produces collagen. Ahhh, perhaps that was the trick to decreasing those fine lines. I massage my face with ice at night after I cleanse my face. I cleanse, ice and moisturize. And if it's a night when I'm doing my mask and/or exfoliation, I cleanse, exfoliate, mask, ice and moisturize.

Steam

I search for gyms and spas with steam rooms the way I search for and chase the sun. :) I LOVE, LUV, sitting in a steam room. I'm usually in there for up to 30 minutes and would stay longer if I could. I just always feel so relaxed. I love to sweat and always feel like I gain so much in just a short time. In 30 minutes I am sweating out toxins. I am helping my muscles to relax. I meditate and de-stress while I'm in the steam. Sometimes I even put deep conditioner in my hair and allow myself a deep conditioner treatment with the steam and with the help of wearing a shower cap. And when it comes to toning up and slimming down, there are direct and indirect ways that a few minutes in the steam room helps. The aforementioned sweating definitely helps with slimming down as does the release of toxins which helps the body's metabolism. And indirectly I know when I am not stressed, I eat healthier foods versus reaching for some sugar mostly by way of ice cream, cookies and cup cakes and salt via chips. When I'm not stressed I'm more apt to reach for my apples, nuts, granola, pineapples, bananas and other healthier choices as snakes and I eat healthier overall when I'm less stressed.

Baths

The art of the bath is another all time favorite of mine. I love the sound of running water (except a running toilet), the ripples in the water and adding salts, especially scented salts and/or aromatherapy oils. The scent just fills the house and lingers so lovingly. There are so many oils that I love to use in my bath. My favorites however are lavender and eucalyptus. I don't know that either of the oils have any benefits for toning up or slimming down, they just make me want to relax in a warmer than warm bath where I sweat, thus giving many of the benefits of steam. I have used grapefruit essential oil whose scent I also adore and whose oil has be claimed to help with cellulite. I used a technique with grapefruit essential oils in my bath in which I would pinch my little cellulite areas lightly. Did it help? Honestly it's too hard to say because I also used seaweed wraps and changed what I ate during the time that I would take my grapefruit oil baths. Now did I see a reduction in the appearance of my cellulite? Yes I most definitely did. I was once a size 12 and when I would sit down with shorts or something that showed my legs, I noticed dimpling. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I personally did not like the dimpling for me. I like better what I see now. I still have some areas of slight cellulite that I will work on, but from what I understand about cellulite it is fat between the skin and muscles. I think I will personally always have a little something, something because I love to eat and don't want to deny myself my love for super yummy food. And the super yummy foods I love have fat. I will however continue to strive to eat fatty foods in moderation mainly because I want to feel good and have the energy to do all of the things that I love.

If you use any of the above suggestions be sure to check with your doctor first. The forms of hydrotherapy that I'm using are things that I've either read about or have personally used and found helpful. I would love for you to tune in tomorrow. I will share another way in which I will slim down and tone up in 10 days.