Drinking Water to Lose Fat, Stay Shredded and Keep Healthy

The first things to do, is drink NOTHING but water. Seriously, nothing.
There's so many reasons for this that I had actually written a never-ending post before deleting it. It was just seriously unreadable. 
Firstly, and possibly most importantly (for aesthetic reasons anyway) is the calories you'll be saving. DON'T DRINK YOUR CALORIES! Not only will they not fill you up, but they're going to be from simple carbs like sugar. Instead of drinking a can of soda every night or a huge glass of crap-filled orange juice from a factory in the morning, start your day with a big glass of water. It's cheaper too.
Now, I don't want to get too scientific otherwise I'll have a bunch of people calling me a broscientist or other silly things. However, it must be pointed out that when you start to notice that the number on the scales is dropping, it's likely to be water weight. When starting to lose weight, we often primarily lose water so it's important to keep the body hydrated.
Interestingly, drinking 2 glasses of water a while before each meal seemed to suggest people were less hungry and therefore ate less, according to one study or another. I don't know the ins and outs of this, it's probably true but I've never tried it. Try it if you want, or don't. What's more important is that you work out your basal metabolic rate using a simple calorie calculator (just google it) and you eat according to your goals.

Drinking Water and Looking Shredded
Do you feel as if you have a "puffy" layer and you're pretty certain it's not from your food consumption? Drinking enough water will prevent your body from retaining water, therefore you will lose that "puffy" look. Give it a go, it  might work. If unsuccessful, you may need to look at other aspects of your diet.

Guys, if you feel as if I haven't gone into enough detail here, please drop a comment and I'll happily edit the post. I'm trying to keep things clear and concise, like a basic guide. As I said before, there's plenty of in-depth articles online for you to check out the ins and outs of what I'm saying, but I thought I'd start a blog to summarise things.  

-A

Where to Begin?

Want to change something about yourself? Want to lose fat and/or gain muscle? It can be a daunting task, especially if you're at the beginning of the journey. Because that's what it is: a journey. These things don't happen overnight, and they most certainly won't happen if you're not serious about what you want. 
Now, being serious doesn't mean not enjoying yourself. Working out and transforming yourself can be one of the most exciting things to do - EVER! However, if you don't know what you're doing and aren't doing things properly, it's easy to be disheartened and think "forget this man - I'm gonna eat a packed of doughnuts" when of course that's not going to solve anything.
There's a wealth of resources on the internet to help you get to where you're going, but with so many conflicting opinions and different pieces of advice it's easy to become confused.
I've decided to start this blog to help people who are at the very beginning, just like I once was. I don't just want to do this to make your lives easier, but to also help you avoid injuries that I've been unfortunate to come across (but fortunate enough to learn from - and thank goodness none were serious). 
I'll be writing regularly about various aspects of the fitness spectrum, including calisthenics to sleeping.
Please keep an eye out (possibly bookmark the page) for future posts, which will be regular and will start very soon. Feel free to comment. 

- A