Day 89 Water, Water Everywhere

Before I decided to lose weight (over a year ago), or should I say when I first started thinking about it, I came to the realization that I was going to have to eliminate all the sweetened iced tea, pop, juice, etc, that I consumed on such a regular basis. Quite honestly, I'm amazed that I hadn't become pre-diabetic for all the sugar I was drinking.

It was pretty common (OK, daily) for me to get those giant size cups of "Sweet Tea" from McDonald's (No ice please, cuz you can get more in the cup that way). I called it my "bucket o' tea".  And I'd drink that at work. All day. After work, I'd drink more sweet tea (at home, I'd make a gallon at a time, with a cup of sugar added), and drink that all afternoon and evening. And I absolutely love fruit juice. Pretty much any kind, especially if its got cranberry in it. Which means it must have lots of high-fructose corn syrup. Its nothing for me to pour myself a 16 ounce glass of juice and drink it in 2 or 3 long gulps. No one in my house will share a drink with me, cuz I'll half empty the glass!

So the thought of letting go of all that sweet, tasty, thirst-quenching heaven really filled me with anxiety. After all, we MUST drink a lot of fluids every day, its healthy, right? I got the part about changing foods and eating less fat/sugar/carbs etc. For the most part, I was prepared for that. It was the loss of the sweet drinks that really worried me. I've never been a water drinker, except in those odd moments of great thirst when the only relief is a drinking fountain with metalic tasting tepid water, and your mouth feels like the Sahara. Bleck!! But necessary.

Who wants to drink water like that? Or the chlorine filled stuff out of my kitchen tap?

And I didn't relish the idea of spending a ton of money on bottled water, either. It seems so ridiculous. Water. More expensive that the gas in my car. How insane is that?!?

But I relented. It hasn't been easy. But it has been surprising. At first, I started drinking a bottle here, and a bottle there. I was not impressed. None of them tasted very good, and some of them tasted rather lousy. So I kept trying different brands. Absopure, Mountain Springs, Poland Springs, Dasani, Ice Mountain. I can't even remember all the brands we've been through. None of them appealed to me. At least not at first.

My husband kept buying cases of water. After all, the kids were drinking it, he was drinking it, occasionally I would drink it. And then one day I realized that I'd become acclimated to drinking water. It wasn't so bad anymore. It happened very gradually. In the beginning, I just forced myself to sip away. More often than not, the water would long since have warmed up, making it even more unappealing, and I'd dump the rest on the plants or in the dogs dish. Hubby was getting pretty worked up about all the "wasted" water that we're paying good money for.

But one day I found myself craving a nice cold bottle of water. Like I used to crave juice or tea.I wasn't forcing myself.  Wow! This feels pretty good! I used to dread the idea of having to choke down 32 or 48 or 64 ounces of water in a day. Now I don't even bat an eye. I haven't given up the sweetened morning coffee.  But I've pretty much eliminated all the other stuff. And I don't worry anymore about the occassional glass of juice, because I know that the vast majority of the fluids I drink are calorie free. (And not artifically sweetened!).

So that's a hurdle I've passed. I think it was as much a mental hurdle, as it was physical. And besides the benefit of helping with weight loss and keeping me hydrated in a good way, water doesn't give me the headrushes and bloated feeling I used to get from drinking all that sweet tea. And that feels GREAT! My tastebuds have adjusted in ways I never expected! Surprise!

Day 88 Did Pretty Great...

Just got an email from Allan, letting me know my target water intake and calories should be:

69 ounces of water as a minimum

82 to get the full effect of eating only 1320 calories per day

Well, looking at what I accomplished today, I am pleased to be completely on track tonight! I came in over target on water, and a shade under on calories. WooHoo!!

Here we go!!

Day 88....Still Feeling Great

I've been checking out Allan's Blog over at Almost Gastric Bypass. He's not for the faint of heart. If you're looking for sympathy, look elsewhere. If you're looking for straight-up, no bullshit input on losing weight, check him out. He pulls no punches, so if you want a good reality-kick-in-the-pants, he's your guy.

He's got these Double Dog Dare Challenges going on. I'm still sifting thru his posts, trying to figure them out, but so far I've got this:

Double Dog Calorie Challenge: Drink 64 ounces of water a day; multiply your goal weight by 11 and consume ONLY that many calories. And count EVERY calorie. Don't lie.

He's emailing me later tonight with some calculations for another challenge, something like a Son of a Double Dog Dare......damn! wish he had a search box on his site! I'm still hunting around for the details!

So, as a bit of a head start, I've got 51 ounces of water in today, plus 24 ounces of coffee. 5 Tbsp of flavored creamer (225 calories).  One can of Campbell's Select Harvest Chicken and Long Grain Rice soup (220 calories). Side note: yuck! 18 regular Cheez-it crackers (100 calories)

Total so far today: 545 calories
Remaining: 720 calories

________________

Dinner: Beef stew, (not thickened) with carrots and mushrooms (potatoes on the side for family, not me), and quinoa, to be added at serving.

Plugged my recipe into NutritionData.com for analysis, and it turns out to have 409 calories per serving. Added a half-serving of the quinoa, at 85 calories. One small croissant with dinner, 120 calories. 614 calories. Bottle of water to drink

Snack was 13 corn chips (1 serving, 140 calories).

One more bottle of water before bed.

Total for the day 1299 calories and 84.5 ounces of water, 24 ounces of coffee.

Not bad.

And my "exercise" tonight was installing and mudding some drywall, along with 85 trips up and down two flights of stairs.

yay.

But no running....crap.

Day 88 Feeling Great!

So, Patrick, over at Responsibility 199 asks:

How about you, are you feeling GREAT today?

If YES, why?

If NOT, why?

Today, I am feeling:
Great because I spent a wonderful weekend with some fantastic people who are committed to making their lives magnificent!
Great because I gained some awesome insight while I was with those people, some real Ah-Hah!! moments!
Great because I have a WONDERFUL husband and kids (who sometimes DO wear me out! but that's OK)
Great because I am healthier than I was 3 months ago.
Great because I have found that blogging is helping me feel accountable and motivated by others, and makes me want to be supportive of others as well.

Thanks, Patrick! For the reminder to think positive and be thankful!

Day 87 Continued....

Food was pretty on target today. As always, coffee for breakfast.

For lunch, I had a small serving of spaghetti with a chunky garden-style sauce, with extra mushrooms added. Water and cranberry juice to drink.

Dinner was lime-butter shrimp over rice, with more water.

Not much of an appetite today, I've been more thirsty than anything. For a snack, I had a handful of Baked Lays potato chips, just cuz I wanted the salt.

More water this evening.


Walked a bit today, no actual running. I was on my feet all day at work and my back was pretty sore, but I am building back up to week 5 of the C25K.

Diet Chic is keeping me on task! I need it!

Nite all...

Day 87....Back in Town and Getting Back to Plan

Well, this has been an incredibly busy weekend. I've been out of town for a class, and was busy from 7am to 11pm Friday Saturday and Sunday, so I had very little time to do anything other than sleep.

I am home, mentally freshed and ready to get back on task!

On a side note, I met several runners over the weekend, one who is a half-marathon runner, and one who does triathlons. Woohoo! They were both very enthusiastic about the C25K being a great plan and a great segway into building up to longer runs.

I'm getting out there tonight, and am pleased that the weather here in Michigan hasn't gotten really ugly yet. I don't have a treadmill or go to a gym, so the neighborhood is pretty much it for me. Thankfully, I only have to contend with the leaves at this point.

I'll be checking in with everyone else throughout the day, and hope that you've all had a good weekend and are making good choices.

PS I read through my rant from last week and decided to take it down. Bleh! Want to move on and not be reminded of that episode, or my state of mind at the time.

Day 83 Humbled....

Aww, you're killing me Jack! On the day I am whining up a ......a.....something, you have to go and remind me that I'm slacking off and have totally dropped the ball on Kelly's (and your) 5K challenge.

Five weeks ago I was all "Oh I'm so gonna do this!". Three weeks ago, I was all  "I'm so nailing this".

A week ago I was all "                            cricket........cricket...........              ".

Dang! I got 4 solid weeks under my belt on this, and then I promptly and completely fell on my FACE!!

Whaaaa??????

( dusts off self )

Well, I'm duly humbled. 

And I am getting back out there. But its 1:30am, so I'll get out there tomorrow.

K?