How Much Water Should I Drink To Lose Weight?

Love hearing from Avril Carpenter who lives in New Zealand.  I, vicariously, enjoy the world through people like her. She posted an article on her web site this week that I enjoyed reading.

http://avrilcarpenter.com/how-much-water-should-i-drink-to-lose-weight

Here is my response to her article:

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that, "You’ve got to listen to what your body tells you."  We are taught to eat and drink this and that at this time and that time without any regard for our individual unique body and system.  There are general rules that are always true for everyone such as "the body needs nutrition", but we are out of touch with listening to our true thirst or hunger pains for a signal that it is time to drink or eat.

For me, I have found that my weight loss efforts do need more water intake.  Maybe this is because my "system" is sluggish.  I can go for hours and hours without going to the bathroom, whereas, my normal weight husband goes at least once an hour.  This has to mean something.  But I have also noticed that sometimes I think I become water logged - the weight is stuck - and if I lay off the water for half a day, my body readjusts, and I suddenly drop an extra pound of real weight.  My observations are personal and unscientific, but they are true for me.

I, also, believe that just because I seem to need more water most of the time, that this is not true for everyone.  I believe the same thing about vitamin supplements - not everyone may need them, but I do.

Word for the day:  LISTEN

Breakfast is a Priority Jan 4, 2012

I used to not eat until 1 or 2 o'clock, but have made breakfast of some sort a priority for the past 3 years.  My go to breakfast is usually a full cup of some sort of high fiber cereal.  Fiber One cereals are a good choice with 9-11 gram of fiber per serving.  Sometimes I mix in some Sam's Extra Raisin Bran to save money, but the fiber content is a little lower.  I really like FiberPlus Caramel Pecan Crunch, too.  I always use plain soy milk in my cereal.  I really like soy milk better; it has fewer calories, so it is a win-win for me.

When I am on a tighter schedule, I try to keep some high fiber bars (Fiber One or Kellogg's FiberPlus) that I can eat in the car.  Some mornings I don't want to eat anything, but I force myself to eat at least a half of a fiber bar, because I do believe that it jumpstarts my metabolism for the day, and it is the right thing to do. 

People ask me what "program" I am on, but as a lot of you know you have to make personal lifestyle changes that are not temporary to have a lasting effect on your life, health, and weight.  Eating more fiber and breakfast are two of my "lifestyle" changes that I have made to help me lose 40 pounds over 3 years.  I am slow, but sure!

Jan 1, 2012 Triumph

Believe it or not, I was down another pound on January 1!!!  I have officially lost all of the 20 pounds I gained last school year, and now I am ready to proceed with the next 40 pounds.  My goal is to lose 40 pounds by my May graduation date.  I student teach this semester, about which I am very excited, and I will be continuing my early morning workouts this semester.

When I lose another 10 pounds I will be at a weight I have not seen since I was pregnant 20 years ago.  The 40 pounds that I want to lose by May represents all of the pregnancy weight I gained all those years ago plus an extra 5 pounds.  You see, I gained a total of 70 pounds during my pregnancy, and I have the most beautiful 19 year old son to show for it.  But it is high time for me to lose the weight.

I will set a new goal in May.  Technically, my BMI will still be in the overweight category, so I plan to lose an additional 8 pounds after the May deadline to reach the normal BMI range. After that I want to lose another 12 pounds.

I will enjoy being at that weight in a way that I was not able to enjoy all those years ago.  I would not have my picture made back then, because I always thought I was too fat, but I was not.  I am going to be mature this time around.  I am going to be happy with myself.  I am going to enjoy being alive.  I am going to enjoy wearing the clothes I want to wear. I am going to live in this new reality that I am creating for myself.

Survived the Semester (written December 13)

Okay, so I am going to tell you the good news before I apologize for being a posting loser. I finished another semester of school, and I am only 5 months from graduation. I managed to lose 10 pounds this semester, and I survived the dreaded Halloween to end of semester Valley of stressful Death period without gaining any permanent weight. I bobbled up and down a bit, but was the same in the final analysis.

I am still exercising, but it has been hard to be as consistent as I want to be. I was sick from mid Oct to mid Nov, so the exercise slowed down a bit in Nov. But I got back on the horse. Then I hit end of the semester stress and started another part time job (that makes 3 part time jobs), so the exercise took a back seat for a couple of weeks again.

The good report is that I exercised 36 min this morning and took a 45 min walk this evening for a total of 81 fitness minutes today.

I am still doing my 3-pronged circuit routine that I can do at home.
1 - Lateral thigh trainer
2 - Dumbbell dancing
3 - Floor exercises

I had to adjust my goal of 420 min per week to an average of 300 min per week. This goal is doable and attainable. Attainability is one of the markers of a good goal.

I used the community college gym some at the beginning of the semester; however, I had to drop that because I only had class on campus 2 days a week and could not afford to drive there on the other days; then our schedule changed to only 1 day on campus, so it was not working for me.

I do apologize for not checking in regularly, but then I think again about goal-setting and how it has to be attainable; otherwise, for me, it is not a good goal. So I am going to set the goal of posting something here at least once a month.