H2Open your mind

                Yes, that is a horrible post title but it’s about as good as you’re going to get from me on a Monday morning. After an intense week of exercise, I have to admit I have sadly failed Drogo week. It started well, with me hitting the gym Monday through to Thursday, but Friday I didn’t get time and Saturday/Sunday I definitely didn’t make the time or effort. But now I do know that I can gym four days in a row, so it wasn’t entirely wasted. I now weigh in at 13st 9lbs, 191lbs or 86.6kg so while my progress has been slowed it is still there – an advance as implacable as that of a glacier, or that’s how I pitch it.

                I hope you’re already for a SURPRISE RETURN of actual diet-related advice, rather than exercise which has become a strong theme of this blog for the last month or so. That’s right, diet-fans; there is A NEW DIET HOPE! So what’s it about? More adventures into vegetables that are nearly inedible raw? A fantastic, calorie free form of rice or pasta? Chocolate you can eat free of guilt? 

                No; it’s water. Comes out of taps, the sky and people’s eyes on several occasions – although I only recommend one of those for drinking. As most people are aware the human body is somewhere between seventy and ninety percent water depending on what source you use/believe. This means, to the amateur scientist that I am, that our nutritional intake should be seventy to ninety percent water as well and hence I am now drinking about two litres of water a day. This was a big deal in the 90’s (some readers may not remember that glorious, bygone era) and I’m quite impressed I’m actually keeping up with it. 

Now, I appreciate that water has little mineral content (depending on the quality of your pipes) and that the main upshot of drinking a lot of it is that you have to answer nature’s call regularly or get good at sitting in awkward positions for long periods of time. However, it can theoretically reduce the amount you eat. My view: fill your stomach with water (next to no calories) and it can’t fit any more food in it, so you don’t get hungry. Not the most professional view but since being a nutritionist requires fewer certifications than being a car impact test dummy I will still claim to be one.

 

To reinforce my point with something a little more powerful, my very diet-knowledgeable friend explained it worked because we get a large portion of the water we need from food intake, so drinking more plain water – or high-water content drinks like squash – will effectively teach your stomach to crave water rather than food, and the difference between hunger and thirst. Whether it is actual condition or simply the psychosomatic kind it has worked for me. My snacking habits have almost completely died off, which is helping with the satisfaction and contentment side of the diet a lot. I’m sure it’s made a difference to my food intake as well. I should possibly talk to my friend more about the diet thing, since a lot of her advice was actually quite good.

One of the great things about water? You can drink it anywhere. No one looks down on people drinking water (except for certain social groups on a night out) and a lot of work places encourage it – by keeping yourself regularly hydrated you’ll find your concentration is better, your mind more responsive and you generally feel less tired and sluggish. I’m not just saying that based on what I’ve read; my experience has been of those effects as well. I also do have to make more trips to the bathroom, obviously, but that’s just more exercise. Also helps avoid my legs going to sleep from sitting in the office for nine hours of my day. 

To aid with my water drinking ways I have withdrawn my sponsorship of any carbonated drink at work – in fact, any drink apart from water. It helps the water dispensers are plentifully placed around the office and, personally, if I can hit ten cups of water in a day I consider it a success. I’m currently only on eight with a half hour to go, which might entail a quick chugging session before I leave but it has certainly kept me awake. I have over eaten today, currently sitting on 1210 of my 1420 calories for today but I am going to the gym tonight (#notanaddict) so that’s okay. I am going to try and go four days this week but at some point I will be trying a control week where I go back to the original plan – just diet, no gym. This is to measure (in a really unrepresentative and mostly non-scientific manner) what, if any, effect exercising has on my weight loss. I am hoping the result is ‘none’, in that I lose the same amount of weight in both weeks regardless of exercise. This will mean I am eating appropriately for the level I am exercising. 

But that update will have to wait at least two more weeks! For now, diet-fans, remember; don’t get irate – HYDRATE! Keep an H2Open mind and waterever you do, waterever you go keep drinking and don’t let your diet dry up.