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.
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