What are you drinking?

Is a drinking problem holding you back from losing weight?  Ted Striker from Airplane! had a big drinking problem (see photo on the right).  Granted, it was not stopping him from losing weight, but it was still holding him back.....from keeping his shirt dry.

One of the most important parts of a healthy diet is good ole H₂O.  To quote Kings Quest video game:

Ahh, lifegiving water.  Nectar of the Gods.

I read a book a few years back about the South Beach Diet and it went in depth about why drinking water is important to losing weight.  It allows your kidneys to function properly.  If you do not have enough water, your liver is forced to help clean your blood and it cannot function properly.  Enough water also allows our body to regulate its temperature better and a whole plethora of other advantages.  According to the Mayo Clinic, the average human should be drinking between 72 and 104 oz. of water a day.  Some experts have forumulas based on weight that could have you drinking upwards of 160 oz. of water a day.  Also, if you are doing lots of exercise or working in heat, you will need to increase this.

Beyond that, what are you drinking?  I enjoy some coffee from time to time (ok a few times a day).   Coffee has very few calories, somewhere around 2 calories for 8 oz, or 5 for a 20 oz cup!  But, what ELSE do you add to it?  I enjoy coffee in its own form, but most people I know tend to add something to it.  Milk, sugar, etc.  This adds calories to it and many people may not realize it.  The average espresso drinks (Latte, Cappucino, etc.) in a 20 oz size (venti) from Starschmucks yields 373 calories...FOR A DRINK!  Even getting the nonfat (skim milk) version only cuts the calories down to about 250 calories.  If you want a caffeine fix, perhaps you should learn to enjoy a cup of coffee alone and save yourself 245-368 calories.

Another easy way to drink your calories is soda. Coca-Cola or Pepsi has about 100 calories in 8 oz.  How often do you drink 8 oz?  Usually it is a 12 oz can, or a 1 liter (32 oz) bottle.  This will increase you to 150-400 calories.

So my friends if you are having trouble losing weight, I ask you this:

     What are you drinking?

• Are you drinking enough water?
• Do you know how many calories you are drinking?

If you are not sure, increase your water intake for a week and be conscious of what you are drinking and see what happens.  You may be surprised at the results.

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAALLL!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAALLL!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAALLL!!!!!!!! GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOAL, GOOOOOOOOAAALLL!!!!!!!

In theory, we all have goals.  Not just for weight loss, but also for our life.  Many people ask you

What is stopping you from reaching your goal?

 But, the more important question that should be asked is this:

Is your goal reasonably achievable? 

We often set a goal that is too far out, or too hard to reach when setting our weight loss goals.

What have I always wanted as an end result from working out?  To look like this:

But, as it turns out, no amount of working out will turn me into a fit black man!

In all seriousness, my goal is to get one of these:

You are probably scratching your head right about now asking me why I can't just go out and buy one.  There is one major hurdle stopping me.  My wife.  She told me I could get one when I can fit into it.  I informed her I could fit just fine as is, but she did not concur.  So, we struck up a deal that if an when I get down to about 200 lbs, I can get one.  That deal was struck about 1.5 years ago.  It has not motivated me to lose weight because it is too big of a goal, and too far into the future to comprehend and maintained focused on.

Be sure to have a LONG TERM goal in mind, but in the mean time work on some short term goals.  My current goal is this:

I want to be able to weigh myself on our scale at home.

From when I started this journey in early July, it was about a 40 lb goal.  I am over halfway to reaching this goal in just 5 weeks.

Once I reach this goal, I will then set another goal for myself.  Our minds work much better when focusing on short term goals.  Goals that take 1-2 years of hard work and perseverance  are hard to keep our heads wrapped around that.  Setting some more achievable attainable goals in the short term can be very helpful to getting to your bigger goal.  Also, once you hit one of your short term goals, be sure that you do not "REWARD" yourself so much that it sabotages you from continuing your journey.

So, if you see me driving around in a shiny Camaro, or some other sports car that costs less than $50k, you will know that I have achieved my goal.

And now time for my ticker.  Only 1 lb lost this week, but I am still trying to keep my chin up and focus on my diet.  I need to get more focused on getting the proper and balanced nutrition.

One Month and counting....

So, today is 1 month since I started the ViSalus challenge and I am feeling great.  The past week I only lost about a half a pound, but I did lose an inch off my waist so I am not gonna complain.  I know there were some days I could have been better on my nutrition, but I did manage to get a solid 5 days of 60+ minutes of working out.  I do my weigh ins on Monday, and as of Monday I have lost 19 lbs.  I am pretty happy with that as it is more than half of my goal for 90 days.

I figured I would share some of the things that I found that have worked for me in my success thus far, and that I plan on doing in the future:

• Find a meal plan that works.  Doing the ViSalus shakes seems to work for me.  They have a pretty good flavor, and you can mix them up in anything.  Some mornings I use them as cream/sugar for my iced coffee, some days I make a fruit smoothie, others I just mix with milk or almond milk.  Having 2 shakes, plus a snack (power bar, greek yogurt, NutraCookie or some other high protien snack around 200 calories or less) I usually end up with about 500 calories and I feel full until around 4-5 PM) and can eat a decent sized supper.  This may not work for everyone, but find what does work for you.  Without proper nutrition, all the exercise in the world may not help you lose the weight you want.
• Find tools that work.  I have been using MyFitnessPal to track calories consumed and burned.  It has a good database, and if you have a smartphone or tablet you can use the camera as a bar code scanner.  I do not worry about tracking EVERY calorie that goes into my mouth EVERY DAY.  I try to track most of my calories most days, and all of my calories one or two days a week.  Livestrong also has a good tool, MyDailyPlate that works well.  
• Track with friends - using tools like MyFitnessPal and MyDailyPlate, find friends who use these tools. Most of them will integrate with social networks to help you find friends using them.  Sharing your progress with friends can be very motivating.
• Use your smartphone.  If you have one, it can be a helpful tool to help you keep motivated.  I use the MapMyFitness app to track my outdoor workouts.  If going for a walk or a bike ride, it will track your route, speed, etc.  She even tells you when you hit each mile.  I usually play some Pandora radio while biking or walking as well to keep me motivated.
• Vary your workouts.  Variety is the spice of life.  If you hop on the treadmill every day for 4 weeks for cardio workouts, you are going to start hating your workouts.  If you are a member of a gym, check for fitness classes like Zumba, Spinning, Yoga, etc.  If your gym has a pool look for water aerobics classes.  On the days that I really do not want to do one apparatus for a long period of time I will do a "Cardio Cocktail".  Pick a few machines.  For a 30 minute workout, pick 3 machines and do 10 minutes each.  Rowing, Stair Stepper, Elliptical.  If your gym has more machines, add more of a mix to your cocktail.  This can make it seem more fun and less of a burden.  It is also good to keep your body guessing by varying your workouts so it does not get into a routine of what to expect any given day.
• Remember, it is a marathon and not a sprint.  It can be stressful and depressing if you worry too much about having a bad week.  We all have them, stress at work, home, life, etc.  Sometimes we do not eat as well as we should.  Be honest with yourself, and also remember that the body is not a perfect machine.  Calories in vs calories out does not always equal weight loss.  Keep a focus on the big picture:  Getting Healthy.  Even if you are not losing weight, you are still conditioning your body to work better by working out regularly.  That flight of stairs will get easier even if you have not lost weight.  
• Find your caloric intake goal.  Many apps will have calorie goals based on your weight.  Remember, these are not perfect.  Some people have higher metabolism than others.  For better readings get a calorie tracking device like a Polar heart rate watch, or something like the Nike Fuel Band to help track.  Also, when plotting your calories keep in mind that less calories consumed does not always equal greater weight loss.  I know for myself that if my caloric intake is below 1500 calories per day, I will not lose weight very efficiently.  To lose about 2 lbs a week, my daily goal is around 2400 calories.  I try to keep my intake between 1500 and 2500 on a daily basis.
• Lastly, drink lots of water.  Water is very important in keeping our bodies functioning properly.  Very rarely can you drink too much water.  Drinking a gallon of water a day is what is healthy.  This keeps our blood balance, our kidneys can function to clean out the blood of toxins and waste which helps the liver not have to work so hard to keep the body clean.  It also allows us to keep ourselves cool when we need it by sweating.  Not drinking enough water on a daily basis can drastically stunt weight loss without even realizing it.

Well, those are my tips thus far.  Good luck to anyone else who is working on losing weight, getting in shape and working for a healthier tomorrow.

And now for my weight loss ticker: