Diet Log: Week 7, Day 2
I keep hearing more anecdotal evidence about how drinking water helps lose weight, but not one person has been able to explain why. What is the science behind it? I must know!
It's not clear to me why one 0 calorie drink would be better for losing weight than another. What does Water do? Does it raise your metabolism? Does it prevent your body from absorbing more food than it needs? I'm not doubting anybody's stories, but it would be nice to understand what exactly is going on. Considering this is a very Scientific process already, I cannot afford to have it damaged by crackpot experiments.
It's been about 36 hours now since I have had any Diet Pepsi - or any substantial quantity of caffeine - and so far the side effects are not too bad. No headaches or anything like that. I DID doze off during Episode 12 of the 2nd Season of the Jack Bauer Show (some of you may refer to it as 24) and I had to re-watch parts of it this morning during my workout. The ride to work this morning was a little adventurous, but fortunately, my no-caffeinated drinks week coincides with the week I am driving my parents car to work instead of mine.
workout: 45 minutes on the treadmill and 40 pushups and situps.
Weigh-in: Still holding at -16. I wonder if I'm retaining water. Maybe I'm not drinking enough of it.
Breakfast: One Medium-to-large sized orange and a 20 oz bottle of "Dasani" water. Calories: about 65.
Lunch: Decided to go out to lunch today. Went to Boston Market and ordered a Turkey Carver Sandwich. Like A dummy, I ordered the combo out of sheer habit. Now, one of the things I hate the most is not getting my money's worth out of something, so here I am standing there with cup in my hand thinking that I just paid an extra $1 for a glass of water. Sorry - couldn't do it. I got the lemonade. It still achieves my real goal of not drinking soda, but is technically a violation. Sigh. I'm not very good at sticking to ANYTHING. Even for one stinking day!. Another source of frustration was when I realized that what I really wanted was the macaroni and cheese for a side item. I figured it would be pretty high in calories, so I asked for a side salad instead. She gave me a CEASAR salad - might as well have just had the Macaroni. I made the most of it and only used a small portion of the Ceasar dressing, so the Salad was only about 150 calories. When I was ordering I figured - how can I go wrong with a turkey sandwich? Then I got back to my desk and looked at their website. HOLY CRAP!!!!!! 830 Calories for a sandwich! I should have gone to D'angelos and had a steak and cheese - or to McDonalds for a couple of double cheeseburgers and saved myself $6 All in all, including the lemonade, it was about an 1100 calorie lunch. Ouch. On the plus side, I am pretty full, so maybe I won't need a big dinner.
Dinner: My wife made BLT's for dinner, which aren't actually that bad (as long as you don't eat 6 of them) - even with real mayo, they come in at about 300 calories. I had two, plus 1 0z of cape cod Salt and Vinager Chips. Calories: 750
Total Calories for the day: 1915
posted by Big A @ 9:54 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Diet Coke is calorie free, but it is not sodium free. All that extra sodium may make you retain more water than you would otherwise.
As it happens, I have an "Emergency" can of Diet Pepsi sitting here at work. It contains about 35mg of Sodium which is roughly 1% of the recommended daily amount. I would have to drink an ENORMOUS amount of it - even more so than I normally do to make a significant difference.
Diet Coke seems to have a bit more - 30 mg for an 8 oz serving - but I rarely drink Diet Coke.
And isn't "retaining water" one of the excuses that fat people use to explain how they aren't really fat? I have a feeling if I told YOU that I was retaining water, you would laugh at me.
This seems pretty well reasoned...
According to Dr. Robertson medical director of the Southwest Bariatric Nutrition Center in Scottsdale AZ, "water is quite possibly the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off". It acts as a natural appetite suppressant by keeping your stomach full and fending off dehydration, which can lead to false cravings/hunger. Most importantly water helps your body metabolize stored fat by helping the kidney´s flush out waste. When you don´t drink enough water, the liver which works to provide stored fat for energy, also takes on the task of helping the kidney´s eliminate waste and becomes less effective at metabolizing fat. Drinking your water ensures that the kidneys will be able to do their job. As an added bonus drinking eight glasses of ice water a day burns about 62 calories because your body has to work to raise that water´s temperature to your body´s temperature. That equals about 430 calories per week.
ah, Now some of that makes sense. Although it seems like at least some of that could also be accomplished by the water content in other drinks - except for the dehydration part. Caffeine does tend to encourage dehydration.
hmmm... I never though about the raising of the temperature burning extra calories. Guess that works for all drinks, right? iced coffee is better than hot coffee for example?
Thanks for doing the research Rob.
Wow. That's really interesting! I reckon you'll actually feel a lot better for cutting the caffeine and drinking water too.
MMM. Me ate Cape Cod Salt and Vinegar chips last night too.
I love those things. Really crunchy and loud if you're trying to watch TV, though.
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