Weight Loss Week 1 Goal: Drink the Water

I have to lose 50 lbs.  

I have reached obesity-level weight.  I needed a game plan, but suffered information overload.  This only inspired me to want to take a nap.

In a moment of clarity, (otherwise known as an AHA moment - clarity sounds better) losing weight became easier when I decided to give myself One. Simple. Goal every week.  The idea behind it is to just focus on it and nothing else.

Week One Goal  

My goal was to drink 8 cups of water everyday.  

Good Days vs. Bad Days

I reached my goal 6 out of 7 days.

The one day I did not reach my goal was not a good day for me.  I found myself not really caring about how much water I drank.  I was short by 1-1/2 cups.  I didn't beat myself up too badly over it.  A bad day doesn't get better by adding to my grief.  It was a bad day.  Then a new one came, along with a new opportunity to succeed.  BAM!

Game Plan  

I am a visual person.  When I was home, I filled a 4-cup Anchor Hocking measuring cup with water.  So technically, I only had to count twice!

I drank two cups of water as soon as I woke up.  

Funny observation: I learned to go to the bathroom before leaving the house.  2 cups of water plus 1 cup of coffee - you do the math!

For days that I went to work, I filled my water bottle.  The problem was that the water bottle wasn't see-through.  

If I sat at a desk that day, I had a 1-cup measuring cup with me.  Using a fancy measuring cup versus a practical-looking one made me feel better and more likely to drink.  Little things, people.  I surprised myself at how quickly that one cup of water went down.  I ended up running out of water by the end of the work day.

There were days that I did not sit at a desk all day.  I was all over the place doing things (which will work great when I have a Steps Taken goal).  This was harder because my water drinking became more of an intentional thing than the other two scenarios listed above.  In order to help myself, every time I found myself back at my desk, I took a big chug of water, or several if I just wanted to finish it before the end of my work day.  Yes, there were moments where it was a chore, or something else to remember doing.  I learned to be okay with those thoughts.  I got it done.  💪

Observations

• It was fun to focus on just one thing.  
• I didn't worry about how much exercise I got, or didn't. 
• I didn't worry about whether or not I ate enough fruits, vegetables, [insert healthy food here], or didn't. 
• I allowed myself to stress eat.  (OOO goal for later💡)  
• Not gonna lie: I drank the rest of the wine after making shrimp scampi pasta.  (I don't normally drink alcohol.)
• I ate a few pieces of cheesecake.....in one sitting.  
• The kids ate the rest of the chips before the next grocery shopping day, sooooo none of that for me.
• The moments that I started worrying about the woulda, coulda, shoulda, I reminded myself to focus on drinking the water.  💡 I found myself exhaling an ounce of stress.  It was refreshing.
• The day I ate the cheesecake slices was towards the end of the first week.  Something in me was different.  I ate it, but with less need to feed my stress, and more because it was so doggone delicious.  I thought it was worth mentioning. 

RESULTS

I lost 4 lbs.  46 to go.  See you next week!