One of the guys I work with fills up his nalgene water bottle several times a day. I know this because the water cooler isn't very far from my office and when he comes over that is the only time I may see him all day. I commented on his water drinkage once. He told me that a person should drink half their body weight of water in ounces. So at 257 pounds, I should be drinking 129 ounces of water a day!!I was astounded. I don't drink anywhere near that much water. In fact, my co-worker may be the only person I know who does. I know the whole "Eight 8-oz glasses a day" philosophy (I don't do that either). So I decided to do a little research. It turns out that he may be right.
I found several places that said that half your body weight in ounces in the right amount. But then, you have to add 8 ounces for every 20 minutes of exercise you do. You can't just count on your 129 (or whatever number you come up with) ounces, you have to add more if you work out. AND... if you are travelling, you should drink 8 more ounces for every hour you are stuck in an airplane. That last one was probably tacked on by someone who sells water in the airports. You can't bring it with you through security and then pay $20 for a bottle on the other side.
My husband bought a new home scale two weeks ago. Our old one was giving very weird readings and had become so unreliable that I wouldn't even stand on it anymore. It told him he lost 20 pounds overnight one day. He didn't....
The new scale is fancy. It is digital, which the kids like. Four different users can save their weight history on it. And it looks like the spaceship enterprise. (Not really, but it is very sleek). Once it tells you how fat you are, I mean how much you weigh, it tells you your BMI and how many calories you should eat in a day to stay that weight (like anyone I know really needs that). The information that I like the most is that it tells you what percent of water you are. OK, I'm sure that is at least close to what it means. The book says to aim for 50% to be healthy. I continuously only track 30%.
I know I don't drink enough water. (unless you count the water in the martini's*, which I totally don't). I guess that is one more of the things I need to be working on. If you don't drink your water you won't loose the weight either. I like to think of it as "flushing" the fat. Eating your PointsPlus target makes sure your body doesn't create more fat. Exercise loosens it up. And water flushes it out. It's a nice visual to leave you with. Ha!
*side note on martini's: A martini with an olive is now 9 pointsplus. NINE!!! No friggin' wonder I'm not losing as fast as I'd like. I spend all of my weekly points allowance (we used to call them "flex" points) on alcohol, and then some!!! I've got to find a lower point drink.
The things you get me onto girl!! I found a "water" calculator and it turns out I should be drinking about 5 litres (170fl/oz) of water a day!! How the heck am I going to do that?!! Oh well - I am going to try tomorrow - I may have to work up to it though and boy is the toilet going to get a good workout lol!!
ReplyDeleteShari, At least 20% of your water intake comes from the food you eat. So I guess that means only 4 liters of drinking. Not only that, they say that your coffee and you soda's can be part of that number. You can also drink too much water, so be careful! I'm trying hard to drink more as well, but I'm trying to ease into it. It's good exercise to walk from the desk to the bathroom 40 times a day though. So that's a bonus.
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