60 Day Challenge - Day 31: Reaching Your Healthy Weight

Day 31: Reaching your Healthy Weight

Weekly Habit of Health: Drink Water

No problem, the Doc is suggesting we drink eight 8-ounce glasses, or a half gallon a day.  Over the past 10 weeks I have averaged 98 ounces everyday.  I have taken it further than that, I have put so much attention into drinking water and just water that it has made up 91% of all the fluids I have put into my body in the past 10 weeks.  The rest; 4% almond milk and 5% coffee.  I have consumed a total of 6752 ounces of pure water since I began this journey 70 days ago.

Create a New Energy Management System:

To reach and maintain a healthy weight, you need to take control of your energy management system—that is, calories in and calories out. It’s also critical to get your body out of fat-storage mode and into fat-burning mode by controlling your body’s release of insulin.

This is one thing I have really been fine tuning.  I have never been so in touch with my body.  I am certain that my super success at recent weight lose has so much to do with the extreme change in diet.  I always feel satisfied, and I am still shedding pounds.  My body is responding as if this is what it has been requesting for years.  I owe it to diminishing the intake of foods high in bad fat, simple carbs, and sugar.  My energy management system is chugging down the tracks at full speed.  Never uncomfortably hungry or full seems to be my motto.

The Logistics of Healthy Eating:

Can you eat every three hours? If so, you can change your life. A study by David Jenkins, MD, PhD—the University of Toronto pioneer in low-glycemic eating—demonstrates that eating small portions at frequent intervals is good for your health in a number of important, even remarkable ways. Among those benefits are weight loss, hunger control, reduced blood insulin, and reduced LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

Um, there is absolutely no doubt about this.  I am a testimony to the success of eating small meals every 3 hours.  I established this way of eating  waaay back on the 2nd day of my journey. 

Keys to my success: 

• Writing up the weekly menu every Sunday
• Pre-packaging my snacks in serving sizes (almonds, carrots, energy blends, etc.) 
• Always having fresh produce on hand (the contents of the fridge have changed dramatically!)
• Logging everything I eat, when I eat it, on My Fitness Pal.
• Comparing bad food temptations against the mental image of what I will look like! This always seems to work.  This mental image includes me being able to climb trees, bike, hike, run, play ball, swim, and dance with my children and wife!
• Forgetting about mistakes shortly after they happen. I know I am on the right track, and that is all that matters.

I feel both satisfied and in control.  This method was a little daunting at first, but has now been ingrained as part of my lifestyle, and I could not be happier!