New Year's Diet

[The Hen]

You sound like you are weighing yourself more than just once a day if you can work out you "lose" two pounds over night through breathing.

My Mum is a weight-obsessive. She weighs herself often. Many is the time I have congratulated her on doing a 1 1/2 pound poo.

[dgs49]

Over the years, my fine feathered friend, I have weighed myself thousands of times for lots of different purposes.

I have noted in the past that over a typical night, I lose 1-1/2 to 2 pounds, which I attribute to urination and the loss of fluid through breathing and perspiration. That is not something I've measured recently, and certainly not as a part of my current diet.

I have also noted, when I was a distance runner, that I could lose 5 pounds or more on a single long run in the Summer, and not be particularly thirsty at the end of it.

From day to day, a 2 or 3 pound fluctuation is nothing but ground clutter, not to be taken seriously. But I have had a life-long battle with my bathroom scale (which is dead-nuts accurate, believe it or not), and I have three siblings who have at times tipped the scale at over 300 lbs, so it's something I have to be conscious of.

[rubato]

The sensation of 'thirst' is often a lagging, i.e. late, indicator of dehydration. This is especially important for older people who often drink too little water as a result.

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Rube is correct. Also, just by dramatically changing your diet and reducing your calories you are reducing your salt intake.

[rubato]

Evolutionarily speaking, being dehydrated must not have a large influence on survival and reproduction, otherwise we would have a more sensitive response to it.

Not that it isn't important, it's just not the kind of important that changes the chance of breeding successfully.

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Dehydration is WAAAAAAAAY overrated. My urologist of many years has often told me it is silly to do any more "hydrating" than just drink something when you are thirsty. The axiom that one must drink so many glasses of water a day is total nonsense. In many cultures where people live toa ripe old age, they NEVER drink water, just a little tea, coffee or wine every day. If you eat a good diet of fruits and vegetables you don't need any water at all.

The only good advice I've ever heard is to watch the color of your pee. If it is golden, so are you.

[BoSoxGal]

Drinking 8 8oz glasses of water daily is recommended for dieters primarily because it promotes a feeling of fullness.

[Gob]

She had to live with them. Eat with them. And sit in front of the television for hours on end with them.

"We didn't do any exercise," the Taekwondo expert and self-confessed fitness nut laments.

"My only exercise was walking three steps to the fridge, which was actually positioned next to the TV so my family didn't have to walk into the kitchen. "And I didn't know that people actually eat like that. You'd think you'd just have treats every now and then, but it was breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"I'm a none drinker and I had to have beers for breakfast. "I couldn't get over that week - the disrespect for your body. They treated it like a nightclub."

Hall wasn't surprised at the effect the seven-day re-tox had on her.

"I was crying on TV because I'd never had alcohol before, I've always been a non-drinker - I think I was a little bit drunk to be honest," she admits. "No wonder they don't feel like exercising. "The food they eat is heavy, the quantity is heavy and it sits in your system and you feel heavy and you feel lethargic. "It had a huge effect on my mood - I felt so depressed that week. I didn't want to exercise even if I could have."

Then came the ultimate surprise challenge for the normally lean-mean-fighting-machines: the trainers were asked to weigh in after their week of excess with their families.

"I can't say how much we put on, but as a woman I felt for the first time just how much it really does effect your self esteem," Hall says.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv- ... 1a835.html

I wouldn't mind teaching her a few bad habits...

[dgs49]

Final weight 197. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm not as fat as I was.

Have to say, I probably hurt the results considerably by snacking on pretzels, which are not high in calories, but aren't a "free food," either.

I'm going to have a re-do starting on Ash Wednesday.

[Long Run]

14 pounds in about 5 weeks is pretty good. You probably like your clothes better now.