Rick The Stick – a comic on the Interwebs

Good morning!

Happy humpday! Hope your week is going well – and I mean that sincerely. Not that you’d hit me up and be all like “you know what! it’s not going good? i’m not having a good week;” and I’d be like “Hey friend, I noticed you didn’t capitalize some of your letters there and your punctuation is a mess – having a good week starts with making sure your sentences are buttoned up. Think about that and get back to me.”

Riiiiiiight. Anywho, I’m continuing on the Rick the Stick diet (I’m down 34 pounds in three and a half months*) and here’s the key to it: water.

Water.

I was feeling listless, tired and unmotivated to do some of the things I wanted to do when I started another weight loss contest in the beginning of March with a coworker. I saw that trainer on the Biggest Loser with a tip during the show that said drinking water increases your metabolism. I used to have a high metabolism and was tall and skinny. Age pretty much took care of that and now I was tall, dumpy and my weight was topping out at 276 (when I started the contest I weighed in at 274 so I use that weight as my official starting weight).

I also wanted to live a longer life now that I had a child – I want to watch him grow up and I wasn’t convinced on my current path that I’d have that opportunity. Something needed to change. Starting with consuming more water seemed like a good start.

What I’ve read is that if you’re dehydrated your body can mistake that for hunger. STUPID BODY!!! I AM THIRSTY!!! The problem for most of my adult life was that I hated drinking boring old water. So I downed Diet Cokes like they were my life’s source. STUPID DIET COKE!

I now drink two 1.5 liter bottles of water per day. I usually will have a cup of coffee (I still need caffeine!) and a liter of seltzer – ALL BEFORE I LEAVE WORK! Drinking a lot of water in the evening usually makes for a lot of trips to the bathroom. For some great tips on water consumption check out this article.

Back to Diet Coke or other diet sodas. Aside from the fact that they aren’t part of a healthy “DIET”, the chemicals in them actually hurt your metabolism. So while you may not be adding calories from your beverage, you’re killing your metabolism which helps your body burn more calories. If you’re drinking a diet beverage or anything with ASPARTAME or any other artificial sweetener in it, slowly put it down and back away from it.

Want more information for yourself? Fine. Click here (NY Times) Keep in mind that I was addicted to Diet Coke – sometimes drinking 4-5 20 oz. bottles per day. Ugh. I’m proud to say I have not “BOUGHT” a Diet Coke in 2009 – I’ve had a few (my wife sometimes brings one home) but despite the intense cravings on occasion, I don’t drink it anymore.

Added benefit: when you’re feeling hungry, drinking more water helps those little hunger pangs go away.

So there it is. Water. Lots of it. Quench the thirst you probably didn’t know you had, increase your metabolism and lose weight. Simple right? Yes. But you need to do more. Start today. Even if you drink just one more glass than you normally would – do it – and keep doing it.

Thanks for dropping by!
Ken

*I’ve averaged losing 2.5 pounds per week without going hungry (all the time). You can check in every Monday for my results from every Friday’s weigh-in. I’ll also be including more of the things that I’ve done to get there.