I’ll have water…with a side of water

Ok…anyone with a weight problem (waist line challenged?) is well aware of the importance of water. It is preached to us over and over. Your doctor…you exercise leader…your weight loss group leader…your child’s teacher…EVERYONE! You may have noticed your four leggeds pushing their water bowl towards you with judgmental eyes! Well we KNOW! We know water is important to our bodies but it is so hard to drink sometimes. I am not a water freak. It is a DAILY challenge to me to make sure that I am drinking enough water.  I would rather have a coke or diet mountain dew anytime during the day. My diet mountain dew was my “coffee” for the morning. As I became more and more out of control…my cans of  12 ounce DMDs graduated to the 16 ounces of DMD (the ones in the really cool bottles). My husband could come home from work and determine the type of day I had by counting the DMD bottles in the trash can…yea, I was that bad.

Having said that, let me tell you, I have not had any soft drinks since July of 2017! NO SOFT DRINKS! I don’t even buy them for the kids anymore. Our house has been CLEANED…PURGED…I have walked toward the light! Now you may ask…how? Well it was that dang whole30 again! No soft drinks…pretty much nothing but water to drink. No cheating with those flavor packs either…just straight water (I don’t understand how people say there is no taste to water….). So, you can guess, I did not go gently into that night. The first three days I had intense headaches, I mean so bad that I could not even focus my eyes. I felt dulled and I felt gross and I felt like I wanted to climb under the covers and stay (I may have stayed there, but my kids found me). I am not going to lie, it was honestly one of the hardest things I have ever done.

You may be different from me – you may be able to drink one soft drink a week and be fine. I cannot do that, I had to quit cold turkey. And honestly, now that I have gone through that – I would not drink a soft drink now for anything. It’s just water, water, water…ugh, and one more water… Now, there is one thing other than water that I will drink, it makes me feel like I am cheating (although it’s legal on whole 30…it still feels like a cheat). LA CROIX SPARKLING WATER. Now when I read those words…I hear angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus. That’s how magic those drinks were to me!

See how pretty those cans are? They even make a “psssssssssst” sound when you pop them open! Makes me feel like I am actually drinking a soft drink. Oh I know, I said I would not drink a soft drink for anything but it doesn’t make it easier to walk away! I still get those cravings, I think I always will. Like I said, it is not easy.

It’s a conscious decision I have to make several times a day. I might mess up one day, I might just buy a bottle of that pale green liquid that has seen me through better days. I guess if you struggle with food addiction, it never will be easier.

So how do we get enough water? Well, I drink 2 bottles before I even get out of bed. After drinking those 2 bottles, I am strongly motivated to quickly get out of bed (and head towards the bathroom)! I constantly have a bottle of water in my hand. I may get stopped in the grocery store by a friend and while we are talking…I will be drinking too. While I am driving…I am drinking. Always. The one problem I have faced is that being 50-ISH, I have to program every clean public restroom into my GPS!

Like I said, every day is a battle. Every single day. I have to be conscious of everything going into my mouth.  I need people around me I can call in case I have a huge panic attack! I need to surround myself with strong people who believe in me. I hope you will let me be that person to you, I can never get enough people in my corner. So join my corner and let me join yours!! Let me know what you do to make sure you hit that water mark each and every day!