Problem With Drinking (H20)

I read an article yesterday about a man who lost 300lbs.  He did a wonderful job!  At the end of the piece, he gave some tips on how he did it.  Of course eating less, eating healthier, and exercise were on the list.  But there was one on there that, I have a strong suspicion, is something that will be life altering for me...WATER.

The author of the article said that he drinks 2 gallons of water a day. 2!!!  That sounds like a crazy number.  What a weirdo right!  BUT, looks like I need to take heed.  Why? 

When I was pregnant with both of my sons I LOST weight.  LOST.  With my first son, I "gained" 30 lbs.  After I delivered a 10lb 6oz baby and whatnot, I ended up weighing about 15 lbs less than I did before I got pregnant.  Unheard of generally.  The ONLY changes I made to my diet were cutting out caffeine and adding copious amounts of water. It was summer and it was HOT HOT HOT!  I had a hard time staying hydrated and was drinking upwards of a gallon of water a day.  I was even pretty sedentary the last few months I was pregnant because it was such a hot summer and I was super uncomfortable with that enormous child in my tummy.  A few weeks after the birth, I went back to my old ways with water and caffeine.  Within 6-8 months after the birth I packed all of the pounds back on, PLUS some. 

When I was pregnant with my second son I maintained a 10 lb weight loss throughout the whole pregnancy.   With this little one, I cut out caffeine AND I had a sugar and dairy aversion.  Additionally, I had a weird symptom whereby I could TASTE chemicals in things, so I stopped drinking tap water (even filtered...I could taste the stupid filter stuff) and I began to drink bottled water.  I probably drank 5-6 bottles of water a day.  After he was born at 8lbs 10oz, I weighed 20 lbs less than when I got pregnant.  Again, after a few months of being back to my regular water and coffee schedule, the weight came right back on, PLUS some.

I know that there are a lot of physiological reasons why heavier women lose weight when they are pregnant, but I can't help but wonder if all of that water was a factor in the weight loss. 

In general, I am always a little dehydrated.  I used to drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning, then nothing else until I got crazy thirsty after nap time.  That can't be good.  Right now, I am either drinking a glass of milk or a cup of tea for breakfast and often not anything else until 12-1 in the afternoon.  I kind of just forget to drink.  I am FOR SURE eating, but not drinking anything. 

"What do losing weight and water have to do with depression? " you ask.  Well, for starters, chronic dehydration makes you feel tired and sluggish, which doesn't help depression.  It also slows metabolic functions.  So, what you are eating isn't being metabolised correctly...making you gain weight...AND you are too tired to exercise!   Secondly, there is some weird hormone stuff that goes on inside of an obese woman's body; thyroid function is thrown off and reproductive hormones go all wacky (which I have experienced).  Both of these things can create or exacerbate depression.  Also, there have been studies that show that obesity leads to vitamin D deficiency (which I have been diagnosed with).  Vitamin D is a happy little vitamin.  It is the vitamin that is needed when people have Seasonal Affective Disorder (which is depression that occurs in winter and then subsides when there is more sunshine). 

I need to drink more water kids!  I went out and bought some fancy new reusable cups.  I stocked my freezer with ice (I love SUPER cold water) and am keeping water by my side throughout the day.  In my last post I wrote about tea.  Tea is still fine.  It basically just infused water.  In herbal tea there is no caffeine or sugar to goober up the hydrating power of the water.

Today I have consumed more water from 7am to 12pm than I did ALL of yesterday.  Strangely, I am still thirsty.  But I have to say, I AM feeling a little peppier today than yesterday.  I am going to strive to drink roughly 90 oz of water a day (5 of my shiny new reusable cups is about 96 oz).  For those of you who use the posh metric system, that's nearly 3 liters of water per day. 

I am hopeful that adding the water component to my little experiment will help with sugar and carb intake as well as fuel energy for exercise.