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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Diet Dr. Pepper

Well, the season of Lent is here. For those who don't practice (celebrate? participate?) Lent, you're just like, ho-hum. That means how many days until Easter again? For those who do, it's a time for contemplation, reflection, and sacrifice. You think about something that is ruling your life and shouldn't be and give it up for 40 days. Suggestions for things to give up range from chocolate to sodas to smoking to Facebook, and lots of stuff in between.

Okay, class over.

I haven't ever given anything up for Lent. I won't go into my reasons why not, but I still never have. This year, I've decided to, and the thing that I'm going to give up, as you can tell by the title, is diet Dr. Pepper.

Hello, my name is Becky Weber, and I'm addicted to Dr. Pepper.

Dr. Pepper, and now diet, has led to a lot of the problems that I currently have: excess weight, bad teeth, bad skin (I'm sure, although not quite so much anymore). When I was in high school, my mom tried to restrict me to one Dr. Pepper a day. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. When I moved out, I went crazy on Dr. Pepper. That's all I drank, all day. Considering the fact that each can of Dr. Pepper has 150 calories (I think - it's been awhile), if I have 5 cans a day (and that would be a low day), then that is 750 calories, just from drinks. Empty calories, anyone? Invisible calories, too, so I don't really realize how much I'm drinking. At my worst, it was probably between 7 -10 a day. A freakin' day. Yikes! That's not even talking about the amount of sugar in my mouth everyday, all day, ruining my teeth.

Then I switched to diet Dr. Pepper. It took some getting used to, I'll admit, but now I prefer diet to regular. Plus, there's no calories, so yay! Back up to 5 or 6 drinks a day. I was drinking DDP at the expense of drinking water.

Now, I don't know about those studies that say that the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks are linked to cancers or various other diseases in the long run. I haven't read the papers and looked at the research (what can I say, I'm a scientist). I know that it's not conclusive, though. What I do know, though, is that water is kind of important to drink (supposedly), and the sweetness of diet drinks can be very misleading to your tummy. It makes you actually hungrier, apparently, because of the sweetness, but lack of calories... I don't know; I know that it can actually hinder dieting attempts.

I've actually been trying to cut down on DDP for a couple of weeks anyway, focus on drinking more water. I take one with me to work for lunch, and then water the rest of the day until I get home. But this is where my plan of cutting down sometimes falls apart, because that's all I drink all evening and all night.

So here we go. No more DDP. I'm hoping that it will be reflected in my weight, but we'll see. I'm down to 2 travel mugs of half-caf (black) coffee a day, and at least 64 ounces of water a day. I'm brewing the (unsweet) tea right now, so I have something to drink besides water.

And as a side note: I still haven't gotten back to my running thing, although my headaches are gone. Maybe it was the weather, I don't know. Don't care. I have been watching my food intake, for the most part, walking more, drinking more water. Things seem to be going well. I had a bad weekend, so I haven't weighed myself recently, but I'll do that tomorrow morning. Promise. Oh yeah, and of all the Girl Scout cookies we have in house, I restrict myself to the suggested serving amounts. And that sucks. Did you know that you only get 2 Samoas cookies for 140 calories? That sucks.

Monday, March 7, 2011

still going...

The past two nights I have ridden the bike 5 miles (each night) for an average caloric burn of 360 each time.

Not too bad for a lazy bum.

Also, I had a few pieces (small) of candy, but oh well! I wanted it. :O)

My weight this morning was 266.

So,
Start: 272
Today: 266
Loss: 6 (sigh)

I know, good things come to those who wait but good things come faster to those who don't. I will get there, I will.