Getting Rid of Depression Pounds Part 1

So, I've lost 14 pounds in the last 36 days.

But I’ve figured out how to do it safely. Since topic is near and dear to our hearts, I’ll expand on it over the next few posts.

Step 1: Stop Drinking all Soft Drinks, Sodas, and Fruit Juices.

I bet you thought fruit juices were healthy. Well maybe, but fruit juices generally contain the same amount of calories as soft drinks. If you are trying to lose weight, you can’t have them. Eat the fruit instead - oranges, grapes, guavas, etc. Whatever is in season.

So what does that leave you to drink. Well, there is water. I prefer bottled water because tap water in my area is horrible. And I prefer one specific brand because each of the bottled waters taste slightly differently. Soda water is fine too, and the fizziness can be a stand in for flavour if you think water is too flavourless.

Energy drinks like Gatorade are not a substitute for juice, they have the same amount of calories.

Coffee and tea are generally fine. Yes, you can continue adding sugar to them - giving up sugar in your hot beverages seems to me to be a way of making the quality of your life substantially worse to very little benefit. A teaspoon of sugar doesn’t have that much calories (numbers to be added later). Of course if you are putting in 5 heaping teaspoons of sugar, you may want to cut down.

I think it is ok to use the artificial sweetners. Personally, I think they taste awful and I’d rather drink water than drink anything containing them, but if you drink diet drinks, that’s fine.

Alcohol is ok in moderation - one glass of wine or one beer or one drink. Then you have to switch to soda water. If this is too much then the pattern is one drink, then one soda water, then another drink.

Don’t worry about the 8 glasses / water a day. That was a made up statistic, not based on any research. Drink water as you feel comfortable with. But two points. It is ok to drink as much water as you want. The second is that we generally ignore our bodies thirst signals and drink less than we should. If you can, walk around with a bottle of water and take a sip when you are thirsty. You’d be surprised how much more water you drink.

Losing weight and then keeping it off requires a change in lifestyle, not a diet. So think of giving up soft drinks / juices as a lifestyle change, not something you do are doing just to lose weight. Since you are trying to form a habit, keep this up for two weeks - and adjust to your different beverage habits. Then you move on to Step 2.

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