27 June 2012

Unknown upside to drinking more

My weight really does fluctuate over the days: after a little increase yesterday, the scales indicated a bigger drop today.  It's on days like these that Miss Scales is my best friend again. It doesn't take much to win me over, does it?  What can I say, I am easy to please ;o)  Hopefully it will not be on the rebound again on Friday when I have my "official" weekly weigh-in.  I would like that weekly graph to show a steady sloping line.

For the past months I have had nagging headaches at the end of the afternoon, that I treated with a Neurofen tablet whenever it became to painful to stay focused on the job.  Looking for the source of these recurring headaches (which occurred only on weekdays, strangely enough), I singled out three possible causes: (a) I need stronger glasses, (b) I work continuously on a computer screen and (c) the artificial light in my office.  I ruled out a and b because I spent as much time with my glasses and computer on weekends as during the week.  Which left me with the lights.  So for two last two months I have been working by natural light coming from the window, switching on the fixtures only when it gets too dark (due to storm, heavily overcast weather, ...).  The headaches improved significantly but still continued to dwindle my good spirits every now and then.

And then I started dieting last week.

And sticking to the rules, drinking way more water at work, going from my usual 0.5L to 2L a day.

And I haven't had any headaches since!

Like most overweight people, I suffer from painful and disgraceful water retention in my lower limbs.  I take medication to counter that but in order not to worsen the problem I tried to limit my fluid intake.  After all, I had plenty of "water" stuck around my feet and ankles and I didn't want to fill up whatever I managed to eliminate with the diuretic.  That wasn't a smart move, I guess.  Your body needs water to work properly and I think my headaches were a sign of being slightly dehydrated.  I might not have a degree in medicine but even I can put two and two together.

Two birds with one stone : I got rid of the nasty headaches and I drink the recommended amount of water.  If I could only hit that elusive third bird called Shankles as well, I would be a very happy bunny :o)


Overview of my day :

Breakfast : 11 pts (half skimmed milk 3pts, 45g nestle fitness cereals 5pts, a glass of fruitjuice 3pts and an apple)

Lunch : 10 pts (Terriyaki Beef Bento - most vegetables and fruits 0pts, 110g rice 4pts, beef terriyaki portion 6pts)

Dinner :17 pts (30g chorizo as appetizer 3pts, steamed sea wolf 4pts - unweighed portion of potatoes 7pts - lipton fusion ice tea 3pts)

Unused :12 pts

Drinks : 2.2L still water, 20cl perrier and 50cl fusion ice tea


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