I have to pee

I have to pee.  Seriously.  I really need to go.

In the past couple of weeks I've started on a quest of self improvement when it comes to my diet.  I still drink like a fish and will eat the hell out of some chicken wingz.  I've always believed that you can eat anything you want as long as it's in moderation.  As part of this attempted lifestyle change I began to record what i ate. Not getting overly granular and recording portion sizes and quantity etc.  Just more or less making notes.  I try to keep track of how many Dew's I have but beyond that I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out if i had a two servings of cookies vs three based on what the package said.  I'll worry about portion sizes another day...

I was inspired to do something like this because of something I heard on NPR a couple of weeks ago.  The topic was childhood obesity and I hope you'll forgive me for not remembering too many of the details of the show.  The nutritionist on the program said the first step she had parents do before bringing their children in was to record what they ate for two weeks.  The parents were in denial that they and their kids ate so poorly but there it was in black and white.  Attempts were made to rationalize why the kids ate hot dogs and mac n cheese every night for a week.  Most parents genuinely believe their kids eat better than they really do.  Kids don't like their veggies which is no shocker.  The parents being referenced in this show were amazed at just how badly they were feeding their kids.

This got me thinking.  I don't think i eat THAT badly.  I like my veggies.  I know i buy them when i go shopping.  I know i like to eat them when i go out.  In fact I ate veggies... last night...errr... lunch the day before... err... shit I can't remember now!

I began recording my consumption last week and I'm very much not proud of what I'm reading when i look at it.  I didn't realize how little water I've been consuming recently and it's summer when I should be consuming more!

The first lifestyle change so far isn't too drastic and gradual.  I bring a bottle of frozen water to work every day and keep filling it up through out the day so it stays cold.  Bottle is appx 16 oz and on Fri I estimate I had over four bottles (only recorded four because I'm not trying to cheat myself here).  My bladder went into overdrive!!!  Every time i turned around I had to go to the bathroom again.

A friend of mine gave me a piece of advice when it comes to increasing water consumption.  Always take your bottle with you whenever you go somewhere.  It's easier to sip then as you're going somewhere whether it's at work or out in public.  I only like water when it's very cold so i purposely have a smaller bottle.  This means it won't get warm too fast.  Also means i get through it quicker (nice morale boost).  Every time I have to go pee now I bring the bottle with me to fill up on my return back to my desk.

Aside from the constant flushing, am I noticing an effect yet after increasing the water intake in the past week?  I can't pinpoint anything one way or another yet so i can't answer this question yet.  What's most important for me is that I'm becoming more aware.  I don't call this a diet.  I call this a lifestyle improvement.  As i said before, I still drink like a fish and will tear up some chicken wings if given the opportunity to.  I'm not looking to change my entire lifestyle.  Just looking to tweak things a bit.

No joking... I have to pee again...