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The Water Challenge Chronicles

The Water Challenge Chronicles

So I accepted the water challenge. I started the water challenge. I, well, I am not beating this challenge of water..YET! The Water Challenge is a 7 day to 30 day (or longer) challenge to get us to drink a gallon of water per day. It’s not necessary to actually drink an entire gallon, as long as you drink half of your weight in ounces. I intend to drink a gallon. I’m a big girl so that’s a lot of ounces.

Day 1:

I decided I wouldn’t carry an entire gallon with me all day. That won’t work with me and my wheelchair so, after some elementary school math I figured I’d just have to fill up my 16oz bottle 8x a day. I bought a 99 cent gallon of water and filled mine and my boyfriend’s bottle. Yeah, I challenged him too. I’m doing this solo! My bottle is infused with cucumbers. Yummy. Next time will be mint. Anyway, I also decided to start off a little slower than most. Instead of an entire gallon in one day, I’d give my body a chance to acclimate to the change. So 1/2 a gallon of water should be enough. I barely made a dent in my second 16oz refill. It’s my stomach. I don’t eat much and fill up very quickly. I also drank a kale smoothie for lunch. I was stuffed! I don’t even remember dinner. End day 1. Day 2 will be much more successful.

drink water pass it on

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I Drink, Therefore I am

I Drink, Therefore I am

All over my social media I see my friends (online and real life friends) posting pics and 30 second clips of their workouts and I think to myself, “Man! I want to do that!” No, not the P90x and Intensities of the world…just get in a really healthy and effective workout. It’s not impossible because I’ve done it before. Granted, it took over a year of working out to drop 20lbs. That was due to a mix of NOT eating properly and my disability limiting what workouts I could do.

So I start over. Then I take a break and start over again. The cycle.

Recently I’ve seen another challenge on Facebook: The water challenge. Honestly, could something be so simple, so easy, so effortless and yet so difficult at the same time? See, our bodies are made up of about 60% water, right? Now begin subtracting because we use the bathroom and we sweat! So at what point do we add it all back in? If you’re like me and most people out there we swear we can get by just drinking any type of fluid. So the moment we feel thirsty (and even just out of habit) we reach for that sugary beverage on the store shelves. Have you ever taken a look at the ingredients? What about the salt and sugar content? It’s all just sweetened liquid chemicals, but we drink it without batting an eye.

We are destroying our bodies and don’t even realize it.

fourwheelworkout water challenge
Enter pure, unadulterated, sparkling water

Water isn’t the cure-all but, it sure works wonders for the body (and soul). First, water helps keep our body balanced. It helps with circulation, cleaning our system, lubricating our joints, etc. So all those extra pills we take and powders we drink? We spend tons of money on chemicals to do what water does naturally! We also wait until we are thirsty or hot to drink a cool glass of water. But by then, it’s too late. When we are thirsty, we are already dehydrated. This means we are beyond just one glass.

photo courtesy of www.blackdoctor.org

photo courtesy of http://www.blackdoctor.org

Okay so this new challenge. It’s all the rave and the bees knees and every other dicho you can think of. It’s probably the one health trend that has been around since mankind and has PROVEN it works!

Here’s the gist of the water challenge:

  1. Get a gallon of water. I suggest starting with a fresh jug of water. Add whatever infusers you like (fruit, herbs, etc.). Terry Givens from Reset Your Body also recommends adding in sea salt (NOT table salt) to help your cells absorb the water.
  2. Next, grab a sharpie. Any color works as long as you can see it. Now, on your gallon of water, write the times of the day beginning with your wake-up and end with bedtime. You can write whatever you think will keep you going next to the times. Since I generally start my day at 5:30am, then my bottle will say 5am. This will force me to wake up earlier to drink that first helping of water before I even begin getting ready for school. You will find different people using the same timetable but, you have to do what works ESPECIALLY if your bedtime is before 11pm.
  3. You also want to account for how much water to drink per serving. Some say 8oz every two hours. Others say 16oz every two hours plus one glass with each meal. The answer isn’t so cookie-cutter. How much water you drink, like every other health routine, depends upon your body. I think a healthier way to go to avoid water toxicity is to base it on your weight: Drink half of your weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 100lbs then you need 50oz of water. Get it!
  4. START SLOWLY! Listen, we all want to be champions of the challenge, right? But we want to be healthy about it. As good as water is, too much at once just isn’t healthy. If you need to, start your gallon challenge with half a gallon the first day and then add a serving or two each day for a week to get your body used to it.
  5. Ready for the next step? Drink! That’s it. Just drink your water. Eat, sleep, live, drink. I get full very quickly so I’m sure each serving of water will replace some other sugary drink…as it should!
  6. Do this for 10 days, 30 days, whatever your challenge is. I am choosing the 30 day to start and I already found my community! Thank you Angela for starting this public Facebook event: #waterchallenge.

I’ll check back in periodically with my progress. I won’t be able to do a weigh-in so anything I tell you is based purely off of how I feel inside and how I look.

One Step Closer…

December 7th has come and gone. I took my LSAT! Now it’s just waiting game. I have about a week and a half left before I know the damage. You guys, I don’t think you understand just how important this is for me. LSAT scores (plus my application of course) determine, not just whether or not I get into law school, but also if I get into the ones I want. Right now there are two at the top of my list.

Do you know what this waiting feels like? It’s like waiting for the results of an STD test after a weekend of “freelove” -_-. It’s that serious.

Give freely, receive freely...just sayin

Give freely, receive freely…just sayin

I haven’t put my other goals on the back burner, though. I’ve been a little less motivated but it’s still happening. I’ve tried the whole save-money-use-the-apartment-gym thing but, I think the lack of other people is making it a little jaded for me. I still have my gym membership so, I’ll be back in there. ZUMBA EH! I’ll admit, I do come up with a lot A LOT of excuses for not doing what I need to do but, as any GLO member can ask, “What are excuses?” Answer: The tools of the weak and incompetent.

I am neither weak nor incompetent. I’m a champion.

It’s true though. I have a reason or two…or more for:

  1. Not eating right (“Well, I don’t live alone and don’t want to have to cook two separate meals” or “Healthy food is expensive, if I just eat less I’ll be okay” or “I didn’t have time to pack a lunch before I left”). I call BS on myself! I can make food that’s healthier for the both of us and still tastes good. I’ve done it before. The farmer’s market just moved RIGHT across the street from me and if I can get over 3lbs of something for barely $5 why not? And fine, there’s always the night before.
  2. Not working out as I should (“I workout better with a trainer but, they’re expensive” or “The equipment I need is not accessible for people like me” or the top excuse “I’ll go tomorrow at some point”) Again BS on myself! Why? Because there are classes that are included with my membership. Because I’ve already proven I don’t need special equipment. Hello! I’m a double-amputee and can do squats! Tomorrow’s today, point-blank-period.

You get it, I’m sure.

In OTHER news: I’ve invited my college friend “TW” of Success Weight Program to do a guest-post on my blog. This girl…THIS woman is such an inspiration and I implore you to check out the FB page and blog. 1 year, 100 lbs and counting. Ms. W is doing amazing things the healthy way and I can honestly say that watching her journey has been great. I remember the days in college when we’d be up at almost 1AM ordering from a local spot called Crave Cave. Yup, 1AM eating wings, wraps and whatever was greasy, because we could. Not anymore.

Step One (revised): Find my motivation. I think the ever-expanding rolls on my midsection and ill-fitting bras (I refuse to buy another size up) are motivation enough on the “looks” level.

Step Two (revised): Set a goal. I promise myself that ONE YEAR from today I will be so many pounds lighter. Because of my wheelchair it’s hard to set a weight goal, so let’s just say I’ll no longer be a XXL-XXXL but an XL or smaller.

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