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On day 7 of my weight loss journey the healthy way, I have a few bits of information to share with you. The first thing I found out is that water intake is important for so many things, including losing weight. Now, I really do not like water and I’ve come to realize that there are quite a few of us who do not. Anyway, the first thing I had to change was my water intake. A little research changed my entire view on how much water to drink on a daily basis. No, it’s not just eight glasses per day – I found out that if I really wanted to lose weight properly, I had to divide my weight in half and the result was the amount of water in ounces I should be consuming per day. Of course, I will not be telling how much that is, but I promise to do so at the end of this journey.

The first day was a breeze, I almost made the target, day two was excellent, I actually drank more than the first day. My secret was to just get up at set intervals and just down an eight-ounce glass of water. I really have been drinking lots of water and I have seen some differences already, however, I really didn’t do so well on days 5 and 6. I had meetings and a number of rush projects that caused me to forget. Solution – I’ve set my Outlook to notify me every forty-five minutes to get up and drink some water.

In addition to increasing my water intake, I have upped significantly my consumption of fruits and vegetables and cut out lots of carbs. Being a Jamaican, carbs are the main stay of our average meal: breakfast – lots of carbs, lunch and dinner – carbs and more carbs. Now, I have halved that and on a couple of mornings actually eliminated my intake of carbohydrates. I have a slice of toast and fruits or just fruits and cereal. Lunch is now my main meal time, so I do take in carbs most of the time. In addition to needing carbs for energy, it is needed for optimum health and actually helps in the weight-loss fight. If you starve your body of calories, it actually will store fat to compensate.

For dinner it is mostly vegetables and proteins, and I am enjoying that. My dear husband makes sure that I eat the right portions at night. Other small changes I have made so far include almost totally eliminating milk and sugar from my tea and having water with dinner instead of a drink. For lunch I no longer take a drink at every meal.

In case you are wondering, no I have not hit the scales or measured myself yet, but I can already feel the difference in my clothes. Yes, the waists of my pants are a little looser. I also tried on a shirt I just love that I could no longer wear – and guess what – I was able to button it. The best thing about doing this is I do not feel deprived, one of the things I hated most about dieting. At my next update, I will tell you how many pounds I have managed to shed.

Tags: eating right, losing weight the healthy way, water and weight loss, weight-loss diary