Water is your friend and vitamins are your superhero

This step is easy.  Your conscious and subconscious mind will most likely immediately told you otherwise, so get ready!!!  If you are among the masses who hate to drink water, this is the big one. I still don’t favor it but every time I drink it, I tell myself I am enjoying it and over time I have begun to believe it.  It nature a bear doesn’t actually drink soda. They drink water. You have been programmed to believe drinking sodas, juices, milk, and coffee are a good thing to consume because it is socially acceptable.  This is a false sense of security.  Remember in the 60’s Smoking was socially acceptable, so get ready for the change.  At this time I am not asking, telling, or even going to encourage you to drink one less drop of coffee, soda or whatever it is that you prefer to drink. I realize I would be wasting time to do so.

For the technique I use, you take your actual weight and divide the number in half.  That crazy little number is the total number of ounces of water I was told we should be drinking every day.  Pure water, no add-ins, tea, or coffee, just plain water.  Here is the part that really scares people who hear this… your goal is to drink that amount of water before 2 pm in the afternoon.  So you people who are obese like myself and most bodybuilders must drink a gallon of water before 2 pm.  At first, there are a lot of trips to the bathroom, but it will level out over time.  I have personally experienced a putrid odor as waste breaks down and leaves the body, I have also passed kidney stones (ouch).

     Before quitting this process because you don’t believe you can possibly drink that much water, divide your total number of ounces in half again.  For the first week that is the goal.  Take this smaller number and divide it by 8. If the number you get is 8 or less use 8oz bottles (or glasses).  If your number is over 8 then use 16-ounce water bottles.  Calculate how many bottles you need to drink a day to reach your goal.  Place that number of tokens into your left pocket and at 7 am drink the first glass.   Move one token from your left pocket to your right pocket. If you can get into the habit of drinking your first glass when you wake up.  Next plan how you will get all of the water you have calculated you need to drink that day.   With each glass or bottle of water move one token from the left pocket to the right pocket, be consistent and in your mind make a big deal of moving the token.  Once all of the tokens are moved over immediately feel the joy in your accomplishment and do something you like to do.  Maybe a quick game of an app you like, or even a shout out about your accomplishment on your social network.  This small step is very important to reprogram your brain that water is safe and good for your bodies survival.

     For those who like me, hate water, you can add a couple of drops of lemon juice, tea or your favorite sugar-free mix into the water. Put less and less as you are comfortable telling your self again how great it taste until you actually enjoy the plain water.  I have discovered this makes the transition easier.

8oz. wk1 wk2 113- 128    4 8 129- 144    5 9 145- 160    5 10 16oz wk1 wk2 161- 192    3 6 193- 224    4 7 225- 256    4 8 257- 288    5 9 289- 320    5 10

 Vitamins –

At this point, you are drinking copious amounts of water, you could be removing vitamins and healthy nutrients from your system.  To compensate for this I take a multi-vitamin that is designed to take 3 times a day.  A one a day may not properly balance your system, and taking a one a day more than once a day could potentially give you overdoses of vitamins that are not healthy to have in large quantities.  So don’t try to use the one a day as it will not properly balance your system.  It is common knowledge that people eat throughout the day, but the food we eat often isn’t properly broken down, so the micronutrients will not properly supply the person eating them with appropriate amounts of natural vitamins.

     Many if not most of the shelf vitamins are made from a heat process. As you probably know when you cook fresh fruits and vegetables they lose most of their vitamins in the process.  To get vitamins from the cold process you must either go to a whole food store.

Week 2 –

     As you recall for week one you were to drink 1/2 of the water you need to drink daily.  This time take your total weight and divide it by 8. If the number you get is less than 8, use an 8-ounce glass or bottle.  If the number is over 8 ounces, use a 16-ounce glass bottle.  Keep using the tea, lemon juice or sugar-free flavor if you need.

     Now we need you to jam the genie back into the bottle.  Set your alarm to go off every hour. When your alarm goes off drink the whole amount. 8 or 16 oz of water.  With or without the mix or fruit juice. It may be hard at first but as your body adjust, it will want the water and your primal brain will think this is normal.  Over time it will become a habit.

     My goal is to drink 1/2 your weight in ounces every day by 2 pm.  Moving success tokens from one pocket to the other. For the first few months, I would not skip a day or stop using the tokens, if I do I’m concerned it will tell the brain it’s OK to quit, and I won’t get this back out, once the new paradigm is in there.  The idea is to form a habit for life, so that may take some time.

     Keep journaling and weigh in once a month. As you drop in weight your able to redo your water calculation and drink less water.  Feel free to drink anything you wish after you have enough water. But, don’t be surprised if you find yourself drinking water exclusively. Ultimately it’s whats going to serve you best.

I can’t begin to tell you how many trips I take to the bathroom when I’m first starting, but once I get used to it, my body becomes normalized, and when I exercise I find hydration to be a welcomed addition. I learned this technique from a health product organization I used to belong to and it works for me, and many others to help us feel better and experience more physical energy.