Trying to Retain My Water

I've been struggling to remember to drink 8 cups of water a day. My trusty blue (BPA-free) Nalgene sits next to my computer at work, its 32 ounce capacity filled with ice water every morning. And yet I still haven't hit my goal of 8 cups - not even one day!

Today I discovered a little secret, though. I only drink when around others. I'm a social (water) drinker. I had two meetings this morning, each an hour long. My Nalgene tucked under my arm and a yellow notepad and pen in hand, I trotted off to each one intent on the topic being presented. And at both meetings, I drank 2 cups of water. That's 4 cups of water in 3 hours. Which is a lot of water for my pathetic bladder. At the first meeting, I paced myself at least, consuming the 2 cups over the entire course of the hour. At the second, I foolishly finished off the bottle in 40 minutes and spent the last 10 minutes of the meeting nervously checking my watch and praying that I didn't disgrace myself by urinating all over the uncomfortable conference room chair I was perched on. Things got so bad, I started clutching my hands together in silent supplication to the Bladder Gods - please, please don't let me lose bladder control at the tender age of 30 in front of my boss, a project manager and a bunch of IT guys and gals. I considered walking out and running to the bathroom, but I kept telling myself that there were only a few more minutes left. Thankfully, the meeting adjourned on time, and I was able to race down the hall (goodness knows what my coworkers thought!) to the ladies room (located, inconveniently enough, on the other side of the building) for sweet bladder relief. It's been over an hour and I haven't had a sip of water since. It's like I'm broken!

Well, I managed to get 4 cups out of the way before noon, so I just have to buckle down and repeat the exercise this afternoon...Unfortunately, I'm meeting free and on my own. Wish me luck!

P.S. Mission accomplished! 8 cups of water consumed during the day and evening. Now to repeat the feat tomorrow and the next day and the next...

Marcy and Dreams of Jelly Rolls

WEEK 2

Current Weight: 289.1 pounds
Pounds Lost: 6.9
Pounds Still To Lose For Goal Weight: 109.1
Progress Towards Tulum: 10.64 miles (approx. 3515 miles left to go)
Measurements: Waist (4" above belly button) 40.5" // Hips 58" // Neck 14"

I've been menu planning like crazy, and it's been working pretty well. I set up lunches and dinners for myself and B. along with plenty of snacks. There's a lot of repetition, but I'm one of those boring people who can eat the same thing for a week and not get tired of it. I love experimenting with food and new cuisines, but I'm also extremely tied to my habits - I'm a walking contradiction!

Week 2 included the following:

• Mid-week lunches of curried couscous salad (from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook), apricot-orange-glazed pork tenderloin (from my online bible, cooksillustrated.com), 1/2 a cucumber and 2 cherry tomatoes
• Mid-week dinners of whole wheat pasta (thank goodness for Bionaturae, a whole wheat pasta I actually love), chicken, peas, broccoli and low-fat cheddar cheese with a side of Caesar salad
• Twice-daily snacks of curried chicken salad with fruit in half a pita or a quarter pita with carrots and sun-dried tomato dip (also from The Barefoot Contessa)
• Lots more water than normal, but still not quite 8 cups any particular day, despite my trusty BPA-free blue Nalgene bottle
• A weekend of Lancashire hotpot (lamb and barley stew) and salads
  
• The arrival of Marcy, my new BFF/nemesis

Marcy arrived in a big puke-green box on Wednesday, and B. kindly set her up during his lunch hour in our little family room facing the TV. She is gold and silver, slender and attractive...for an exercise bike. With her help, I will be in Tulum celebrating (approx.) 3,526 miles ridden sometime in the next three years. She is also a pain in my ass, quite literally. And a pain in my thighs. I ride her after dinner with Season One of Battlestar Galactica playing in front of me, and even Gaius Baltar's hilarious and disturbing insanity isn't enough to stop me groaning in pain. I'm doing 10 minutes a day so far, and I plan to keep that up throughout Week 3 - it comes out to about 2.15 miles a day. I love Marcy, but I'm pretty sure by the time I reach Tulum I'm going to hate her guts.

There are a couple of good things about Marcy, however. She's a smooth ride, she'll get me to Tulum, and she'll eventually let me eat a slice of this:


I love tracking cooking and baking blogs, and I stumbled across this gem. While normally not a huge fan of the jelly roll, I confess this has me positively slathering on my keyboard. Luckily, I'm too busy being lazy to be troubled into making my own jelly roll, and I'm certainly not going to buy a jelly roll from the store, so for now, I'll just dream of a jelly roll - eaten, perhaps, as part of a farewell dinner before I head off to Tulum, pounds lighter, muscles stronger, and bikini packed!