November 06, 2012

Jittery

Let me just say, I am so glad that today was election day, if only for the fact that the political phone calls will stop! I have Vonage, and one of the options I use is to have my phone calls ring on both my land line and my cell simultaneously. I can answer the call with either phone. This works great when I'm out and someone calls my land line--but it's not so great when I've gotten at least five political phone calls (recordings) a day!

This morning, I woke up at 4:00 and just couldn't fall back asleep for the life of me, so I finally went out to the kitchen to do dishes and clean up a little. Then I made some tea and sat to read e-mail. At around 6:00, I started feeling sick--my stomach felt gross, and my hands were shaking badly, and I was really jittery and anxious.

These are the exact things that happened to me when I used to drink coffee. I think I've gotten so sensitive to caffeine since giving up the coffee that even the caffeinated tea is affecting me in a bad way. The feeling only lasts for a couple of hours, but it's awful. I'm going to switch to caffeine free tea and see if that helps. Unfortunately, I happen to love black tea, which has a lot of caffeine (as far as tea goes, anyway; it still has much less than coffee).

On my running schedule today was three miles at a 10:24/mi (ish) pace. My dad came over to take the kids to the bus stop this morning (they love to play catch with a football or baseball with him before school), so I headed out for my run right after they left.

I ran the same route that I did yesterday (only this time was an "easy" pace, compared to yesterday's huffing and puffing). I had a sense of deja vu, because I came across a woman walking in the same spot that I saw her walking yesterday; and I saw three guys working on a roof in the same scenario as yesterday. My run was totally uneventful, which is usually a good thing.

When I got back to the house, Phoebe was waiting for me to let her inside. She had darted outside when the boys left for the bus stop, and she must have regretted it, because the temp was in the low-30's. I sat outside on the porch with her for a minute, so I could drink my water and cool off before going inside.
She looks pissed, doesn't she?

Last night before bed, I was having my usual glass of wine and Dove Promise, and I was amused when I saw what my "fortune" was on the chocolate wrapper...
Thank you, Dove. If only that were true ;)


I've gotten kind of sporadic with the Reader Q&A post that I was doing on Sundays. Instead of doing 2-3 in a single post, I think I'll just include one question now and then on my daily posts. Here's one for today...

Q. You mentioned you drink a lot of water. Do you force yourself to drink it even when you're not thirsty? Sometimes I think to myself, "I should drink water now, but I'm not thirsty at all." 

A. I do drink a lot of water every day; sometimes I'm thirsty, but most of the time, I'm not. When I first started losing weight, I never wanted to drink water. I started making myself drink 16 oz. of water right when I woke up, and after a while, I actually felt like I needed it first thing in the morning.

Now, I tend to drink it on a schedule: If I have to run that day, I will wake up and drink 16 oz. Then I go for my run. When I'm done, I drink a full quart (32 oz). (If I'm not running that day, I drink 32 oz. right when I wake up). I have another full quart right after lunch. And most of the time, I'll have a third quart in the late-afternoon. So that adds up to over 100 oz. of water a day (and that's not including my tea!).

I don't think it's necessary to drink that much water, but I like being well-hydrated all the time. If I don't have enough water, my hands get puffy and I feel bloated. At first, I felt like I was constantly having to pee; but my body got used to the extra water after a couple of weeks, so now I'm not making dozens of trips to the bathroom ;)

One of the biggest things I noticed when I started drinking a lot of water is that my cravings for soda and beer went away. When I was obese, I drank Dr. Pepper and beer, because I craved the carbonation. The same thing happens to me now during races--I know I'm getting dehydrated when I start to think of cold beer ;) But as soon as I rehydrate with water, the craving goes away.
I couldn't find a picture of me drinking water, but I found a few where I was
drinking beer. So just imagine that's water in the frosty mug ;)
Here's a fun fact: When you lose weight, the fat gets broken down in a very complicated process, but eventually gets expelled in your urine, as well as carbon dioxide from your lungs (source). I like to use that fact to play mind games with myself in order to drink water and exercise--when I exercise, I'm expelling a lot of carbon dioxide from breathing more rapidly; and when I drink a lot of water, I have to pee more. Whether it's getting rid of fat or not, it certainly motivates me to do it! ;)

14 comments:

  1. Just wanted to drop a quick tip: It's pretty easy to get rid of the caffeine in black tea. Brew it for a minute or so, and then dump it, and then use the same teabag or tea leaves to brew a fresh cup. Most of the caffeine comes out of tea in the first minute or two. If you google it, you will find better explanations! Thank you for your blog! So appreciate the time you put into it!

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    1. Very interesting! I think I remember reading that a long time ago, but never gave it any thought because it didn't apply to me at the time. I'm going to give it a try.

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  2. Wine and Dove promise sounds heavenly! <3

    Your kitty has a look of, "Is she done yet?" *sigghhhhh* Haha!

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    1. Wine and a single Dove Promise (dark chocolate) is a snack that I have almost every single night. Love it!

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  3. Hi Katie!
    I know you are no longer a coffee drinker! How'd you switch over to tea? Was it gradual? Also, what are some good teas to try? Do you add anything to your tea?

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    1. I actually just quit coffee cold turkey one day, and had the worst headache of my life for about three days. That headache (from lack of caffeine, I'm sure) made me realize that I was actually addicted to it. I was only drinking 2 cups a day, but my body depended on it. So I decided I didn't want to be addicted to it anymore, and I just quit.

      I really missed it for a while, but I started drinking tea to get the same effect mentally--warming my hands, having a hot liquid in the mornings.

      I like all kinds of teas, and earlier this year, I switched from tea bags to loose leaf teas. This topic could take up a whole post, so I'll write about it soon. But my very favorite is just regular old black tea with half & half and sugar.

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    2. Thanks! I'll look forward to your post. I've really enjoyed reading your blog the past few months!

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  4. I have the hardest time drinking water when the weather turns cold, but maybe I'll be able use your idea to help me.

    Oh! I don't know if you use bags or loose tea, but I read somewhere that the caffeine comes out first when you brew your tea. They were saying you could lower the caffeine content of your tea by "pre-brewing" it for 10 seconds, toss that water, then brewing your tea normally. According to the article that's how they de-caffeinate teas and coffee. I don't know how much truth is in it, but it might be something to check out.

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    1. I'm going to give that a try! I like my tea strong, so my only concern would be that it would be much weaker--but it's definitely worth a try!

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  5. I slowly started drinking water many years ago and now I feel so dehydrated when I don't drink at least 64oz a day. I typically drink over 100oz whether I'm thirsty or not.. it has become a habit.

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  6. It's a big brand and nothing fancy, but Lipton makes caffeine free black tea bags - they stock them in our office kitchen and I drink them ALL the time!

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  7. I know that feeling you're talking about. I HATE feeling that way! I can't drink tea either - my favorite is red rose decaf, it tastes really good and no caffeine! I ALWAYS know if a place screws up and gives me fully loaded, I can't even SMELL regular coffee or I'l start shaking! (ok, joking there) It almost feels like when your blood sugar crashes through the floor. I did that yesterday. blah!

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  8. I'm so glad to see that someone else has a landline phone. We keep contemplating on whether or not we should keep it but it's still too much of a security blanket for me not to have it. Weird.
    Water had the exact same effect on me as well. My go-to drink was Dr. Pepper. What is it that makes it so yummy? lol

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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