incredible shrinking woman 2.0 - week twenty

Here we are in week twenty, just a little over four months since I started the 2.0 version of Incredible Shrinking Woman!

Pounds lost: 37.9

% to super goal: 30%

Doing the damn thing!

Before we get into today’s post, I want to start out with a motivational (for me, anyway) progress photo! LOOK HOW SMALL MY BUTT IS GETTING!! For real, peeps.

September progress photo!

Today, 8 days into September, I’ve been reflecting on the month of August, which was definitely not my best month. I lost a total of 4.6 pounds. While this is a little disappointing, I’m looking at this two ways:

  • The good news is, at no time in the month did I feel like I was depriving myself. I felt like I over-ate a couple days, but if with all of that I still lost almost 5 pounds, I feel good about my prospects once I’ve met my goal and am in maintenance mode. So that’s a good thing.
  • Where I think I could have done better is in my sleep and water intake. As I started reviewing my sleeping habits in relation to my weight ups and downs, I started to see a relationship between the amount and quality of sleep I was getting in a day versus the amount of weight I lost (or didn’t) the next day. I saw the same relationship between the amount of water I drank or didn’t drink and my weight. I definitely was not drinking enough water most of the month.

I also talked to my Noom coach (holla, T!) about how I was struggling a little bit, and she tuned me into the idea that the more carbs and sodium I eat, the more water I need to drink. I hadn’t been great about drinking water, but I certainly was getting plenty of sodium and carbs.

Here’s a handy, Noomerific graphic she gave me which I found totally useful!

When I first started this program, I met with my doctor to discuss it, since she had been getting concerned about my weight and its impact on my reflux and heartburn. I asked her about the “rule” that you’re supposed to drink some amount of water for each pound of weight you are. In my Googles, some said an ounce of water per pound, and some said a half ounce of water per pound. Either way, for me, that feels like a hell of a lot of water.

Anyway, she said she didn’t have much faith in that. She said your kidneys even have a hard time processing that much water. She pointed out that an ounce of water per pound for me would be 250 ounces of water.

250 ounces. A day.

To put that in perspective, this is my 48 oz Bubba (which, by the way, I find super helpful to fill in the morning and drink throughout the day. You can get it here). To get 250 ounces of water a day, I would have to drink over five of these, at least. 

64 ounce Bubba - get enough water!

My doctor said that there’s no strict rule for how much water you should drink a day. You know you’re drinking enough when your pee comes out clear. She also warned me that it is possible to drink so much water that you actually damage your body. I hadn’t really heard of that before, so of course I had to google. 

And what do you know? It’s a real thing!

One last thing my Noom coach helped me realize in August is that I was having super light lunches (sometimes no lunches at all) and as a result, having heavier, more calorie-dense dinners. We wondered if this was preventing some weight loss because of eating so much later in the day then sleeping before I could digest it. I started making little lunch boxes to grab during the week to help me make sure I had healthy lunches easily available. I could tell a difference almost immediately in how my hunger in the evenings decreased and I stopped trying to snack too much later in the day.

So to sum it up, here are the specific things I’m focusing on in September to help me have a better month than I did last month:

  • Getting 8+ hours of sleep a night
  • Eating a fairly substantial lunch most days (at least during weekdays)
  • Drinking enough water

Next week I’ll post about my lunch boxes, because that’s been working really well! I’ll also tell you everything I love about my Bubba.

As always, if you’re interested in getting a fabulous Noomy coach of your VERY OWN, they offer a 14-day trial so you can check it out! I promise you, it really does work, if you commit. You can use the link below to check it out!

Hope you have a wonderful week, friends!

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