Coffee...It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

Watching Kelly and Mike on TV this morning I heard them mention coffee consumption.

So, of course, I perked right up because...

I drink coffee....A Lot Of Coffee!

According to some statistics they had, the coffee consumption in the U.S. per person has gone down by more than half what it was right after World War II.

But!
The amount of caffeine consumed per person annually has risen by nearly double that of World War II.

What?

So...in my caffeine induced sense of clarity I thought to myself...

Wow! How did they get more caffeine in the coffee?

And then I realized that it's not just from coffee because...
SODAs have tons of caffeine...
And ENERGY DRINKS have tons of caffeine...
And WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS have tons of caffeine...
And HEADACHE  MEDS have tons of caffeine...

Dr. OZ says that cutting out coffee and drinking Green Tea instead....thereby cutting out or greatly reducing caffeine consumption...will help to shrink fat cells.

But maybe it's not really the coffee that is the problem?
Cutting out all those other things makes sense too...
Right?

So if I cut out soda and energy drinks and weight loss supplements and headache meds...
I can keep drinking my coffee, right?

Great!

Too bad I don't use any of those other things, isn't it.
So...I am reducing my coffee  intake to 1/2 a pot...
and those who know me know that I drink a whole pot before HeMan Hubby even gets out of bed!

To help meet this goal I have found a few tricks that seem to work...
and I'll share because they may  help you too.
( and I'm nice like that)

1)   Only make 1/2 a pot or use single-cup servings to reduce the temptation to keep topping off your cup

2)   Use a smaller cup...wean yourself down if needed...I had to and here's how I did it:
my normal 52 oz jug was replaced with the 32 oz super-sized mug...
which was then replaced by a giant 20 oz mug...
which was then replaced by a big 14 oz mug...
which has now been replaced with a regular sized 10 oz mug

3)   Stick to your guns! If you are only having 1/2 a pot figure out how many refills in your size mug that is and
ONLY HAVE THAT MANY CUPS OF COFFEE!
- down-sizing your mug  helps...
 because I can have 3 cups of coffee in the smaller mug instead of 1 or 1 1/2 cups in the bigger mugs...
 and it's still just 1/2 a pot--it just tricks me into thinking it's more!

4)   REPLACE COFFEE WITH WATER!!!
For every cup of coffee you drink- drink 2 cups of water.
Coffee is a diuretic.
It makes you get rid of water...
but not just the excess making you weight 3 pounds more than you did yesterday...
but all water, even the water your body needs to function properly...
And this can lead to severe dehydration..
.which makes you retain water and the vicious cycle continues!

5)   Don't drink coffee past early afternoon. 
Caffeine does affect your ability to sleep Restfully!
Not enough sleep or poor quality sleep makes it harder to lose weight...
and that adds to your stress and that leads to stress eating and that leads to...
Well you know what that leads to.

Now that I have cut back my caffeine intake...
per Dr. OZ's 2 Week  Rapid Weight Loss Plan...

I just have to work on cutting out wheat, white sugar, alcohol, dairy, and eating between 8pm and 8am...

Yeah...I'll let you know how that works out...

Wednesday's Weigh-In.... NOT

Yes, this is a weigh-in...
From yesterday, which was Wednesday.

But I am not really gong to pay attention to this weight this week for several reasons.

First- I am not making excuses, this is all true.

Now-

1-   I am retaining fluid from the cold and cough meds...
      and because I have only been drinking 2-3 quarts of water or crystal light a day.

2-   I ran out of the Green tea peach mango crystal light - the metabolism booster one?
      And I really do notice a difference from drinking that one all day versus drinking the peach tea or the
      raspberry lemonade.

3-   I am hungry since running out of the green tea which is unusual since I don't really get hungry...
      well I do but not often.

4-   I have been eating my emotions again... I try not to but...
      if you had my family for just a day you would understand... really, you would!
     TheBusyFamily is not always TheGoodFamily...
      which if you ever read my other blog you would know by now.

So, there you have it.
The reasons why I am not going to beat myself up about this week's weight...
Oh yeah, which is 213 btw.

Since I am not beating myself up I will instead treat myself to a bowl of diced fresh pear and apple with my morning coffee... and then I will head out to the store to buy some of that green tea peach mango metabolism booster Crystal light...

whether it is the difference or not really isn't the point...
It's what my brain thinks is the secret to my weight loss success

And who am I to argue with my brain?