Gregrey.com

Diet Update

One of my secrets is that I'm a sucker for survival reality TV shows. Hell, I'm not all that thrilled about camping let alone putting myself in a position that might jeopardize my life, but whether it's a reality show about ascending Mt. Everest or surviving in the jungles of Thailand, I find myself completely fascinated.

I was watching as a survival expert advised that "water" is always the first priority. Both preserving the body's water and finding ways to replenish that water take precedence over shelter or food. Of course in my diet quest, I'm focused on seeing a lower number on the scales of justice every morning and water is clearly my enemy. Forget about my health, I'm focused on getting as dehydrated as I can tolerate just to get a good "score" on that scale.

The expert advised that staying wet keeps the body cool and that if you happen upon a body of water that might not be clean enough to drink, that wetting down the body with that water can preserve your hydration. On another show, trapped in a desert, one "expert" applied that same logic to using his urine to dampen the head scarf he was wearing and then marveling at its cooling abilities. The other guy said he would rather die of dehydration than take that step.

So I used reverse logic. I concluded that if I continuously "toweled down" while I work out that I'm depriving the body of the cooling action that the sweat provides. That should trick the body into thinking that it needs to send more water through the pores to get the job done.

This morning, after toweling like a mad man and emptying my body of all the fluid I could and stripping down for the weigh in I watched to see if I could hit a new personal best. The numbers on the electronic scale flickered before displaying my wife's weight. What?! Oh, the last user of the scale preferred his weight in kilograms. Reset the scale and tried again...magically I'm officially within one-tenth of a pound of achieving my doctor prescribed weight goal. Of course it will take me the rest of the day to rehydrate myself, but I find myself looking forward to tomorrow's weigh in!

July 12, 2017