It’s 1:27 and I’m still in my bathrobe! My bathrobe is gross. I grabbed it from my dead neighbor. It’s white with flowers and stained from years of use. The cats have snagged it repeatedly causing numerous dangling threads. I wouldn’t want to be seen in it. Maybe it’s what comes of being single for so long. (I’m tempted to post a picture.) Anybody else wear bathrobes you wouldn’t want to be seen in?
I feel post-middle-aged when I wear it.
It doesn’t help that I’m fat.
I’m sick of this robe.
I’m sick of being fat.
So I’m going to do something about it.
My birthday’s coming up. I’ll be 49.
I’m Giving Up Coffee
Step One: I’m giving up coffee. I went a year and a half without coffee a few years ago. Now I drink 2 to 4 cups and I often go to Starbucks for hot mochas, which I think are starting to put on more fat. There’s 300+ calories in a mocha. What was I thinking?
So the coffee has to go. But I’m not looking forward to it. The massive, throbbing, head-splitting, neck-feels-like-a-concrete-block headache is one thing. That’s not so scary.
It’s the muscle aches that start around day 3 and last 3 to 5 days. They make me sweat and cry. I have trouble sleeping. It’s like my muscles just start contracting into a spasm if I don’t use them. So I have to keep moving. As soon as I let a muscle rest it goes into spasm. And squatting? Forget it. My god, it hurts!
I’ve been drinking coffee since high school. Used to run off with the candy vending machine guy. We’d get stoned in his little truck and go to a coffee shop. He told me, “You go without milk and sugar for three days and you’ll never use it again.” So I tested his statement. And he was right. I’ve been drinking black ever since him.
I love coffee. But it’s a poison, notwithstanding the popular press financed by the coffee industry. And you all know it’s a poison, despite your rationalizations. How many of you are addicts but refuse to cop to it?
I’ll tell you coffee drinkers, it’s so nice not having to make coffee first thing in the morning and not having to urinate every half hour. I’ll never again be disappointed at those funky hotel coffee packets or worry if the place I’m spending the night at will have coffee in the morning. Addiction is enslavement. Addiction is dull.
Who else wants to commit to giving it up? Or you could give up soda, which is even worse. February 18. That’s the day of emancipation.
Health and happiness don’t come for free. We have to work for them. We have to make better choices.
I quit smoking cigarettes four years ago on that day. Now I’m quitting coffee. And then I’m getting rid of this fat once and for all and getting in shape.
Want to join me?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
There must be something in the air. I’m 45 and feeling the same way. Kind of schlumpfy, if that’s a word.
No way I’m giving up coffee though. I drink it black too. No calories that way and I make it pretty low caffeine – sort of “see through” coffee not mud-like.
Giving up soda?… I could definitely try to do that. The less I have soda, the less I even want it. There’s nothing good about it and it’s really addictive.
I started walking on a treadmill about a month ago and that has produced some results in losing weight, but I haven’t used it nearly enough. Baby steps… no pun intended…
Sue
Sue, I think schlumpfy’s a great word. To me it means comfortable slob.
I’ve been doing a lot of walking lately since I don’t have a car, but the mochas are outweighing the benefits.
Okay, so that’s two of us.
1 coffee
1 soda
How can caffeine cause an energy rise in your body.
Caffeine is currently of the most consumed substances in the world nowadays, but many people ignore caffeine effects in the body, especially when a person suffers caffeine addiction or abuses of it somehow.
In this article I would like to point out the most negative caffeine effects on your body and what caffeine energy produces on your body, as well as mentioning some special facts about caffeine addiction.
Drinking various cups of coffees in a day is not good at all, especially if we drink it in the late afternoon or night, because the caffeine will stay in our bodies for up to eight hours, which affects our sleep.
Caffeine also affects the levels of cortisol in the body, leading to more cravings for carbohydrates and fats and mass weight onto our stomachs; abdominal fat causes bigger health risks than other kinds of fat. However, if you drink coffee in the morning and exercise straight afterwards, it can help you to burn fat 30 percent more efficiently than without taking it, because it helps to keep blood sugar levels up, making us less hungry.
Caffeine energy is understood as the energy that people usually experience when they consume caffeine. Caffeine energy usually gives our energy levels a temporary increase, but after it disappears we may suffer mild depression and start feeling lethargy, making it harder to exercise. So in other words, caffeine energy causes a quick improvement in our energy levels but it is just temporary and will cause an energy decrease afterwards making it hard for us to exercise.
Energy drinks contain caffeine energy and they have exactly the same effect, and I have experienced this myself: when you buy an energy drink because you stayed awake all night long at a party and you have to work the morning after, it will definitely make you feel energized at the moment, but then it will make your heart to work harder and harder, so when go home you will feel extremely lazy and lethargic that the only thing you will think about is sleep.
Caffeine effects can be explained like this: it works in the brain by attaching itself to the neurotransmitter adenosine’s receptors; adenosine causes brain cells to be less active, which causes us to feel drowsy. Given that caffeine’s chemical structure is comparable to adenosines, it can attach to adenosine receptors and therefore block adenosine from doing its job properly. So, a good fact about caffeine effects is that it makes brain cells become more active and it makes us feel more alert.
Other caffeine effects (negative) that I have not mentioned yet are: headaches, excessive sleepiness, a feeling like you can’t function without it or flu like symptoms. Caffeine consumption reduces dopamine (a neurotransmitter that is produced by the brains and plays a critical role in the function of the central nervous system), and it can also create more depression and anxiety, as well as an increased heart rate, increased blood sugar, difficulty concentrating and mild stomach upset.
You can find more info at: http://yourcaffeineaddiction.com/
Thank you for posting the above information.
I’d like to make a point that caffeine does not provide energy, because energy comes from carbohydrates. Caffeine is a poison. It is the body’s response to poisoning that increases metabolism. The energy is coming from body reserves at a cost.
Any idea why I get muscle cramps during withdrawal?