Health experts often recommend drinking eight glasses of water per day. These experts explain that drinking half a gallon of water flushes toxins from the body, keeps your skin vibrant, helps you avoid dehydration and assists in weight loss. Recent studies have shown drinking such a large amount of water to be unnecessary in most cases. Weight loss experts say that keeping a bottle of water nearby can be a helpful tool in your weight loss strategy. Others promote water-rich foods as a weight loss aid instead of drinking extra water.
Fullness
Having a drink of water before or during meals can give you a feeling of fullness and help you to eat less at mealtimes. Drinking water between carefully planned calorie- and nutrient-balanced meals can keep you from reacting to an empty stomach with a snack outside your eating regimen.
Habit
If you habitually reach for a candy bar or bag of chips while you watch TV, work or study, having a drink of water with you can help you form a new habit. Even drinking a small sip can short-circuit the junk food reflex.
Zero Calories
Drinking water gives you something to do with your mouth, tongue and throat without adding calories to your weight loss diet. Many flavored no-calorie, no-sodium waters on the market can give you the feeling of drinking a sugary soda without the unwanted calories and sodium.
Hydration
Drinking water when you are not thirsty is usually unnecessary. If you are vigorously exercising to lose weight, drinking enough water to replace the amount you sweat out can be important. Many people run, jog, lift weights or engage in other high-energy activities to burn off calories and build muscle. This can lead to dehydration, especially in hot, dry climates.
Water-Rich Foods
Research by Dr. Barbara Rolls at Pennsylvania State University suggests that adding water to food is more important than drinking water. She gave research subjects three different chicken and rice meals---a chicken and rice soup, a casserole of chicken and rice and the same casserole with an added glass of drinking water. Even though all the meals had the same basic calorie count, the people who ate the soup ate less than 75 percent of what the other two groups ate.
Dr. Rolls explains that people typically eat food by volume and not by calorie count. For example, 10 jellybeans and 3 cups of fresh strawberries have about the same number of calories. You can eat many more strawberries because of their high water density. However, most people eat more than 10 jellybeans at a time to get the volume of food they crave. Eating foods rich in no-calorie water helps you feel full and satisfied while losing weight without having to drink extra water.
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