Water, essential to good health, may also play a role in weight loss. Drinking water before meals can lower your appetite and water may boost your metabolism. All adults should drink at least five glasses of water a day to stay properly hydrated. Water also helps you body eliminate wastes and replenishes you after exercise.
The Importance of Water
Water makes up more than 60 percent of your body weight, and drinking water helps your body remove toxins. Although you may find yourself tempted to lower your water intake or take diuretics to lose water weight, this could prove unhealthy. You should aim to lose fat, not water, through a combination of diet and exercise. And you need to replenish water lost through sweat. Dehydration can affect anyone that doesn't drink enough. If you exercise strenuously or live in a hot climate, you may need to drink as much as nine glasses of water. Pregnant and nursing women also need extra water to stay hydrated.
Water and Metabolism
Michael Boschmann and other German scientists found that water consumption can help to increase your metabolism. Participants that drank 500 ml -- about 2 cups -- of water experienced a 30 percent boost in their metabolism, according to the study published in the December 2003 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. " Your metabolism is the rate at which your body uses energy. The higher your metabolism, the more energy your body will use even when you are sleeping. If you drink 6 cups of water per day, you canexpect to use an extra 17,400 calories per year.
Water Before Meals
Water contains no calories and drinking it before meals can help fill you up so that you eat less. Brenda Davis and other researchers at Virginia Tech found study participants that drank 16 oz. of water before meals lost 4. 1/2 lbs. more in 12 weeks than participants that did not drink water before meals. Participants in both groups followed restricted calorie diets, according to findings presented at the 2010 American Chemical Society in Boston.
Water Instead of Soda
If you replace soda and other sugary drinks with water, you can save a significant number of calories. If you normally drink four cans of soda per day and instead switch to six glasses of water -- 48 oz. of water instead of 48 oz. of soda -- you can eliminate 226,300 calories from your diet each year. If you did nothing else to change your diet except switch out water for soda, you could lose 65 lb. a year. (See Reference 4.)
References
- MayoClinic.com: Water: How much should you drink every day?
- Women's Health: How Much Water to Lose Weight?
- "The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism;" Water-Induced Thermogenesis; Michael Boschmann et al; December 2003
- "USA Today"; Drink More Water, Lose More Weight; Nanci Hellmich; Oct. 25, 2006
- "Daily Record"; Water Way to Lose Weight; Janice Buns; Aug. 4 2010
Member Comments