You have probably heard this from a friend or read about it in a magazine that drinking water can help you lose weight. But the question is, “does drinking water help you on your weight loss journey?”
The answer is, “yes.” When you drink a lot of water, you get to increase your body’s metabolism, and this would stimulate your body’s activity to stimulate waste.
Drinking more water than the usual would cause your appetite to be suppressed and can help your body retain less water. This would cause you to lose the extra pounds of water weight, but you need to make sure that you are drinking about eight to ten-ounce glasses of water daily. Being properly hydrated
would aid in losing weight faster, but how can you do that?
Ditch Calorie-Filled Drinks For Water
Replacing your calorie-filled drinks – sodas and juice – with water would help you lose weight. If you find the taste of water boring, then you should spice it up by adding a slice of lemon in it.
This tweak is also a great option because the combination of water and lemon is an effective recipe for weight loss. That’s because lemon contains “pectin,” and this helps to tone down your food cravings. If you are still skeptical about this tip, then try replacing your sugary drinks with water for a week. You would see a difference if you strictly go through with it.
Make Sure You Are Drinking Enough Water
If you are keen on using the water control technique to lose weight, then you should keep to the “8×8” rule recommended by nutritionists. When you drink water eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day, you are bound to lose weight and have an ideal weight.
However, if you are always exercising, and you sweat a lot, you might need to increase your water intake. But, if you take a lot of decaffeinated herbal tea, then you can reduce your water intake.
The amount of water you drink every day would depend on your current weight, size, and activity rate. Ideally, some nutritionists believe that you should drink an ounce of water daily for each pound you weigh.
To know if you are drinking the right amount of water, check the toilet after you pee. If your urine is light yellow or has a very clear color, then you are properly hydrated. But if your urine has a darker color, then you need to increase your water intake, most especially if you are on a weight loss journey.
Drink Before Eating
Water is an appetite suppressant, so when you drink enough water before eating, you will feel fuller, and this would reduce the size of the food you are going to eat. When you drink water before every meal, it would suppress your calorie intake and make you eat 27,000 lesser calories per year. Now do the quick math, this means that you get to lose about eight pounds in a year by just increasing your water intake. To make this easier, you can get a water bottle, so you know the right amount to water to take before each meal.
Drink Your Water Ice Cold
When you drink cold water, it fastens your body’s metabolism, because your body has to work to put in more work to warm up the water. This process would cause your body to burn more calories, thereby causing you to lose weight. Moreover, ice-cold water tastes a lot better and is more refreshing, so that’s a bonus.
Water Is Necessary To Burn Fat
When you are dehydrated, your body cannot metabolize carbohydrates or the stored fats. The process whereby your body breaks down fat it called lipolysis. The beginning of this process is called hydrolysis, and this happens when the water molecules in your body interact with fats (triglycerides) and form fatty acids.
The moment when you drink enough water, it burns off the fat from your food/drink, and also stored fat.
Research has shown that increasing your water intake would increase lipolysis and can lead to loss of fat.
Water Helps With Your Workouts
A major factor of effective weight loss is regular exercise. Your water intake determines the functionality of your connective tissues, muscles, and joints. It also helps improve the health of your lungs and heart. Increasing your water intake would help the other organs in your body work effectively during your workouts.
When you are properly hydrated, you reduce your risk of developing fatigue and muscle cramps during your workout sessions. Keeping your water close while exercising is important, especially in hot and sunny conditions.
