Many people turn to fad diets and over the counter products to try and lose weight. They spend a good amount of money buying products they hope will work. What if you learned that water, the same thing you get from the tap, could help you to lose weight? Do you know how drinking more water can help you lose weight? There are several reasons why adding more water to your diet could be the fastest and simplest way to lose weight.
Drinking Water Can Make You Burn More Calories
One of ways water can help you lose weight has to do with its ability to speed up calorie burn. While water is not a magic cure for weight loss, it can help to invigorate your cells and help them to flush stored toxins. When a person becomes dehydrated, the body's metabolism slows down. This is the body's natural response to holding onto calories and minimizing water loss. What most people don't know is that the sensation of being thirsty is one of the stages of dehydration. If you are thirsty frequently, drinking water could help you to speed up your metabolism, which in turn helps you burn calories faster.
Another way to look at this process is to focus on how your body operates. In order to operate at its full speed and ability, it needs proper hydration for all working systems. If you were to go out for a run today, without drinking any extra water, your body would perform at a lower level than if you were properly hydrated to start with. That's why you need to be properly hydrated on the field before a game or even before a run. When you give your body more water, it performs better. That higher level of performance burns more calories as well, directly helping you to lose weight.
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Drinking Water Before Meals Can Reduce Appetite
Think of your stomach as a pouch. While it can expand some, it has limits. When you drink 8 to 16 ounces of water prior to a meal, you are filling your stomach up with water. That pouch still has room for food to come in, but there's less room. And, when you drink more water, you feel full faster. As a result, you don't eat as much. Drinking more water is linked to reduced calorie intake and a lower risk of weight gain as a direct result. It is a simple way to reduce how much you are taking in without actually feeling as though you are missing out on the foods you enjoy.
How Much Water Should You Drink?
There are various recommendations for how much water is the right amount to drink. Generally, drinking a full glass of water before meals is a great place to start. When you consider that water is your body's principle chemical component and that it makes up as much as 60 percent of your body weight, you can see just how important having enough water is.
The Institute of Medicine recommends drinking 13 cups or 3 liters of fluid each day for men and 9 cups or 2.2 liters for women. If you can consume more than this, do so. Keep in mind that replacing coffee or soda with water will better contribute to your weight loss goals as well.
Other resources:
http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-drinks/6-reasons-drinking-water-helps-solve-any-problem
http://www.webmd.com/diet/20040105/drinking-water-may-speed-weight-loss
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14671205
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