I know, I know. You’ve heard a million times how healthy water is for the body, and how nobody drinks enough of it. And most of us hav a grandma or an aunt who tells us that if we want to lose weigh, “just drink more water.” I thought that there might be some truth to it, but only because if you are drinking water, you are not drinking other high calorie drinks. I just read a new study that shows that you can actually drink water and lose weight.
A new research study by Dr. Brenda Davy of Virginia Tech has shown that people who drank 2 glasses of water before every meal lost weight quicker and lost significantly more weight than those who did not. I have heard several different explanations for why this is, but the why doesn’t matter as much as the fact that drinking water to lose weight does work! In another study that Dr. Davy published, she showed that people who drink water before a meal will eat 75 fewer calories than those who do not. While 75 calories per meal may not sound like much, that is 150 calories per day (assuming lunch and dinner), and over 54,000 calories in a year. That is enough to lose 15 pounds over the course of a year!
So, is drinking water to lose weight all you need to do? Well that depends. If you are looking to lose only a few pounds and you generally eat healthy, it probably will be enough to help you to reach your ideal weight. However, if you are looking to lose 20 pounds or more, I recommend drinking water before meals along with a diet and fitness program. I know that there are a lot of diet programs that promise the world, only to deliver disappointing results. One diet and fitness program that I recommend to all of my readers is The Diet Solution Program. It is a simple, effective, step by step program that is designed to be used by real people. It even includes recipes and shopping lists to make it the completely user friendly.
Besides losing weight, drinking enough water also make you feel better (I know that this is anecdotal, and therefore entirely unreliable scientifically, but my wife would kill me if I didn’t add it). Back when my wife was pregnant she was nearly put on bed rest because of early contractions. Any time she had a contraction, she had to quickly drink 16 ounces of water and lay down on her side. At first she was miserable. She didn’t like to drink water, and it made her pee even more often. But as her body got used to being properly hydrated, she realized that she was getting less headaches and having more energy. To this day, almost six years later, my wife drinks obscene amounts of water very day. She very rarely has headaches (she used to get migraines pretty often), she has more energy, and she is within 5 pounds of what she weighed before she got pregnant for the first time. She attributes all of that to drinking plenty of water and staying properly hydrated.
If you are interested, my Fit Yummy Mummy Review will describe the best way for busy moms to get back into shape. You can also check out my other article, How to Get Great Abs At Home.