Drinking Water to Lose Fat

You may have heard that drinking a decent amount of water daily can help you to lose weight. One recent study has shown that drinking plenty of water enables you to burn daily about 50 calories more for every litre that you drink. It may not appear very much, but benefits of drinking water do not end here.

In 2003, another study conducted by researchers from the Berlin Institute concluded that consuming 500 mls of water increases metabolic functions for about half an hour afterwards. During this time 25 more calories are burned. The explanation given by researchers includes the fact that the stomach heats the water, thus requiring more energy to complete this task.

Why you should drink more water to lose weight.

There are a number of reasons. Firstly, it will make a difference to the amount of food you consume. Once you start eating, it takes up to 20 minutes for the stomach to “realize” that it is being satisfied and for the feeling of hunger to dissipate. But if you drink a large glass of water just before you eat, your stomach will feel satisfied sooner and as a consequence you will eat less. Eating less means lower calorie intake and puts the odds more in your favour.

Another consideration is kidney function. You’d be amazed how much the kidneys play a part in regulating our metabolism and general overall health, including blood pressure etc. You need to do everything you can to “take the load off” the kidneys. The metabolic process of burning fat means that your body will produce waste that must be removed through the kidneys. It is essential therefore that you drink more water to help the kidneys to fulfill their function as efficiently as possible.

For diets that include high protein content, water is even more important because with these diets the body detoxes and produces more waste. You may even find yourself feeling more thirsty, which confirms this.

Drinking lots of water also has the effect of “flushing out” your large intestine, which is good for overall health and a more efficient metabolism. In fact, those who are in favour of colonic irrigation would suggest that drinking 6 glasses of water first thing in the morning can have the same effect as having an enema. This “colonic detoxing” to start your day will get rid of many substances which lodge and breed in the bowel mucous. You should notice a substantial difference to your overall health within 30 days.

The Berlin study mentioned above recommendation we consume 8 glasses of clean water daily which adds almost 1.5 litres to normal water consumption. Do this and you should burn an average of 100 calories more than normal. Combined with nutrition and diet this helps significantly with weight loss. However drinking water should not be excessive because it can have negative effects. Water consumption should be proportional to the level of salt in the body for the electrolysis process to work properly. Salt levels should be maintained otherwise it may result in hyponatraemia (electrolyte disturbance in blood plasma) which is usually followed by heart attacks and even death. Too much water can dilute the salt in the blood and tissues. This has been behind a number of deaths among athletes, who lose salt through excessive perspiration.

Exercise and water

As has been pointed out, water consumption is very important when we exercise. It is good that every time you walk, run, workout, or even dance (great exercise), you remember a container of water. And if you’re sweating excessively, eat something salty as well so you don’t feel unwell afterwards.

Water is so important to health that we can not replace it with anything else. Over 60 percent of the human body is water. So even if you are not thirsty, drink water with confidence.