When I was a kid, maybe 10 years old, I remember my best friend’s mom drinking a lot of water. She carried a plastic cup around the house with her and was constantly guzzling water through a straw. I didn’t understand why she was so thirsty all the time.
My mom explained that this woman was on a special diet to help her lose weight. She had to drink 5 litres of water every day, and if she did then she would get skinny.
Sounded simple to me. But would that actually work? Does drinking water really help people lose weight?
The human body is made up of 60-70% water. The fluids in your body aid in essential processes such as digestion, vitamin absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.
While drinking enough water is obviously important, research consistently shows that most of us are chronically dehydrated. People simply don’t consume enough water to be healthy, let alone to effectively lose weight.
It is generally well known that water is an essential component to proper body function, but it is sometimes less clear is how it might support weight loss. Here I would like to look at some of the roles water plays managing weight, and answer the question: Can you really drink water to lose weight?
A recent study at the University of North Carolina found that obese dieters who drank two cups of water before each meal lost an average of five pounds more than dieters who did not drink the water. The water-drinkers also kept more of the weight off a year later.
According to Barry Popkin, Director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Program at the University of North Carolina:
Water consumption might spark the body to produce more heat, boosting metabolism and burning more calories. Or, drinking more water might simply make people less likely to drink a lot of high-calorie sugar-filled beverages
It is not yet known whether water works by filling you up, boosting your metabolism, or simply by taking the place of sugar-laden drinks such as soda and juice. Regardless of the reason, simply drinking water can be key in helping you manage cravings, reduce hunger, and ultimately losing unwanted weight.
Perhaps one of the best pieces of advice when you’re trying to lose weight is to stop drinking pop, fruit juice, sports drinks, and other sugary beverages. These products, along with many other processed and pre-packaged foods, contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
Fructose has a pervasive negative influence on your health. When you consume too much fructose, the liver can’t keep up. It begins making fats from the fructose and sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides. Over time this process increases your risk of heart disease, suppresses hormones that signal “fullness”, perpetuates hunger and cravings, and increases risk of type 2 diabetes.
Along with other health risks, regular consumption of fructose is sure to make you gain weight. According to Professor Bart Hoebel of Princeton University, the results of a recent study show that rats drinking fructose at levels well below those in soda “[became] obese – every single one, across the board.” He adds that even when rats were fed a high-fat diet, they did not all gain the same amount extra weight.
Fructose not only makes you gain weight faster than many other food ingredients, but it also aids in the production of adipose fat, a particularly harmful kind of body fat. Adipose fat collects in your abdominal regions and is linked to heart disease risk. This alone is reason enough to avoid soda and other sugary drinks altogether.
The health risks listed above only highlight how important it is for water to be your beverage of choice, especially if you are trying to lose weight. It’s not that water has some sort of magical weight-loss property that melts away fat, but it does help us reduce our calorie intake, it helps us stay hydrated, and it allows our body to function optimally.
The guidelines I propose for your water consumption are pretty straightforward:
Women should drink a minimum of 2L each day and add 250ml for every 20 minutes they exercise.
Men should be drinking a minimum of 2.5L each day and then add the additional 250ml for every 20 minutes of exercise.
I also want to offer a strong suggestion when it comes to how you drink your water:
Find a large pitcher that can hold at least your minimum daily water requirement (i.e. 2 or 2.5L). Fill this each day and draw all of your water from it. You can fill smaller bottles if you like, but be sure to fill them from this larger pitcher.
Why should you do this?
Without a single pitcher it can become very tough to keep track of your true water consumption. It’s easy to fill a small bottle, drink a little, and then refill it. How much did you actually drink?
When you exercise you can fill secondary bottle that meets your exercise requirements (i.e. 250ml for every 20 minutes of exercise). This ensures that your exercise water is accounted for in addition to your baseline water.
This all might seem nit-picky, but it’s quite possible that drinking glasses (or small bottles) of water here and there could leave you far below your minimum daily requirement. As we just discussed, this can leave you dehydrated and rob your body from the ability to lose weight.
29. How much water do you think you drink each day? How does this change on days you exercise?
30. Do you have a pitcher that can hold your daily minimum requirement? (If not, go get one!)