Your body is composed of 60 percent water, so replenishing what is lost daily is quite crucial. That doesn’t change even if you are not dieting. Water is essential to body functioning. Drinking enough water helps to control your body temperature, keeps joints working and will aid in digestion.
Losing Weight
By now, most people realize to lose weight, you have to eat less. Your body works the same way a bank does, but in the vault it stores fat. When you eat more calories than your body needs each day, the extra goes into the vault. Weight loss is a budgeting system. When you run out of cash, you have to dip into your savings. When your body runs out of energy, it dips into the fat vault. How much energy you need is dependant on how much you move. Exercise increases the calorie burn and you use more fat. Water is about being healthy, not necessarily about losing weight. Used correctly though, you can turn water into a tool that helps you eat less.
Making Water Work for You
Weight loss is a biochemical process. Water may play a minor role in creating the chemicals needed to burn fat, but you can lose weight without drinking water. The key is to make water for you.
When you fill up your stomach, a sensor triggers that says you are full. Water takes up space but does not increase calories. A study conducted by the Virginia Tech Department of Human Nutrition in 2009 proved that drinking water before and during a meal will increase your chances of successful weight loss. The concept is not complicated. You fill up space in your stomach with water and trigger the sensor even though you eat less.
Not Drinking Water Works Against You
The digestive system has a fundamental flaw. It has a hard time telling the difference between hunger and thirst. You may relate thirst to a dry feeling in your mouth or throat. The truth is by the time you have this sensation, you are already starting to become dehydrated. Thirst actually begins way before that happens. Since the body cannot always tell the difference between needing food and needing water, it may send the wrong signal. In a nutshell, this means that not drinking enough water may actually make you feel hungry when you are not. By drinking water each day, you can control hunger pains and eat less.
Water does not necessarily play a significant role in breaking down fat, but it will help control appetite. This alone makes dieting easier and increases you chances of success. Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day. To lose weight, drink some of it before you eat and with your meals.
CNN Health:Can drinking lots of water help you lose weight?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Water: Meeting Your Daily Fluid Needs; 2011
Virginia Tech Department of Human Nutrition; Water Consumption Increases Weight Loss During a Hypocaloric Diet Intervention In Middle-Aged and Older Adults
