Water And Weight Loss

Water and Weight Loss – What’s the story?

The link between water and weight loss is often underestimated. With around 75% of the US population suffering with some form of dehydration – and almost as many also struggling with weight issues – you should already have some indication that there may be some sort of link between weight and hydration. By the way, countries like Australia and the UK share a similar story.

One of the biggest problems with dehydration is that it can give you food cravings. That’s because dehydration is often misinterpreted as a hunger cue. Staying hydrated helps the body discern between the thirst mechanism and hunger so, if you have a problem with sugar cravings, it may well be well that you’re simply responding to dehydration. When cravings happen too often and get out of hand, we all know what happens next…weight gain!

5 Reasons Water and Weight Loss Go Together

Other reasons that dehydration impacts weight loss:

• Water intake directly affects energy levels. The more energy you have, the easier it is to stay active, uphold an exercise schedule, and maintain a healthy weight.
• Metabolism is affected by water. Drinking plenty of water can boost your metabolism. Inversely, chronic dehydration slows metabolism.
• Water naturally suppresses the appetite and helps metabolize stored fat.
• Adequate water intake decreases food cravings as the body doesn’t have to extract water from food sources. In a University of Washington experiment, one glass of water eliminated midnight hunger pangs for nearly all of the dieters involved in the study.
• Detoxifies your body. If you’re dehydrated, your digestive system won’t work properly and so some of your excess weight could be a weak digestive system so you’re literally carrying too many toxins in your body.

Water And Weight Loss – Taking The First Steps

It can be a real struggle to get enough water in every day – particularly if you’re not used to all that volume of liquid swooshing around in your stomach! So, start where you are and aim to move up to gradually. If you try to do it all at once, you’ll probably just feel waterlogged and uncomfortable.

Aim for 2 litres a day over time – some people need even more than that, some need less, and it changes according to your lifestyle. So, if you suddenly decide to run a marathon or go to the Sahara, you’ll need to amp up your hydration even more.

If you don’t like the ‘taste’ of water, or find it too harsh to drink, try adding some lemon or drink cool herbal teas.

Most of all, take your hydration seriously for your general health and especially for weight loss. Water and weight loss go hand in hand – so start taking some action today!