OK, I won’t bore you and tell you again that you need to drink more water per day. You already know this. Weight loss and drinking water are absolutely related. Perhaps knowing the scientific reasons for drinking more water will help you decide to drink more water, but probably not.
BUT, if I were to to tell that when you drink more water, that your body will burn its own fat, would you finally decide to drink more water? Let me give you the facts. I will also give you an exact plan that you can use to drink the water you need.
Everyone has an established habit about drinking water. When I was a boy, my Dad used to love to go fishing. My Dad is and was a minimalist. He would go out with the absolute minimum amount of equipment because sometimes he would need to walk through the woods for a mile or so to find a secluded fishing spot.
Water, was not on my Dad’s list of things to carry a mile. We would be out for the whole day with nothing to drink, at all, all day. I was very thirsty, but I refused to complain, because I learned early that that is not what men do. So I grew up, as water-independent, as a desert camel.
Maybe you have reasons for how much water you drink. The Institute of Medicine recommends that men drink 3 liters of water per day. The Mayo Clinic shows that about 80% of your water intake comes from water and other beverages, and 20 % from foods. Foods like tomatoes, watermelons and other succulent fruits and vegetables are nearly 90% water.
To know why you need to drink more water to burn fat, you need to know these three facts that will change your mind:
- Fat Metabolism Slows Without Water - being even 1 percent dehydrated can cause a significant drop in your metabolism, which can also interfere with weight loss. Just so you know, metabolism is measured in how many calories your body will burn for you per hour. From an article on water’s effect on fat metabolism : very simply, your liver is the organ that metabolizes (or burns) fat. Fat is burned in the liver into usable energy for the body. This is the process of burning fat and is the major process for losing weight. When you don’t drink enough water, it is actually your kidneys that can’t do their job due to the lack of water. OK, now your kidneys are the organs that filter waste products from your blood and they require a lot of water to work properly. When you are low on water (dehydrated) the kidneys slow down and the liver has to pick up the slack to filter out the waste. This means that the liver now has to do the kidney’s job of ridding your body of toxins and is now too busy to metabolize fat, thus fat metabolism slows down and you lose less weight. So when you are low on water, you aren’t burning as much fat!
- Don’t Get Any Fatter Now, By Drinking More Water Now – from Dr. Melina Jampolis , Physician Nutrition Specialist she states that published in 2008 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, people who drank water before meals ate an average of 75 fewer calories at that meal. This may not seem like much, but if you ate 75 fewer calories at lunch and dinner for the next year, you could lose about 14½ pounds! Drink water before a meal and you won’t gain more fat.
- Drinking water burns calories immediately - Wendy Bumgardner a certified marathon coach, states that drinking water burns calories within one hour. She states that for every 1 liter of water you can burn about 50 calories (which is about 5 M&M’s, plain, not peanut). This is not many calories, but is based on the fact the stomach needs to warm the water and uses about those many calories. This is also backed by findings of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, December, 2003. The big finding is that for men, the calories burned comes from stored fat.
Based on these huge findings, here is what to do with water to get your body into a fat burning machine. Just do these two things:
- Drink 2 – 12oz glasses of water before every meal and drink 1 – 12oz glass of water between any smaller meal or snack. As I advise my clients, if you are at a restaurant, do not even order food before you drink two glasses of water. If you follow this one routine before you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day, you will have drunk nearly 3 liters of water per day. I do this every day and it is a habit that I have gotten accustomed to really quickly.
- Watch Yourself! - do you frequently have headaches? You might need more water. Check your urine. Do you urinate very little. If your urine is smelly or yellow, you might be low on water. Is your skin dry? Is your mouth dry? These are more signs of dehydration. Watch how you feel and look. Adjust the water in step #1 up to more water if these or other symptoms are frequent.
OK, right now, just drink a glass of water, and then think about what I just told you. Based on statistical facts, if you’re reading this, you probably need to drop some weight. And further that if you are fat, by scientific fact, you are not using water to lose your weight for you. How many times do you need to be told to drink more water? Please follow someone’s advice. I hope that this article has finally lit a fire under your ass, to make a change that will allow your body to lose weight itself.
Won’t that be nice?
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April 8th, 2010 on 2:33 PM
Excellent post! Water drinking is something that I try to do more of. I have set a goal of a gallon a day, but I don’t always make it.
April 8th, 2010 on 2:40 PM
Thanks Jeremy. Just keep your eye on the ball and the habits will fall in place. I love hearing from you, dude.
April 9th, 2010 on 1:38 PM
Great post. Just found your blog and am going to subscribe via RSS. I find that days that I do drink water I do better on the scale. Most work days it is part of my habit to drink water, but on weekends I don’t get to drink as much. I think I need to work on that. Thanks again!
April 9th, 2010 on 2:45 PM
Hey Steven,
Thanks for stopping by. Interesting comment that you do better on the scales when you drink water. Most people would think that they would be heavier on days that they drink water due to the water weight. I guess I am going to write another post about that. Thanks for the idea.
April 10th, 2010 on 3:37 PM
No question about it – Water is a cornerstone for a fitness routine.
April 11th, 2010 on 4:00 AM
Hey there. Water is so important, I think it is really overlooked by a lot of people. It can keep you really full too. Keep drinking water!
April 11th, 2010 on 9:05 AM
Thanks Tony.
April 14th, 2010 on 9:51 AM
Great researched article. It definitely drives the point home about the importance of water when it comes to weight loss. The idea of drinking more water to increase metabolism efficiency is such a simple one that people tend to underestimate it. Good stuff.
December 31st, 2010 on 1:51 PM
I really need assistance loosing weight. I’m way too fat right now.
I already lost 40 pounds and have to lose 25 more.. ive stayed the exact bodyweight since august but i cant find inspiration to start up again.
October 17th, 2011 on 12:44 AM
This is the first time I frequented your website page and thus far I amazed with the analysis you made to make this actual post incredible. Magnificent activity!
November 24th, 2011 on 11:08 AM
Well I agree 100% with the post. I am on diet actually I don’t weigh a lot..but I have ben on diet for 2 motnhs now and lost weight. every week i have a weight check and this week I drank no water at all ( i never loved it) and though I am very committed to my diet.. I lost NOTHING
I am still on 110… so this weke I will drink lots of water.. my dietition always says if you don’t drink water it’s liek u r not on diet at all ..it’s so true.. great post!