How Drinking More Water Can Aid in Weight Loss
Posted by PWS Staff on
Weight loss is not easy for many people, but there are simple things you can do to help you hit your weight loss goals, such as increase the amount of water you drink daily. Drinking more water can help you hit your weight loss goals for several reasons.
Water Can Replace Bad Beverages that Derail Weight Loss
Think about all the beverages people drink – coffee, tea, milk, juice, soda and alcohol to name a few. An average 12-ounce can of cola contains 39 grams of sugar! That’s a lot of sugar – more than the daily average recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is only 25 grams per day. Sugar is a known enemy of weight loss, especially processed sugars found in most sweet drinks like soda and many juice drinks. If you add sugar to your tea or coffee, keep in mind that WHO recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day (25 grams). So, if you put 3 teaspoons in your coffee and drink two cups of coffee in the morning, you’ve already hit your daily sugar intake allotment for the day. If you go over and don’t burn that off, you’ll start gaining weight over time.
When trying to lose weight, replacing sugary beverages such as soda and juice with clean, refreshing water will help you keep hydrated while eliminating excess and unnecessary calories from sugar. Replace one can of soda for an 8-ounce glass of water and you just saved yourself from 39 grams of sugar – way more than the daily limit for staying healthy!
Drinking a Glass of Water Before and After Every Meal
Another reason why weight loss is so hard is that people overeat. We tend to overeat when we eat too fast because we don’t know that we’re full. Eating too quickly doesn’t allow our stomach to send signals to our brain alerting it that we’re satisfied, so we continue to eat. Drinking an 8-ounce glass of water before a meal will fill your stomach enough for you to not feel too hungry, which will slow your eating and allow your brain to receive signals from your stomach telling it when you’ve had enough to eat. Drinking an 8-ounce glass of water right after your meal will keep you feeling fuller longer. This will help to keep you from snacking on empty calories.
Drinking Water Helps Burn Calories
Studies have shown that drinking water helps to increase the amount of calories you burn, something known as ‘resting energy expenditure’. Most adults show an increase in resting energy expenditure of 24 to 30 percent just 10 minutes after drinking water, which lasts a minimum of 60 minutes! One study found that overweight women who drank an extra liter of water every day over the course of 12 months lost an average of 4.4 lbs – this is without changing their lifestyle or doing anything else differently!
Water Helps Rids the Body of Toxins
Toxins in the body can make you feel sluggish and can also make you sick. Water helps flush toxins out of your body and keeps your organs working properly and to full capacity. So naturally, if you increase your clean water intake, you will keep your body pumping out toxins, making you feel healthier and more alive. When your organs function properly and your blood flows properly you naturally are in a healthier state, making it easier to lose weight and keep it off.
Water Is Necessary for Proper Hydration
Most people include some type of exercise regimen with their weight loss plan. When you work out, no matter what type of plan you follow (yoga, running, walking, body weight exercise, weightlifting, etc.) you sweat and lose water naturally. This water must be replaced. Increasing your water intake during and after exercise is also important as it will keep you properly hydrated and energized.