Why drinking water is
essential for weight-loss
We know eating healthily and exercising is important for losing weight,
but this article explains why drinking plenty of water is also essential.
When we’re trying to lose weight, most of us focus on eating healthily and exercising more. Naturally these are absolutely essential to shed those pounds, but there is something else that will help you lose weight – drinking water.
Something as simple as just drinking more water can really help you slim down, and it’s such a simple change to your lifestyle. Most of us don’t drink enough water, and it’s something anyone can do, but how does it work?
Here’s why drinking water can help you lose weight…
Suppress your appetite
When you’re hungry and you head to the cupboards for something to eat, you might actually be better off having something to drink instead. That feeling of thirst can be misunderstood for hunger by the brain, and if you actually drink some water instead then it can solve your hunger pangs as well.
Drinking water also helps to fill and stretch your stomach, which can help you feel fuller. This was shown in a study where people who drank two glasses of water before they had a meal ate 22% less than those who didn’t drink anything.
Reduce calorie intake
Try not to drink your calories – it’s an easy way to cut out a big portion of your calorie intake every day. And water is brilliant because it contains no calories, so you can drink as much of it as you like!
If you regularly drink calorie-rich drinks such as fizzy drinks, fruit juices, alcohol, etc, then replacing most or all of these with water could well have a big difference. As long as you don’t replace those calories with more food, obviously.
Water helps during exercise
Water can do some great stuff on its own, but it also helps immeasurably when you’re exercising. One of the functions of water is that it distributes electrolytes around the body, and if it can’t do so efficiently then it can lead to cramping.
You also obviously lose water through sweat when you exercise and so you’ll need to replace it with water throughout your workout, so make sure you drink even if you don’t feel thirsty.
This is important because if your muscles cells are dehydrated then they break down protein and your muscles quicker and build muscle more slowly. This can make you more fatigued and also increase recovery time so you’re more likely to feel sore after working out.
Water may help burn fat
Lipolysis is the process of the body burning fat for energy. It’s believed that water actually increases the rate of lipolysis, while dehydration has the opposite effect and slows down the rate at which fat is burned. However, more research needs to be done on this.
Mental health and emotional benefits
As well as physical benefits, water can also have a major impact on your mental health and the way your brain functions. When you’re dehydrated, you can become fatigued, suffer from raised anxiety and stress levels, have trouble sleeping, and more. All this can have a severe impact on motivation and your likelihood to exercise and eat well, as well as your body’s ability to actually burn fat and lose weight.
Helps remove waste from the body
If you’re dehydrated then your body can’t expel waste effectively through urine and faeces. It reduces the effectiveness of your kidneys and can also result in constipation. This in turn can result in bloating which can add inches to your waistline and the scales to appear heavier than they should.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25893719
