I'm sure most of you have heard that drinking more water will help you lose excess body weight. This is completely true, but how does this work?
There are four ways drinking more water helps you shed weight...
1.Instead of drinking soda, coffee or juice, you are drinking a calorie free beverage.
2.Water helps your body flush out impurities, which naturally require your body to produce more fat.
3.When you are properly hydrated, your body doesn't retain excess water.
4.When your muscles are hydrated, they work more effectively and efficiently -- ultimately burning more calories during exercise.
Let's go over each of these in detail...
Instead of drinking soda, coffee or juice, you are drinking a calorie free beverage. The average 8oz. glass of juice contains 110 Calories, a 16oz. caffe latte espresso from Starbucks (made with fat-free milk) has 160 calories, and a 12 oz. soda will add 150 Calories to your diet.
If you only replaced one soda a day with 12 oz. of water for one week, you will have eliminated 1050 Calories from your diet. If this is the only change you make to your diet, you will lose 1 pound of body fat every three weeks.
Water helps your body flush out impurities, which naturally require your body to produce more fat. Each of us is exposed to environmental impurities each day: impure air, chlorinated drinking water, pesticides on our fruits and vegetables, etc. etc. As these impurities enter our system, our body's natural defense is to coat these poisons with extra fat. The more polluted our food, water and air, the more fat our body will produce to protect our organs from these destructive chemicals.
Water is required by your kidneys and liver to excrete these toxic substances. Drinking more water helps your body eliminated these impurities, rather than retain them in your system -- thereby, reducing the amount of excess fat produced.
When you are properly hydrated, your body doesn't retain extra water. If you are dehydrated, your body is in "survival mode." Meaning, your body is storing every drop of water is gets -- just to be sure it will be able to continue basic functions. When you increase your water consumption, your body will slowly realize there isn't a water shortage anymore and it will release it's stores of water.
When your muscles are hydrated, they perform more effectively and efficiently -- ultimately burning more calories. If a muscle is starved for water, it is unable to contract fully. This reduces the amount of work it can do and limits the body's ability to repair fatigued muscles after a workout. Drinking enough water helps your muscle function properly and more effectively -- this makes every workout a bigger calorie burner.
So how much should you drink? A good measure is half your body weight, in ounces. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, drink 100 ounces of water, minimum, each day.
Not only will your body function better, your skin will look great and you will just "feel better." Your body will reward you for drinking more water by shedding extra pounds of fat and retained water.
Good luck with the natural weight loss!
