I don't know about you, but I kind of hate diets. I can't deal with counting calories, and actively trying to trim my portions or cut back on dessert usually just makes me want to eat more. Which got me thinking: What would happen if I tried preloading without making any other changes to my diet? Would I eat less without feeling deprived? Would I lose weight? Or would I just be running to the bathroom every 20 minutes?
Before getting started, I convinced my generous editors to buy me a sweet digital scale since, after all, this was in the name of science. On the first morning of the experiment, I stepped on. My dog tried to step on too, which seriously threw off the numbers. After nudging her off with my foot, the screen read 125.7.
For two weeks, I diligently preloaded before almost every meal. (Whenever my husband saw me drinking my water, he'd say, "So I guess we're eating in a half hour?" Funny guy.) There were a few occasions when it seemed totally impractical, like when I went out to dinner. Given the fact that you usually have to wait to be seated and then wait again for your meal to arrive, it would've been tough to time my preload precisely 30 minutes before digging in. So instead, I just preloaded before I left the house. But either way, I didn't notice much of a difference in how full I felt while eating.
Then after a few days, I started forgetting that I was supposed to drink up a half hour before eating. But I didn't want to give up, so I just guzzled the water right before my meal. Turns out, that made me feel stuffed. So I kept it up. And I ended up regularly leaving about a quarter of my food untouched. I'm normally the kind of person who eats every morsel on her plate, so it was pretty weird. But it was also great, because even though I was eating less, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Plus, I don't know if it was drinking more water or eating less food, but I noticed that I had a little more energy, especially in the afternoons after lunch.
At the end of 2 weeks, I stepped back on the scale. Final weight? 124.2, 1.5 pounds less than when I'd started. It wasn't a ton, but I really didn't have much weight to lose in the first place. And considering the only change I'd made was drinking more water, I was pretty impressed.
So, yup. Loading up on water really is an easy, painless way to cut your portions and support your efforts to lose weight. Just be sure to always have a bathroom nearby. You're gonna be peeing a lot.
