This Might Be The Easiest Way To Lose 5 Pounds Yet

When you want to lose a few pounds, you generally do two things: change your diet and hit the gym. But researchers have found another, easier way to slim down that doesn't require an ounce of sweat.

Drinking two glasses of water before each meal can help you lose up to 5 pounds in 12 weeks, according to researchers at the University of Birmingham. 

In a recent study published in the journal Obesity, researchers split 84 obese patients into two groups, asking 41 to drink two cups (16 ounces) of tap water before every major meal and the other 43 to imagine they had a full stomach without drinking any water.

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The group who pre-loaded with water lost about 5.3 pounds on average over the 12-week experiment, while those who didn't drink water before their meals lost only 1.72 pounds. (Get even more weight loss tips with your FREE trial of Prevention + 12 FREE gifts.)
 
In addition to instructions for water intake, each volunteer was given basic tips about how to lose weight through healthy diet and exercise. Yet, study participants didn't significantly change their physical activity during the experiment, researchers noted.

Photograph by Getty Images/Jamie Grill

Although the study size was small and further research is needed to confirm water as a weight-loss wonder, the researchers at Birmingham believe the results show that drinking water can be an easy and effective weight loss technique.

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"When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss—at a moderate and healthy rate," Helen Parretti, MD, lead author on the study, said in a press release. "It's something that doesn't take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives." 

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