Everyone knows, diet is crucial to losing weight. What everyone doesn't know is that diet includes what you drink. This, of course, can be taken to mean avoid sugary sodas, but there's something more, and most people miss it...
Just drink more water. Most people, period, don't drink nearly enough water. Drinking 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day, or around two quarts, can be the missing key to success in your fat loss diet. Here's why:
1.) Water Quenches Appetite
Can't stay away from the fridge? Our runaway appetites are often the biggest obstacles to a sustained fat loss diet. After all, if we're going to cut the pounds, we've got to cut some calories. But did you know that when the brain tells us we're hungry, it may be instead signaling thirst? Physiologically, our brains do not truly differentiate between hunger and thirst. So if we find ourselves picking up a snack right after a meal, fill up a glass of water instead. Just wait a few minutes and see what it does to your appetite... More often than not, you'll walk away without eating a bite.
2.) Boil Away the Fat
Our kidneys are designed to process all the water we consume. However, if we don't drink enough, they can't handle the small amounts - there's a sort of minimum requirement. The job is then delegated to the liver that, while able to deal with small amounts of water, also hosts a number of other duties - like converting fat into energy. Yet, if it's too occupied with processing water, that fat doesn't turn into energy. It turns into body fat. The kidneys can take one for the liver here, and you can help by just drinking enough water. Try giving your fat loss diet another leg up.
3.) Evaporate the Water Pudge
You gain weight if you don't drink enough water. Sound contradictory? This is how it works. Our body adapts to our daily water intake, and in ideal circumstances, does not retain water. This happens only if we provide it with enough hydration. If we don't drink enough, water gets stored in something very much like fat.
This is a safety mechanism, guarding against the impending "drought". But if we're at home or at work, there's no reason to enter into survival mode. Once we begin hydrating our bodies again, this water fat disappears, as our bodies no longer deem it necessary to survive. Several pounds can be lost by this alone. Not bad.
There is a legitimate concern here - if I drink so much water, won't I constantly be in transit to and from the bathroom? Well, at first, there will be more trips to the bathroom, but only at first. When you reach ideal hydration levels, your body dumps all the water fat it has been retaining - and when you go the bathroom, you're effectually losing weight. But once the water fat is gone, the bathroom visits return to normal. With all the benefits to be had, it's worth a few days of getting up and down a little more.
Adding water to your weight loss diet can be key in dropping pounds. After all, if it's free, easy, and convenient, why not soak up the skinny?
- Prev:Need to Lose Weight? Then Increase Your Metabolism
- Next:Losing Weight with Supplements