It’s very upsetting to me that most people who seek to lose fat overlook the importance of drinking water. Frankly they think it’s overrated. I’ve gotten many questions and comments on weight loss approaches and something I commonly see asked or mentioned is “Is it just water weight that I lose?”.
The very question to me sounds like water weight isn’t a big deal and you’re just basically drinking and flushing out water so how can there be weight loss? Well the truth is there is and it isn’t JUST water. It’s a lot more. Water weight isn’t just water leaving your body, it’s also undigested foods, a form of cleansing the body, fat and weight loss all combined. That’s what “just” drinking water will do for you. In regards to fat loss, you better believe it helps!
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Let’s get the basics out of the way…
I could tell you just to drink more water, but that’s obvious advice. If you want specifics, we have to back track for just a moment and start from the following:
Each person is different meaning they consume a different amount of foods and drinks every single day. Combined, that means everyone has their own specific amount of calories being consumed daily and when you get into specific foods and drinks, some may eat mildly healthy, some completely healthy and others just unhealthy altogether.
See which category you fall into before taking the next step and don’t for a moment try to sugar coat (pardon the pun) yourself. If you feel you eat a lot of bad foods and they contain a lot of calories/sugars and other ingredients that are known to lead to fat gain, put yourself on the more negative end meaning the unhealthy consumption class. This will actually end up helping you when you start adding water into the mix.
Once you’ve identified which category you’re in, it’s time to understand one very important thing:
Eating less unhealthy ingredients = more fat loss and more weight loss and one of the best ways to do that is by drinking more water. What are the unhealthy ingredients in this case? Well it varies on who you ask, but specifically for myself, I would categorize white sugar, white flour and very basic salt (even iodized) into that.
It’s safe to say that many foods we consume, especially the unhealthy ones carry one or more of those ingredients and if not, we use them in combination with our foods and drinks. And add into that fatty foods and super loaded sugar drinks and we’ve got ourselves a surplus of massive fat piling up in our body. Keeping this in mind, is it any wonder why so many people are overweight?
So now that we’ve pointed out the obvious and know we have to eat less, I want to make one more point that I feel may end up making or breaking you and that is that going cold turkey and quitting all of these foods may end up increasing the chances of you failing and that’s because the body just won’t be used to the shock of such drastic changes being made.
So if you’re going to lose weight via drinking water, dieting, whatever the case is, the best way to do this from my point of view is to transition into it, and slowly. The only time you may want to drastically change things is if you have some sort of health emergency which requires immediate attention and radical change.
How to maximize fat loss results by drinking water:
Most people and health experts will tell you to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Is this the correct number? Well it’s pretty close. I’d say there’s no actual amount set because again, everyone is different. Different weight. Different age. Different health conditions and based on your individual case is where you should start from. I can’t give you a whole table of calories, weight, age and tell you how much water to drink, but as general rules go:
1. Drink more water than you currently do. If you drink 2 glasses a day, try to bump it up to 3, then 4 and do this every few days to get the body used to the transition. If you feel you can’t drink anymore water, don’t do it. It’s one of my personal 5 tips to losing weight fast. See the other 4.
2. Substitution is a great way to help the process and really handle 2 problems (drinking less sugary drinks and substituting that with more water). If you’re drinking 10 cans of soda a day, start by substituting 2 or more cans a day with a glass of water. Then the following week, bump it up to 4, then the next week 6 and keep this up. Ideally you would want to stop drinking everything with high amounts of sugar in it.
As someone who used to drink a lot of sugary drinks, I can tell you that it’s very difficult to get over the addiction of sugar, but through the process of slow transition, not only is it more possible, but in time your body is also going to start craving that water and that’s when you know you’re on the right track. Believe me, it will happen.
Keeping these 2 simple guidelines in mind, what exactly are we accomplishing? Well:
1. We’re already consuming LESS calories on a daily basis by substituting a portion of it with water.
2. Less of the bad stuff means we have less fat piling up in our body.
3. Drinking more water has a number of health effects including increased circulation and digestion which means your metabolism is going to go up and with that so will fat and weight loss.
And while there’s more benefits I could list, remember, it doesn’t get anymore cleaner or healthier than water. I would personally recommend some sort of high end water filter because it will end up saving you more money in the long run and you can rest assured, the water you’re drinking is truly pure.
Regardless, make it a habit to drink and really substitute your current drinks with water. It won’t be easy at first, but like I said before, it will become a habit and you will crave it overtime. Cravings for what’s healthy is what you’re really chasing here.
As for the fat and weight loss, it will come with it. Don’t just drink water to lose fat or weight. Do it to improve your health.