Water is important for many body functions including providing the flow of nutrients and the removal of wastes from the body. Several cups of water are lost daily through breathing and that doesn’t even include the amount of water you lose by moving around and exercising.
Research shows that drinking water can decrease the risk of urinary stone disease, childhood and adulthood obesity, cancers of the colon, breast and urinary tract. Your daily water requirements should not be replaced by coffee or tea since most of these drinks contain caffeine which is a natural diuretic. Also, fruit juices contain sugar which spikes your blood sugar and causes imbalances in the energy you need. Water helps cool the body and maintain the function of all the major organs in the body. Dehydration in as little as 2% of body weight can decrease performance both mentally and physically.
Water can also increase your metabolic rate by 30% each and every day. Yes, that’s correct, recent studies have found that drinking water not only helps you live, it also helps you burn more calories throughout the day. Conventional thinking tried to convince us to drink water because it makes us feel full and thus deters us from overeating. Well, mainstream literature now points to a direct relationship between how much water you drink and your metabolic rate. Let’s take a closer look.
Recent Findings
An article recently published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (2003) investigated the weight loss benefits of drinking water in both men and women. A total of 14 healthy normal weight subjects (seven men and seven women) were asked to drink 500 ml of water and then had their metabolic rate measured. Drinking 500 ml of water increased metabolic rate in both men and women participants by approximately 30%. This increase in metabolic rate occurred within 10 minutes of drinking the water and peaked 30 to 40 minutes after water intake. This effect on metabolic rate was maintained for over an hour.
Hold on, this doesn’t mean that it is now time to drink yourself into oblivion. This study further substantiates the benefits of drinking water throughout the day. According to this study, the benefits of water transcend beyond health, but can also be highly implicated in helping you achieve your weight loss goals.
How Water is Absorbed
When you drink a glass of ice water, your body has to convert it to a temperature it can use to hydrate your body. In converting an 8 ounce glass of ice water to your body temperature, your body expends approximately 1 to 8 calories (or unit of energy) per each 8 ounce glass of ice water. The specific numbers vary depending on exactly how cold the water is and your specific body temperature.
So How Much Should You Drink?
Since we are all different sizes and body weights and drink from different glasses, it is difficult to quantify eight glasses of water per day.
So, to help ease some of this confusion, here is a simple formula for you to follow.
If you are generally active on a daily basis, take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 0.5 (body weight (lbs) x 0.5). This will give you your water requirements per day in ounces. If you are very active and engage in both a combination of resistance and cardiovascular training, three to five days per week, take your body weight and multiply it by a factor of 0.6 to get your daily water requirements in ounces per day (body weight (lbs) x 0.6).
Once you have your total required ounces per day, choose a glass, measure how many ounces it holds and use that glass as an indication of how many glasses of water you should drink. For instance, someone who weighs 150 lbs (150 x 0.55 = 99) should drink 99 ounces of water per day. If the glass chosen holds nine ounces of water, he/she should drink 11 glasses of water per day. It’s important to note that water should be consumed slowly throughout the day, not all at once.
Too Much Ice Water
While it is not common, it is possible to drink too much water. The most common reason for drinking too much water is the fear of dehydration, particularly in beginning endurance athletes. The over consumption of water can lead to hypoatremia. This occurs when a person drinks so much water that they disrupt their blood osmolarity and organ failure takes place. Again, hypoatremia is very unlikely if you are not an avid marathon runner, but it is still more likely than losing weight from drinking ice water.
Water and Healthy Weight Loss
Water is necessary for cellular functions and for healthy weight loss. This does not mean that you need to drink ice water in order to lose weight. It is safe to say that drinking excess amounts of ice water to lose weight is a myth. In fact, drinking excess amounts of ice water will do more harm than good to your body. It is common for people to mistake their thirst for hunger, but this is really the only way that drinking more water can help you lose weight. Staying adequately hydrated will help you reach your weight loss goals.
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.
