You have thought about losing weight and have considered different fad diets. You also have heard that drinking water helps you lose weight but how. Is it a fake advertisement or fact? How much water is necessary to drink to lose weight is another question that comes to mind right away.
This article explains how drinking water helps you to lose weight and how much water you need for weight loss.
Table of Contents
How can drinking water help you burn calories?
Water holds many benefits that health experts are stressing on drinking enough water per day. In fact, our lifestyle, distractions, and busy day could prevent us from drinking enough water. One of the many benefits of water is losing weight. Here is how water helps you lose weight.
Reducing calorie intake
Let’s take a look at a few types of drinks and their calories:
- A bottle of orange juice, 110
- Grand Caffe Mocha, 360
- Iced tea, 86
- Strawberry banana smoothie, 300
- One glass of beer, 150
Water has zero calories. It means if you replace water with some of the drinks per day, you receive fewer calories and lose weight.
Burning more calorie
Drinking water boosts the proportion of calories your body burns. According to Elizabeth A Dennis and others’ research, drinking water raises the volume of calories you burn. The process gets known as “resting energy expenditure”.
During the research, when adults drank water, resting energy expenditure increased by 24–30%. The process continues for about one hour.
In another study by Clive M Brown and others on obese children and overweight women, resting energy expenditure increased by 25% when the applicants drank cold water.
Jodi D Stookey and his team conducted research named “Drinking water is associated with weight loss.” The team examined the effects of raising the level of water intake to over 1 liter every day. The team found out that the participants lost an extra 2 kg over a one-year period. The impressive point about this research is that women did not make any other changes in their diet and lifestyle.
A few other pieces of research, including the Stookey one, monitored overweight people drinking a particular amount of water per day over a few weeks. The results were decreasing:
- Weight
- Body mass index (BMI)
- Waist circumference
- Body fat
The results of the above findings can be more impressive if you drink the water cold. Your body has to spend more calories to warm up the cold water taken.
Suppressing appetite
You may have heard from Instagram or TikTok influencers that drinking water before meals can help you lose weight. Such groups post videos of themselves drinking water in fancy cups with hot underwear showing their six-packs. But what does science say about it?
The study by Emily L Van Walleghen and others says that drinking water before meals decreases your appetite. However, the study was conducted on middle-aged and older adults.
“Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults” is the name of the research. It indicates that drinking water before a meal might rise weight loss by 2 kg during a 12-week period.
In the research of A Dennis, mentioned earlier participants were middle-aged overweight and obese women. They were able to lose 44% more weight compared to the participants who did not drink water.
The researchers also investigated the impact of drinking water before breakfast. It was revealed that the proportion of taken calories decreased during breakfast by 13% when drinking water before the meal.
Although the benefits of water before meals were impressive for middle-aged and older people, the same results were not seen for younger people.
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How much is necessary to drink to lose weight?
Just drinking water doesn’t lead to weight loss. You need to:
- Exercise
- Eat healthy food
- Get enough sleep every night
- Try to reduce your stress
Along with the changes in your lifestyle and diet, drinking water can help you lose weight.
The amount of water you should drink to lose weight is up to several factors.
The important point is to drink enough water even if you do not want to lose weight. A study by CDC indicates that “43% of adults drink less than four cups of water a day”, which is while 7% of them report not drinking any water during the day”.
The conditions that determine how much water should you drink to lose weight are as follows:
Ordinary people
Your thirst can be a good natural indicator of how much water you should drink every day. In case you still feel thirsty after drinking the recommended amount per day, maybe you need to drink a few cups more. It becomes true during the hot season or when you engage in a tough physical activity.
But be careful not to drink too much water as too much water could cause water intoxication or hyponatremia. The potential symptoms of water intoxication include:
- Head pain
- Cramping, spasms, or weakness in your muscles
- Nausea or vomiting
- Drowsiness and fatigue
If you notice the symptoms, you would better get medical service right away.
According to MayoClinic, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has set an adequate daily fluid intake. It is about 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of fluids a day for men. And 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) of fluids a day for women.
The recommended proportion can change by your:
- Age
- Gender
- Physical activity
- Temperature time of the year
- Altitude
Working out
If working out is part of your habits and weekly habits, you might need more water than the recommended amount. The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) has recommended the extra amount for sportspeople:
- 16 ounces of extra water before you exercise
- 4-8 ounces during exercise
- 16 ounces after exercise
There is another way to know how much water you need after exercise. Weigh yourself and see how many pounds you have managed to lose. Drink 16 ounces of water for every lost pound.
Being overweight and obese
The obese and overweight people would better stay hydrated during the day. It is recommended that they drink half of their body weight in ounces of water. But they would better consult with a health expert or physician. There might be special considerations with their health conditions.
Tips for drinking enough water to lose weight
So now you have gained a clear understanding of how much water to drink to lose weight. But the hectic schedule and distractions might prevent you from drinking enough water per day. The following tips and tricks help you to drink sufficient water per day, ensure your hydration and lose weight.
Stick to drinking water before meals
“Habit Stacking” is a useful trick that helps you drink enough water. James Clear, the author of “Atomic Habits” explains how to stick a new habit to an old one. Having three meals a day is definitely one of your habits. You can drink two cups of water before your meals and stick the new drinking water habit to the old one. Not only does water suppress your appetite, as explained in the text, but also you create a constructive, healthy habit.
When you wake up and go to bed
Drinking water before bed can have several benefits, but it should not interrupt your sleep pattern:
- Help your body to eliminate unwanted toxins
- Relieve pain or cramping in the stomach.
- Improving your mood
- Prevent dehydration during sleep
- Relieve symptoms of flu and cold
- Better temperature control
- Easier breathing
The benefits of drinking water in the morning along with hydration and weight loss are:
- Increase your energy levels
- Boost your metabolism
- Help ease aches and pains
- Fight toxins
- Better mental performance
- Boosting your mood
Have a bottle of water around
It’s worth mentioning again James Clear indicates that when you want to do an activity more, have the signs around. The best indicator to drink more water is to have a bottle of water on your desk or around. Your favorite color encourages you more to drink enough water per day.
Add flavors
Some might not like the taste of water. Natural flavors like peppermint, cucumber, lemon, or your favorite fruit can be a good incentive to drink more water throughout the day. It can particularly encourage children to drink water.
Try different water options
If the taste of water is not your preference, you can try alkaline water, mountain spring water, or purified water to drink enough water. They provide further benefits than tap water with better taste.
Water has zero calories
You drink one soda every afternoon at work. What does it have to do with gaining weight? One bottle of soda without caffeine has about 41 calories; it means 280 calories every week without considering the juice, sweetened coffee, or tea.
When the calories of all the drinks you have every day accumulate, you can see that the overall calories compound and become a large number.
Replacing water with some of the drinks you have could lead to weight loss in the long run.
According to Deborah F Tate, Gabrielle Turner-McGrievy and their team research in 2012 published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the women who replaced high-calorie drinks with a non-caloric drinks could lose 2-2.5% weight in six months.
The women participating in the study drank the high-calorie drinks every day, but they stopped it and replaced them.
There are other studies that indicate the same results.
Let’s sum up…
Water helps you lose weight, and it provides further benefits to your body’s needs. Health experts are emphasizing drinking enough water every day more than before.
The article explained how much water you need to drink to lose weight, how water helps you lose weight and how to drink more water.
If the taste of tap water is not good in your city, like Las Vegas, and you don’t drink enough water, try a water company with different water options. Tahoe Springs Water has provided the best alkaline, purified, and mountain spring water to Las Vegas residents since 1994. Give us a call at +702-903-1433 and order your water choice now.
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FAQs
Can water help lose weight?
Yes, it has zero calories and helps in weight loss.
I want to burn calories. Should I drink water?
Water is one of the options that can help but is not the sole cause.
How much water should I drink to lose weight?
Only drinking water doesn’t lead to weight loss. It’s up to your condition.
How long does it take for me to lose weight?
It’s up to your diet, workout routine, and body nature.