How Water Helps in Weight Loss

!±8± How Water Helps in Weight Loss

One of the elements in true weight loss, as opposed to a "diet," is increasing your metabolism. Water contributes to this process. Water is needed for every function our body performs. Because we do not store water, we need to be continually replacing the water lost by respiration, exercise, and waste-elimination functions.

How much water for a healthy lifestyle is a question debated by any two people anywhere. Most sources cite 8 glasses per day, approximately 64 ounces. This is a very rough guide and does not account for age, BMI, exercise level, individual metabolic rate, ambient temperature, and other factors. I personally can go through more than 100 oz of water a day and I am56 years old, 6'4" and 235 lbs. and exercise moderately. On a good day my resting heart rate can be 60. My water count includes:

40 ounces of "just" water, Two to three 20 ounce nutritional meal shakes with protein added At least two 20 ounce sports bottles of herbal tea

And this is without working out. If I am working out, which is usually either light running, weights, working in the yard, or rowing on a Concept ll rowing machine, I can add in another two 20 oz bottles of a hydration drink-one with very low sugar content. I find it remarkable just how energizing such a quantity of water makes you feel.

Apart from supplying the vehicle for transporting nutrients around your body, water is active in helping you manage, and even lose weight. How?

We all have something called BMR, or RMR. This is Basal or Resting Metabolic Rate. Basically the number of calories we need just to "be" without doing anything. Roughly 60% of the calories we consume are burned just having us alive and operating. This measure of one's metabolism is important in weight management, for one of the elements in true weight loss, as opposed to a "diet," is increasing your metabolism. Water contributes to this process by:

Making you feel full Exercising your metabolism in order to digest and process the water Water has no calories, so points a & b actually result in a net burn (loss) of calories versus actually eating something or drinking a soda, juice milk or other fluid.

One study conducted in Germany in 2003 found that drinking 500 ml of water increased the metabolic rate in the test subjects by 30%. The thermogenic effect began as soon as ten minutes after the consumption and reached a peak 30 minutes later. The general outcome of the study showed that an additional 2 liters a day of water will burn roughly 100 calories.

I've been a competitive sailor since my teens, and I can remember a couple of examples of dehydration. On one occasion, I was sailing all day in a series of races-well before water bottles or sports drinks were commonly carried-and I arrived at the dock almost on the verge of collapse. Two liters of water over the space of 30 minutes put me back into shape, but this episode has stuck with me over the years. This episode happened in the mid 1970's, well before personal water bottles, hydration drinks, vitamin waters and all of the resources available to us today.

These days I carry with me a 2 gallon cooler in the car for any travel and particularly when sailing. There is no such thing as too much water for a healthy body.