It is said that you should drink 8 glasses of water a day. Can that be right? Wow, that’s a lot of water, isn’t it? And can drinking water really help you to lose weight? Well there’s good news and bad news. The good news is yes, you can lose weight by increasing the amount of water you take in. The bad news? Eight glasses may not actually be enough.
So how much should you drink? Half your weight in ounces. If you weigh 150 pounds you should optimally be drinking 75 ounces of water a day. And that is just if you are relatively sedentary. If you are doing a lot of exercise, you’ll need to increase that amount. I recently watched an adventure racing in France and one team each drank 3 litres an hour which is nearly a gallon! But they were racing hard on a hot summer day.
Once you become accustomed to this amount it will be second nature. What most people don’t realize is that a large percentage of the population is walking around severely dehydrated. The reason for this is that the thirst mechanism has been ignored or misunderstood (mistaken for hunger) for so long, you can no longer notice it. So often when you are thinking you are hungry, your body is really just craving water. Once you start to take in enough water, you’ll notice your thirst mechanism will start to kick in and actually begin functioning again. You’ll feel better too, and your skin will look younger and healthier.
The added benefit is you will start to lose weight. There are a lot of calories in soda and even juice, and cutting them out can make a significant difference. Add just a bit of exercise, maybe a daily walk, and you have a recipe for an easy weight loss plan.
So if you thought drinking water to lose weight was just an old wives’ tale, give it a try. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s another tip! You don’t actually have to count calories to lose weight.
