Everyone knows that when you are looking to get healthy or lose weight, they tell you to drink more water, but why?
Many people view drinking water as a diet aid to suppress your appetite because it fills up your stomach and makes you feel full. Drink more water, you eat less and then you weigh less. People also say water is better for you than any other beverage, but why?
Check out the following 7 reasons in this article that I read as to why drinking more water is an easy choice when deciding to live a healthier lifestyle:
- As suggested above, water may naturally suppress your appetite. It only takes 2 cups of water in your stomach to tell your brain you’re full. And thirst is often times confused for hunger. Wuh?! Yup. So when you think you might be hungry (again), have some water.
- This article says that more water can stimulate your metabolism because it stimulates thermogenesis, or heat production in the body, particularly when it’s chilled. Yeah, yeah a study was done for it and everything, but the thing is . . . some people try and bank these calories as part of their dieting efforts. Like a certain dieting company telling people shakes burn less calories to digest than solid food. This might be all true but when we are eating hundreds and thousands of calories in excess per day – having banana or some ice water isn’t going to balance things out in the end. C’mon.
- Drinking water could help reduce your overall liquid calorie intake. Let’s face it – all the nummy stuff like lattes and beer and wine and margaritas all come with a caloric price. Drink less calories, then the need to burn more calories for weight loss is reduced. Let me put this here – HEALTHY DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN WEIGHT LOSS!
- Drinking water helps during exercise. Water dissolves electrolytes which are minerals that include sodium, potassium and magnesium. It distributes these minerals throughout the body where there electrical energy triggers the muscle contractions required for movement aka exercise. We all know, from experience I’m sure, that being dehydrated can lead to muscle cramps but it can also mean that your body will break down your muscles more quickly which means you will build muscles more slowly. Can you see how this turns into a vicious cycle? If you are working out to build muscle (tip: because muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does) but your muscles is breaking down quickly because you don’t drink enough water – what kind of results do you think you’ll get? Being adequately hydrated also means that you can naturally cool your body down by sweating.
- Water helps remove waste. Drinking water facilitates the production of urine, which is largely made up of water, and the movement of feces, since water keeps stools soft. BONUS QUESTION: Do you know what color healthy urine is suppose to be?
- Increasing your water intake may increase lipolysis, the process by which the body burns fat for energy.
- When you’re dehydrated, you may experience symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, and confusion so water may improve motivation and reduce stress. For example, I’m terrified of flying but if I have a nice big bottle of water with me on the flight, I always seem to do better. Dehydration is considered a physical stress to the body and can mean increased cortisol levels.
So how much water should you drink? Simple, take you current weight and divide by 2 – that number is the minimum number of ounces you should drink per day.
For example, for 150 lb person, that would be 75 ounces or 9.375 cups of water per day.
ANSWER TO BONUS QUESTION:
That’s right . . . it’s a beer chart for your pee because I think we can all relate to that! You’re welcome.
