The Tenth Weight Loss Basic:
Water – How Much Do We Need?
Still with us? Read all the previous articles? Then you must really be committed, good for you, you won’t regret it! In this eighth article we will look at the tenth, and final, weight loss basic:
Understanding Weight Loss Basics – 8: Water – How Much Do We Need?
Second only to oxygen, which we can only survive minutes without, water is the most important element in sustaining not only human life, but all forms of life, both animal and vegetable.
Over two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered in water, and our body is around seventy percent water. Our bloodstream, which carries vital nutrients and oxygen around the body, consists of around eighty-three percent water and the body’s computer, the brain, between seventy-five and eighty percent.
Three days without it and severe dehydration sets in, leading to a gradual collapse of our vital organs and eventually death.
understanding weight loss basics – 8:
How Much Do We Need Daily?
The widely accepted minimum amount of water that the average person need daily to prevent dehydration is eight glasses. In any weight loss program it is recommended eight glasses daily is the bare minimum consumed, more if you feel comfortable with it.
Although drinking glasses vary in shape and size, a glass that hold eight ounces, around 210 ml, appears to be the normal recommended amount per glass.
Hey, that’s a lot of water, three pints four ounces or over one-and-a-half liters daily. Around twenty-two pints or over eleven liters a week! Expensive if drinking bottled water!
How were these figures arrived at? I haven’t been able to establish how they came about, but as bottled water is currently selling at an average of thirty-three liters per person per year, I just wonder!
Despite various health organization’s websites, including the NHS UK, and some powerful advertising by bottled water manufacturers supporting these figures, particularly in weight loss programs, reports published by the American Journal of Physiology in 2008, and the American Journal of Nephrology, concluded there is no solid scientific evidence that drinking increased amounts of water are of any benefit.
Understanding Weight Loss Basics – 8:
Water As A Hunger Depressant
What about drinking water as a natural hunger depressant in a weight loss program? Again there is no hard and fast scientific evidence that drinking water while eating will reduce your appetite and the amount of food you eat, leading to faster weight loss.
You may like to try a little experiment. Eat your main meal without drinking water and see how much you eat. The following day eat the same meal with the same amount of food while drinking water, again seeing how much you eat.
Unless there is a medical reason and you have been advised by your doctor to drink certain amounts of water daily, your body will tell your when you need water and how much you need, although a lot depends on conditions.
Rising in the morning you will probably feel thirsty, not having had any fluid intake for around eight hours. Your body is telling you it needs fluids, preferably water, and you will probably need to drink more in the morning than you would at other times of the day, particularly if you have consumed alcoholic drink the previous evening, as this will, most probably, lead to dehydration.
Climatic conditions also play a major part in how much water you need. On hot days, particularly if doing some form of manual labor, you will perspire more to maintain the correct body temperature and will need more water to replace the lost body fluids through perspiring than you would need on a cold day.
Strenuous exercise will also require more fluid intake than moderate or mild exercise due to the extra body fluids lost.
Unless advised by your doctor for medical reasons, water, like everything else taken to excess, can often do more harm than good. Every person is an individual and what suits one may not necessarily suit another. As always, go with what you feel comfortable with.
Understanding Weight Loss Basics – 8 concludes all the articles on Understanding Weight Loss Basics. If you have digested and acted upon them in sequence, congratulations, you have shown a desire and commitment to succeed.
You are now well prepared, and there is no reason why you should not go on to reach your ultimate weight loss goals and a fitter, healthier you! Wishing you every success.
If you would like further information on the various types of water: tap; bottled; etc, See Post: Water – Which Is Best? which you may find interesting!
Brian.