Waiter, Bring Me Water...

The fact that you should drink more water and less soda or sugar juices isn't a new concept in the weight loss world. Just Google the words "Water and Weigh Loss" and you are presented with about 86,900,000 results. I assume this is because at 86,900,00 results Google just stop counting.
I am surprised to find out that many people know that they should drink more water when trying to lose weight, but most people don't seem to know why. The majority of them can tell you that one of the reasons is because water as apposed to many other beverages doesn't contain any calories. So, yes, by replacing your 180 calorie soda with 0 calorie water you may be able to create the calorie deficit you need to lose weight. But water is there more to water than simply being a zero calorie alternative to your typical beverage of choice?

Another way water may help you lose weight is based on the fact that thirst or dehyration is often mistaken for hunger, so we eat when what we really should be doing is drinking. By making a conscious effort to to include more water in your diet you may find that you feel less hungry and do not want to eat as often. In addition to this belief is the fact that water takes up space and two objects cannot possibly take up the same space. (I think Sir Isaac Newton come up with that one) Therefore, if your stomach is partially filled with water there isn't room for more food. (Ok, this is a technicallity because it is possbile for you stomach to stretch and shrink often times people who have grown accustomed to eating garganuine amounts of food feel hungry when trying to eat a normal diet because their stomach has stretched to accomodate the larger amounts of food they have been consuming. Dont worry it can shrink back in a relatively short period of time. This is also the reason people who have lap band surgery or stomach stapling  or similar surgery see fantastic weight loss after surgery, but can end up putting it back on years later unless they adhere the to smaller portions required by the surgery.)

Think of water as a space filler. I tried experiementing with this a few months ago on my weight loss journey. I made it a point to drink 12 oz of water before each meal.  I notice something immediately, just after drinking the water I didn't feel as hungry. Perhaps because I was mistaking the feeling of thirst for hungrer? Or maybe it was because the water was taking up space. I don't know, but it worked. I did notice that I could eat more reasonable portions and feel fuller on days I remembered to drink water before each of my meals. I also noticed that my skin looked better and actually had a few people a work comment on my complexion. The best results of drinking more water showed up on my weekly weigh-in the past several weeks. It seemed that my weight was just falling off. So, I did a little more research to see if there really was some kind of magic behind drinking water. Here are a two websites I've found about a clinical study confirming the effectiveness of drinking water before meals:

Drinking Water Proven to Help Weigh Loss
http://news.discovery.com/human/glass-water-weight-loss.html

Drink Water to Curb Weight Gain? Clinical Trial Confirms Effectiveness of Simple Appetite Control Method
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823142929.htm


There are other belifes about water that everyone seems to be able to tell you, I have started calling them Water Cliches because it seems almost everyone can tell you these facts about water, but no one really seems to know what it means. For example: "Water helps clean you system out." Ok... how?

The answer is: It takes energy to burn calories and the process of burning those calories leaves behind residue. Water helps flush out those that residue and helps keep your digestive system clean.
Never wanting to be one to just pass along information I've come across over the years without having a way to back it up, I found this website that denotes more specifically the importance of drinking water.
Why Drinking Water is Important to Weight Loss
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_water.php

One belief about water that I know I have come across several times in my weight loss journey is its metabolism boosting power. Rumor has it that drinking cold water helps to boost your metabolism because it cools your system and it takes calories for your body to heat back up. This, along with preventing dehydration through perspiration is the reason we also drink water during physical activities, not necessarily to boost our metabolism, but to help cool our system so we don't overheat while working out. While this may or may not be completely accurate, I did learned from the article above this paragraph: Why Drinking Water is Important to Weight Loss, that the fat burning process slows down when you are dehydrated... so if the reverse is true, then you burn more fat when you are adequately hydrated.

Still as I did my research I was hoping to find out that water had some other kind of magical property that no one really talked about. That there was more to it that being a zero calorie, space filling, system coolant, but I haven't found it. If and when I do, I'll let you know. In the mean time, the next time you sit down for a meal make water the first beverage you drink!