Can Simply Drinking More Water Actually Help Weightloss?

Most of you have heard that you should be drinking 8-10 glasses of water every day – but does it actually help you to lose weight? The common sense logic would tell you yes, if you drink a glass or two of water before a meal, you surely won’t be as hungry.
Studies have supported this common sense logic – when a total of 48 men and women were divided into two groups and given the same calorie restricted diet. They were allowed to eat as much as they wanted at each meal, but one group was required to drink 16 oz. of water before each meal. Over the 12 week trial period, the group that was required to drink water lost an average of 4 pounds more than the control group.
The researchers who authored the study came to the conclusion that when combined with a hypocaloric diet, consuming 500 ml water prior to each main meal leads to greater weight loss than a hypocaloric diet alone in middle-aged and older adults.
Water, however, appears to be the key – another study was done in a similar fashion, but rather than water, subjects drank a fruit drink containing less than 1% of protein, less than 1% of fat, but containing 63 grams of sugar. Participants not only gained weight, but they also reported greater hunger after drinking the fruit drink. The ‘hunger pangs’ from drinking the fruit drink lasted for more than four hours. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the lack of hunger pangs when utilizing a low-carb diet – we know that an excess of sugar raises the blood sugar level too high too quickly, resulting in an over-abundance of insulin in many people – which in turn drops the blood sugar levels too low – resulting in additional feeling of hunger. It’s exactly this scenario that many people face when they have to get a mid-morning and mid-afternoon ’snack’, or donut… the over-reliance on too many carbs forcing unstable blood sugar levels. So it’s not just any liquid that will work, but plain and simple water.
The benefits of drinking more water go further than simply eliminating an excess of hunger – but also allow the body to more efficiently burn fat and metabolize fat to energy. The kidneys play an important role in removing waste and excess water, but if they don’t have enough water to do the job, the liver has to help out. And when the liver has to back up the kidneys, it can’t perform one of its primary jobs of metabolizing stored body fat as efficiently.
So break out the water – it’s a cheap and efficient way to help you lose weight!