The Importance of Hydration in Your Weight Loss Journey

As you work to lose weight and keep it off, you might be under-utilizing an essential tool for weight loss: water. Studies show that simply drinking more water can help to improve your metabolism, burn more fat, and help you to lose more excess weight.

How Much Water Should I Drink Per Day?

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re not drinking enough water. Most of us in the United States struggle to hydrate. Even if you follow the old rule about drinking 8 cups of water per day, that’s probably not enough for your body.

So, how much should you be drinking? According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, men should take in about 125 ounces (15.5 8-oz cups) of water per day. Women should take in about 91 ounces (11.5 8-oz cups) per day. But not all of that water needs to come from drinking. A lot of the foods that we eat also have water in them, and most of us get about 20 percent of our required water intake from these foods.

So how much water should you be drinking per day? For men, about 104 ounces (13 8-oz cups). For women, about 72 ounces (9 8-oz cups).

Hydration and Weight Loss

So what are the benefits of drinking water for weight loss? In many ways, hydration and weight loss go hand-in-hand. Healthy hydration can help with effective weight loss in several ways.

Reducing Hunger

Can hydration reduce cravings? The fact is that sometimes drinking water can reduce your hunger. Why? First, drinking water stretches the stomach because it passes through your system quickly, which can tell your brain that you’re full. 

When we are thirsty or dehydrated, we can also mistake these feelings for hunger. We can feel our body craving something, and we assume that that craving is for nutrients. But if the real problem is that we’re just low on water, then drinking water can relieve the craving without us eating anything. 

One study asked participants to drink two glasses of water before their meal, and found that these people ate 22% less than the control group that did not drink water prior to eating. 

Stimulating Your Metabolism

Second, drinking water can stimulate your metabolism. When you drink water, your body has to expend energy both to absorb that water and also to warm that water up to your body’s temperature. The warming process is called thermogenesis, or heat production. The effect isn’t enormous, but it is real; and every little bit counts. One study asked 50 overweight participants to drink two cups of water, three times per day, more than they would normally; without any additional dietary changes. The study found that at the end of eight weeks, these participants had lost over 3 pounds. For extra benefit, chill your water before drinking it to stimulate additional thermogenesis.

More Water Means Less Soda, Coffee, and Juice

Third, when we drink water, we’re not drinking other beverages like coffee, soda, or juice. Soda especially can be very bad for our waistlines (as can coffee with the right sweeteners). Just having a glass of water with lunch instead of our regular coke or pepsi can do wonders for our health. A 2015 study asked one group of women to drink one cup of water after lunch, and asked another group of women to drink one cup of diet soda after lunch. After 6 months, the difference was substantial: the group that drank water had lost 13.6% more weight than the group that drank diet soda. 

This is one of the biggest reasons that healthy hydration and weight loss often go hand-in-hand. If you regularly drink soda or diet soda, one of the best changes that you can make for your health and your weight is to quench your thirst with water instead.

Better Exercise

Getting enough water can also help with exercise. Drinking water can dissolve electrolytes and spread them throughout our system, where they can trigger the muscle contractions that are required for movement. When we drink enough water, our muscles stay healthy. When we don’t drink enough, the lack of electrolytes can lead to cramping.

Drinking enough water can help in another way too: it can replenish all the fluids that we’re losing when we work out. When we exercise, we sweat, breathe more heavily, and need to use the bathroom more. All of that pulls water out of our system, and we can often lose 1-2 quarts of water per hour. If we’re already dehydrated, that much water loss can lead to problems like heat exhaustion.

When we adequately hydrate, we can exercise longer and harder without taxing our bodies or suffering from heat exhaustion or painful cramps. We enjoy exercising more because we’re taking care of our body before and after, and we’re less likely to injure ourselves. All of that makes it easier to exercise consistently, which contributes to weight loss and is also great for our long-term physical and emotional health. Fitness and hydration go hand-in-hand.

Better Decisions

Finally, dehydration taxes our brains. When we’re dehydrated, we can become disoriented and confused. We can feel tired and even dizzy. We’re also much more vulnerable to stress. When we’re stressed out, tired, and our brains aren’t operating at peak capacity, we’re much more likely to make bad decisions—such as breaking our diet. When we hydrate properly, we give our brains more resources so that we can make better decisions.

Taking the Next Step On Your Weight Loss Journey

It’s hard to overstate the importance of staying hydrated; but if you suffer from obesity, then the unfortunate truth is that simply improving your hydration is unlikely to lead to the lasting changes that you desire.

If you’re ready to lose weight, keep it off, and get your life back, then we highly recommend that you consider bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is a proven solution that has helped thousands of patients just like you to shed their excess weight and get back to the beautiful and amazing life that they truly deserve.

Most of our patients say that the decision to undergo bariatric surgery was one of the best decisions that they ever made.

“The best decision I have ever made was to have this surgery. Not only did I improve my health, I have my life back again with my family.”—Georgette Camacho, duodenal switch patient.

If you are suffering from obesity and want to take the next step on your weight loss journey, it would be our honor and our privilege to help. Reach out to our friendly office staff today.