I’ve stopped counting the people that complain that water is bland, boring or tasteless, or how they can’t possibly drink six to eight glasses per day.
Regardless of how you view water, you must know the important connection between its consumption and your losing weight, building muscle and keeping healthy.
It is our most important nutrient surrounding and filling every cell. It truly is the elixir of life.
It is estimated that we are made up of over 70 per cent water weight and is a vital element for every bodily function.
Our bodies need to be properly hydrated to operate at optimal levels.
You can expect to lose approximately a liter or more per day just through our skin and lungs.
If you are doing a serious workout that loss can escalate to three times that level.
Water is essential in the mobilization of fatty acids—aka weight loss.
I have a patient who lost over 17 pounds in 16 weeks just by increasing her water intake to two litres per day.
If you don’t drink enough water, your body won’t metabolize fat or digest food as effectively as you need it to.
If you become dehydrated, you may also put your heart into a situation where it is working much harder than it should or needs to and you are putting yourself in danger.
It is paramount to your health and the effectiveness of your workouts that you replenish your cells with water on a constant basis.
Have you ever made orange juice with only one third the required amount of water? What were your results? The H20 also detoxifies and cleanses you of waste buildup.
If urine has an odour, it is too concentrated and you are dehydrated. If this is you, then think of yourself as a prune lost in the Sahara at high noon.
Another benefit of adequate hydration of your muscles is that nutrients are better delivered to the cells when they are full of fluid.
And if you don’t consume enough water, it can trigger a message from the brain to the stomach tricking it into thinking it is hungry.
This comes about because the brain knows that it can extract water from the food being digested. If you are trying to lose weight than drinking water can quell the hunger pangs.
When should you drink? Don’t wait for thirst because that isn’t a good indicator of your body’s need for water.
I recommend that you drink throughout the day. If you are doing an aerobic exercise your water supply should be handy and being consumed regularly throughout the exercise.
Some people, in their quest to save time, try to drink their supply of water in a couple of marathon drinking binges.
This doesn’t work because the body will simply flush out what it doesn’t need at that time.
The only benefit here is the exercise you get walking to and from the washroom.
I still remember the words of an eminent exercise physiologist in school saying: “You should spend half your life drinking water and the other half urinating.”
I can’t imagine he had much of a social life.