Have you ever taken the time to think about how much water to consume for proper weight loss? Most people live by that “golden rule”, drink eight 8oz. glasses of water per day. Well, people, I hate to burst your bubble but this is just a myth. Or should I say, this could be a rule of thumb for inactive slim people. Truth of the matter is, if you are trying to lose weight , you have to drink enough water according to how much you weight to promote healthy weight loss.
There are several reasons why you should pay attention to the amount of what you drink, especially when trying to lose weight. Mainly, you do not want to dehydrate your body. Here are some ways to tell if you are dehydrated:
- Lack of energy, fatigue in the afternoon
- Always hungry
- Rough, dry skin
- Dry mucus membranes
- Weak irregular rapid heart beat
- Low blood pressure
- Sudden weight loss
These are just a few symptoms. However there are some long term effects to dehydration as well:
- Premature aging
- Wrinkled skin
- Aches and pains
Best way to be sure you are not dehydrating your self is to stay educated on what will dry you out. Drinks like coffee, soda pop or alcohol can cause dehydration symptoms. Even some water can cause dehydration, such as fluoridated or chlorinated water. As you know, most tap water and bottled water has fluoride in it. Next time your purchase bottled water, take a look. I will have to do a piece on fluoride in the water, but that’s another blog post.
What can you do to prevent dehydration?
- Drink a full glass o water upon rising in the morning and before going to bed
- Keep a glass of water at your bedside
- Drink a glass of water before and after athletic events and activities
- Fill a pitcher that holds 8 glasses of water and be sure to drink it completely daily.
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· So you are probably asking yourself at this point, how much water should I be drinking to lose weight? Well that all depends on how much you weight. I found a website, dietnation, which will calculate this for me. I just put in how much I weight and it told me that I should be drinking at least 16 glasses of water each day. Now you are the forgetful type like me, there are tools available to help you to remember to drink water.
I myself use an application on my cell phone called Drink Water Beta for Android created by Asplink. This app is very basic, yet very effective. You just put in how many cups of water you want to drink daily and set up your notifications. You can set what time you want the notifications to begin and end, so your phone is not telling you to drink water while you are sleeping. As you drink your water throughout the day, just pull the app up and click a cup as you finish each glass of water. It will record that cup of water and what time you drank it. Love this app.
Me personally, I think this is the main factor many people forget about when trying to lose weight. You have to give your body the water it needs to increase your weight loss. This will also help to flush out toxins in your body that is helping your body to hold on to weight. Yes you will go to the bathroom often, but you will love the results each time you step on the scale.
Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you have some other water tips and tricks.
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