Fat burners, protein powder, fish oil, vitamins where does a person start? Actually the best place is also the cheapest…water.
Incredible as it may seem water is the most important thing your body needs to lose body fat and keep it off. The first question I ask in a nutrition consult is how much water do you drink in a day? The results are surprising.
What really happens when you don’t drink enough water? Glad you asked. Your kidneys can’t function properly without enough water so the liver has to pick up the extra workload. I know you only think alcohol when the liver is mentioned but it is actually responsible for metabolizing stored fat and turning it into energy that the body can use. If the liver has to pick up the slack for the kidneys it cannot metabolize stored fat like it is supposed to. All that means is your body burns less fat so more fat stays on your body…
Some symptoms that you are not drinking enough water include:
- Water Retention: when you are dehydrated your body stores water for survival…give the body more water and the bloating will go away.
- Constipation: when you deprive your body of water it takes what it needs from internal sources. The colon is the primary source, which results in constipation. Drink more water and cure the problem.
- Headaches: this is your body’s way of telling you there is something wrong. Rather than reaching for the aspirin, drink a few glasses of water and see what happens.
- Dark-Colored Urine: you want your urine to be light colored or almost clear. If you are taking vitamins, which you should, the color of your urine will be darker.
The million dollar question is how much water do we need? A good starting point is to take your body weight and divide it by 2 and drink that many ounces per day. If you are exercising or working outside and sweating a lot you need more.
I know I get tired of just drinking plain water, so some options are green tea, crystal lite, Spark and Rehydrate. Pop and coffee contain caffeine which acts as a diuretic, adding to your problems.
Be wise and get hydrated. It’s the cheapest way to make sure your body is doing what it is supposed to do…Drink up!