Water For Weight Loss --
How Much
Do You Really Need?

Do I have to drink water?

The evidence is clear. If you drink more water you'll lose extra weight without dieting or exercise.

So how much water?

If you have kidney failure or heart failure you need to drink what your doctor already advised you to drink. Otherwise you can have fluid overload.

For everybody else the formula is ½ ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. So 200 pounds would mean 100 ounces of water per day.

For metric system it would be 30 ml per kilogram of body weight per day. So for 100 kilograms it would be 3000 ml -- 3 liters per day.

This formula works well until you are more than 50% over your ideal weight. If you weigh 400 pounds (about 200 kg) that's a lot of water.

Keep it simple

Drink a glass of water when you get up in the morning. Have a glass of water with each meal. Have a glass of water between each meal.

Keep some water by your bed. Keep some water with you in the car.

Drink sparkling water (like Perrier) instead of alcohol.

Water and exercise

Make sure to weigh yourself before and after intense exercise. Whatever weight you lost is water weight.

Replace each pound you lost with 16 ounces of water. Replace each kilogram you lost with one liter of water.

Drink a glass or two of water before you start to exercise. You'll be stronger. You'll feel better. And you'll have more stamina.

If you are doing heavy exercise or work in the heat drink 2 glasses of water before you start.

The marathon

For prolonged exercise, like a marathon, you are going to need an energy drink to provide electrolytes.

Otherwise you can drink too much water, dilute the blood and produce what doctors call "hyponatremia" (low concentration of salt in the blood.)

And that can cause very serious problems, like physical collapse, seizures and even death.

Don't get dehydrated

If you wait to drink water until you're thirsty it's too late. Your body's sensors for water don't work as well as they should.

And it get's worse as you get older. Especially in really hot or really cold weather.

So add water to your routine. You'll feel better. Look better. Be healthier. And it will be that much easier for you to lose weight!

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