Sections in this article range about the skinny on weight loss :
(i) The absolute truth about drinking water and weight loss
(ii) Why you must detox to lose weight
(iii) How being slightly overweight is clinically proven to enable you to live longer
(iv) The real truth about permanent weight loss
(iv) Tired of different diets? The last lifestyle diet that you can follow forever.
Fun fact: If you weigh yourself in Cape Town you will weigh more than if you weigh yourself in Johannesburg.
(This is because the higher your altitude above sea level, the less gravity your body is subject to)
Section One: The absolute truth about drinking water and weight loss
The Truth about drinking water
You do not have to drink eight glasses of water to be healthy or to achieve weight loss.
What counts as water and how much is the correct volume of total water:
Pure clean water as well as many foods, fruits and all drinks count as water and
when calculating your daily hydration requirements all the above has to be included in
that calculation.
Food breaks down into water and carbon dioxide in your body and the average healthy human person requires between two and three liters of total water daily to maintain levels
of hydration that do not vary by more than a single percentage concentration of the blood.
(Variations of 5 percent or greater are considered to indicate dehydration) Factors
that affect hydration levels are climate, exercise and everything that affects water loss
in people (sweating, urinating, etc)
The use of mild diuretic food products like caffeine, alcohol and many others do not impact
hydration levels (as is clinically proven: American college of nutrition vol 19 p591)
Too much water:
In fact, drinking too much water can be unhealthy.
Water and Weight Loss:
Some brands of bottled water also contain many calories and so do many most drinks. Pure
water should not contain any calories. If your daily hydration comes in the form of pure water
only, then you do not have to reduce your food intake but if your hydration is in then in the form of sweetened fruit juices, shakes, cocktails, coffee and tea with sugar and cream or other high calorie drinks, then you have to reduce the amount of calories in your food intake as too many calories will cause your body to convert the additional calories into stored fat. (Which of course increases your total body weight)
You lose weight by reducing your daily calorie intake to just below your body requirement
so that your body burns stored white fat for energy. This reduces your body fat (and your weight)
If you can reduce the amount of calories in your drinks and your hydration does not add
overhead to your daily calorie intake, this is a step towards weight loss.
Here are some methods of reducing your calories in your drinks:
Switch to mostly pure water for hydration
Exchange sugar in coffee for low or zero calorie sweeteners
Echange your pop or cold drinks to sugar free or zero sugar
Mix pure water with diced fruits and let stand overnight, drain out excess fruit
Consume low calorie alcohol cocktails or wines instead of regular – reduce consumption of
alcoholic beverages to little or none
Check fruit juice labels for calories information and mix fresh fruit juice with pure
water in 1:3 or larger ratio
Here are methods of using drinks to reduce calories consumed:
Drink a tall glass (350 – 500ml) of pure water 30 minutes before any meal, this will
affect your appetite positively
Drink coffee, tea or other warm low calorie drink (with no sugar or with sweeteners) with every meal
(This will aid with digestion and affect appetite)
Habit forming methods (Lifestyle application)
Every time you feel any craving (for chocolates, sweets, chips, crisps, french fries, ice cream
or anything that you usually crave) Do this simple thing:
Take out or get whatever you are craving in your hands, physically look at it.
Tell yourself that you are about to munch this entire chocolate/chips or whatever
First you have to drink a full glass of plain pure water
Then, after the water, have and consume the treat that you craved
You were going to eat whatever it was, anyway.
Adding the water teaches you a new habit. Soon you will actual start craving the water!
Eventually reduce the size of your glasses of water to 150ml as too much water (over around
3 liters) starts becoming unhealthy. (So, do not consume too much water!)
Please be on the lookout for the next article in this series: Why you must detox to lose weight
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All information provided for information & education purposes only. Nothing published on https://dietmy.com is intended as substitution for medical advice, diagnosis, or for any treatment.
