Water...Is it the Magic Pill for Weight Loss?

Water is vital to sustain life.  Human beings can survive for quite a long time without food as long as they are properly hydrated.  In most instances, patients who had feeding tubes removed could survive for 10-14 days.  Hydration levels, again, play a major role in survival rates.  Sustaining life without water is a different story.  Depending on the environmental conditions and state of the body (i.e., elderly, infant, disease state), a person can begin to dehydrate within an hour.  Thus in a situation of extreme conditions, death can occur within a few hours.

The human body is more than 60% water.  Blood is made up of 92% water; muscles and the brain are approximately 75% water; bones are 22% water.  We lose water through sweat, urine, feces, and even breathing.  Mild dehydration causes decreased saliva production, decreased urine output, decreased frequency of urination, and urine that is dark in color with a strong odor.  Moderate dehydration further causes even less urine production, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth and dry, sunken eyes.  Severe cases result in no urine production, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and irritability.  Final stage of dehydration is shock.

In a study published by Brenda Davy, PhD from Virginia Tech, water just may be the latest appetite-control agent.  This study was presented at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society in August 2010.  Davy confirmed through this study that just two 8-ounce glasses of water, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. What???  Over the course of 12 weeks, water drinkers in the study lost just over 15 pounds while non-water drinkers lost 11 pounds.

So here's the deal.  Davy reports this may be accomplished because water fills up the stomach with a substance that has zero calories.  You feel fuller as a result and eat less calorie-containing food during the meal.  Increased water consumption may also help people lose weight if they drink it in place of sweetened calorie-containing beverages, according to Davy.

Our challenge to you is to try this...drink two 8-ounce glasses of water before your meals and see if you eat less.  How easy is that??  This is the first study to look water intake and weight loss.  There will be more studies in the future and results may be different.  However, this is an easy way for you test this theory and, unlike weight loss through pills, it is a harmless way to try to lose weight.

Drink your water...be healthy...and, maybe, lose some weight!  Come in to PROMATx Health Club for more information on weight loss.