Need To Know: How Many Glasses of Water Will Make You Lose Weight?

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How much water makes you skinny?

In this post, I’ll be sharing how many glasses of water you should be drinking each day to lose weight.

This post is actually an extract from my book (page 177), but it’s such an important topic that I decided to share it on the blog today.

“How much water do I need to drink in a day?” is obviously a very common question, and even more so when weight-loss is thrown into the mix. Many women don’t drink enough water in a day to lose weight, and there are also women who drink too much water – so I really wanted to share this today.

8 glasses a day keeps the doctor away

We’ve all heard that we should be drinking 8 glasses of water every day – but is this true?

Did you know that water is a nutrient?

That’s correct, water is an actual nutrient that our bodies need every single day to survive… just like the food that we eat. Our bodies need fuel that comes to us in the form of food (carbs, protein and fats) and also water – and just how we can fuel our bodies with healthy food or unhealthy food, we can also fuel our bodies with healthy or unhealthy drinks.

Our bodies NEED water to survive. WE NEED WATER every single day. Our bodies can survive without food for a substantial amount of time (weeks in some very extreme cases) but our bodies can only survive days or hours without enough water. We need water to stay hydrated.

The truth is that our cells require water for normal, everyday, healthy functioning. Our brains, hearts and organs require water to function normally, and so do our muscle cells, skin cells, digestive systems – and every other part of our bodies.

If we don’t consume enough water our bodies can become dehydrated – and this dehydration can potentially cause confusion, headaches, loss of strength, fatigue and various other health problems (including the inability to lose weight).

Not drinking enough water each day can (in some cases) lead to the inability to lose weight.

Water equals weight-loss

Women need to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day to lose weight

The average person should drink 8 glasses of water per day to stay hydrated – however, one person’s daily fluid requirement can be different to another person.

Some of the factors that determine the amount of water that every individual person needs are, for example, how much physical exercise they do, how much time they spend outside in the sun and how many hours they are awake for in a day.

It is always important to stay hydrated before, during and after exercise as this prevents dehydration, fatigue and possibly other health problems that could develop from dehydration. Water is also vital for healthy weight-loss!

I generally recommend drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of water every day – and even more if you are very active, are outside in the sun, or have been awake for a long period of time without sleep.

Did you know that we also lose water while we sleep? During the night when we are sleeping, we are losing water through our lungs while we are breathing. So when we wake up it is very important to drink water to re-hydrate our bodies – and coffee doesn’t count! When I wake up in the morning, I like to drink a tall glass of water to re-hydrate my body.

Coffee and caffeine actually dehydrate our bodies – and so does too much sugar or refined white sugar! Coffee, caffeinated drinks, sodas, fruit juices and mixi drinks do not count as healthy water options or replacements.

TRY THIS RECIPE

If you’re not a water lover, then try adding slices of citrus fruit (lemon, lime or grapefruit), or even fresh berries to your water. It really adds that little something extra plain water.

Fresh mint leaves, fresh basil leaves and cucumber are also delish when added to water.

You can easily add the combination of cucumber slices, mint leaves and strawberry slices to water – or lemon and fresh blueberries – and keep a jar chilled in the fridge to use the entire day (or in a bottle to take out with you).

♥

The average person should drink 8 glasses of water per day to stay hydrated. Water is a vital key for healthy weight-loss!

So if you’re trying to lose weight, get into better shape or even just be more healthy, then make sure that you drink up!

Liezl Jayne xo

Photos by Ross Charnock for liezljayne.com – Styled by Liezl Jayne