Starting a new diet and want to burn the most fat possible? You might be surprised to know that drinking water can actually help as you try to shed those extra pounds. Everyone knows that drinking water is good for your body, but here are three ways that water can help you burn more fat.
1. Hydration Helps Your Workouts
Your muscles need water to function properly. In fact, lean muscle is made of 80% water. When your body becomes dehydrated and you lose water, your muscles will not function to their full capability. You’ll become weaker, fatigued, and will burn less calories. A 1% drop in your hydration can cut your caloric burn by 5%!
Staying hydrated while you work out will allow your muscles to perform to their maximum ability and help your endurance. A better workout means more calories burned, so keep sipping that water to keep your muscles lubricated and strong.
2. Drinking Water Helps Your Liver Burn Fat
Think about the way your body works. Your kidneys need a huge amount of water in order to do their job. If you become dehydrated and your kidneys don’t have enough water, they turn to the liver to get the hydration they need. Your liver is then busy helping the kidneys, when your liver should actually be burning fat.
By supplying your body with water, your kidneys are able to work without the assistance of your liver. That leaves your liver to do more important things, like burn fat!
3. Drinking Ice Cold Water Burns Calories
When you take a sip of ice cold water, your body needs to warm it up before it can be used. In order to get the water to 98.6 degrees, your body’s core temperature, your body uses calories in order to warm the water up. You don’t use many calories by drinking cold water, but it can add up.
You burn one calorie per fluid ounce cold water that you drink. For example, a liter of water burns 32 calories, and that’s without exercise! A liter a day means 224 calories burned a week, or 11,648 a year!
Bonus: Lose the Water Weight by Drinking More Water
If your body doesn’t get the right amount of water per day, it retains all the extra water it can as a backup hydration system. This isn’t good for weight loss because water is heavy! Every gallon of retained water weighs seven pounds!
It sounds counterintuitive, but to get rid of this extra water weight, you need to drink more water. By drinking more water, your body sees that there’s no more use in hoarding the extra water in your body and releases it.
Conclusion
Drinking water can help your body perform at its best and help you burn extra fat. In general, try to drink 64 ounces of water a day. It’s easy if you drink eight glasses filled with eight ounces of water throughout the day. Drink up and stay in shape!
