Drink Plenty of Water

Your body weight is heavily dependent on how much water you have in your body. Water makes up about 60% of your total body weight - that’s right, those few extra pounds you are trying to lose are likely not helped by the water in your body. Having an adequate amount of water in your body is important to keep it functioning properly.

You’ve likely experienced lack of adequate hydration in the past. If you go for too many hours in a day without a drink, your body will be begging you to put something in it. Dehydration can occur when your body has a real lack of water. Getting into a state of dehydration is asking for more serious issues to occur, and can lead to dizziness and other complications.

In order to avoid any of these issues, you should make sure that you’re putting enough water into your body each day. The amount of water that you should drink is dependent on your age and sex. According to the Dietary Reference Intake from the Institute of Medicine, I should be getting 3.7L of water per day while my wife should be getting 2.7L - an entire liter of water less than me. Consult the chart to figure out how much you should be taking in daily.

In order to drink that much water in a day, you’ll need to make sure you work on it. While that is not a ton of water, it will still require that you work on drinking water. For Americans, a liter of water may be hard to gauge. You probably know that soda pop is sold in 2 liter bottles, so that should give you a basic idea of how much water you need to be drinking.

Don’t worry - you don’t have to drink that much water in a single sitting. You’re trying to get the correct amount of water throughout the day. Also, you will get water from other sources of food as well, although that will generally be minimal unless you’re eating items that are mostly liquid (like soup).

Since you’re probably not filling a soda bottle with water each day, you should get a water bottle and figure out how much water is in there. A liter of water is about 32 ounces. You can find water bottles that hold 32 ounces, but a more standard size is 16 ounces. To drink a liter of water, you’ll need to drink that water bottle twice. For myself, I’d be aiming to empty that size water bottle 6 to 7 times per day. That may definitely sound like a lot of water, and it is.

One of the keys to all of this is that you should cut out most other liquids from your diet. I know that many people can’t live without their coffee, and if that’s the case, then you should be fine as long as you’re not over-flavoring it (too much sugar). Plain black coffee is 98% water, so it goes towards your daily intake - I know many people who drink enough coffee in a day to cover their water intake. However, you should really focus on cutting back your coffee addiction if you have one - drinking plain water is a great way to cleanse your body without any other stimulants.

Drinking plenty of water is a great way to help your body feel better. An added benefit is that you should feel less hungry as a result of drinking enough water. I use water as a tool to help my stomach feel fuller and not be craving something to eat all the time. By eliminating a trigger for my mind to think it’s hungry, I only eat when I know I’m actually hungry.

If you can’t stand water, then it may be time to take a look at your diet in a bigger context. Water is not flavored, but there’s no reason that you have to have a flavored drink all the time. Watch for a future article about not drinking your calories - make sure you’re hydrating with basic and simple drinks.

Water is a necessary element for your body. Make sure you’re giving it the amount that it needs every day in order to feel your best.