Drinking water is important for overall health and fitness—not getting enough can lead to issues such as headaches, fatigue, indigestion, weight gain, and more. If you want to lose belly fat, and fat all over the body, it’s important to stay hydrated. “Science suggests that water can help with weight loss in a variety of ways,” says Johns Hopkins University. “It may suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism, and make exercise easier and more efficient, all of which could contribute to results on the scale.” When you drink water can also make a difference—here’s how to burn fat by drinking water at specific times.
RELATED: Hygiene Problems You Can Fix by Drinking More Water.
Drinking Water Before a Meal
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Some studies indicate people tend to eat less by drinking water before a meal. “Some small, short-term studies support this idea,” says Robert H. Shmerling, MD, via Harvard Health. “For example, older study subjects who drank a full glass of water before meals tended to eat less than those who didn’t. Another study found that people following a low-calorie diet who drank extra water before meals had less appetite and more weight loss over 12 weeks than those on a similar diet without the extra water. But neither study assessed the impact of drinking extra water on long-term weight loss.”
Water With Lemon First Thing In the Morning
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Starting the day with a glass of water and lemon is hydrating and helps digestion, which is good for weight loss. “Sure, you can get vitamin C from a glass of OJ in the morning, but switching this out with lemon water is a good alternative if you’re trying to lose weight,” Julia Zumpano, RD, LD, tells the Cleveland Clinic. “This way, you’re just drinking the basics — lemon and water — without any sugars, extra calories or additives.”
Drink Water When You Feel Hungry
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Are you really hungry, or just dehydrated? “Thirst, which is triggered by mild dehydration, is often mistaken for hunger by the brain,” Melina Jampolis, an internist and board-certified physician nutrition specialist, tells Johns Hopkins University. “You may be able to decrease appetite by drinking water if you are, in fact, low in water not calories.”
Swapping Out High-Calorie Drinks For Water
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Next time you’re thirsty and reach for a high-calorie drink, swapping it for water could encourage weight loss. “A dramatic reduction in calorie intake by substituting water for higher-calorie beverages could certainly lead to long-term weight loss,” says Dr. Shmerling. “While it’s hard to design a study to prove this, indirect evidence suggests a link betweensubstituting water for high-cal beverages and weight loss. Even so, just as calorie-restricting diets are hard to stick with over the long term, following a water-only plan may be easier said than done.”
Drinking Water and Working Out
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Staying hydrated before, during, and after your workout means you get the most from your exercise. “When muscle cells are dehydrated, they break down protein (aka muscle) more quickly and build muscle more slowly, so your workouts are much less effective,” Jampolis says. “If your body can’t dump excess heat via sweating, you’re setting yourself up for heat exhaustion or worse. Being adequately hydrated can improve your workouts by decreasing fatigue, which can allow you to work out longer and burn more calories.”
Holistic Approach
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Drinking water without taking into account fat-burning factors such as a calorie deficit, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress-management won’t lead to weight loss just by itself. “Drinking water is not going to have a huge weight loss effect, and without calorie restriction and/or exercise, just drinking water is not likely to lead to significant weight loss,” Jampolis says.