Drink water - lose weight!

It’s no surprise that I have a long-term interest in dieting. I’m always in new ways of aiding dieting – especially legitimate ideas that work long-term – so I was interested to read about new research that shows that drinking water before a meal can help dieters.

It’s not an entirely new concept – the idea of drinking water to fill you up is one that appears in numerous diets – but it’s a great to see some scientific research on the topic.

The study lasted for 12 weeks and there were two groups of dieters involved, all aged between 55 and 75 years old. The first group were followed a low-calorie diet and didn’t drink any extra water before they ate their meals. The second group followed the same low-calorie diet, but drank two glasses of water before each of their meals.

Guess what the outcome was? The second group of pre-meal water drinkers lost more weight than those who didn’t drink so much water. It was a reasonable amount of extra weight too – 5.5lbs – which is worth it for just drinking water.

The senior study author, Brenda Davy, from Virginia Tech, commented that it was the first randomised controlled trial to look at how drinking water effects dieting. The study also revealed that dieters who drink two glasses of water before a meal consume 75 to 90 calories less than non-water drinkers. Best of all, they managed to keep their weight off for at least 12 months.

I think it’s interesting research. It’s seems to work because the water fills the stomach up, making you feel full, so there’s less of an inclination to eat too much at a meal.

There’s a lot of literature around about the importance of drinking plenty of water each day for our general health and wellbeing and if a little extra before a meal will fill me up and help beat hunger pangs, then I’m up for it! I’ll be putting the idea to the test this month – fingers crossed that it helps me lose some extra pounds.

If you’re not a great fan of water, then the theory goes that a low-calorie, sugar-free fizzy drink should have the same effect before meals.

1. by lee stevenson September 22nd, 2010 10:43 am

   Hi all iam thinking of starting the Atkins diet, could anyone give me some advice as some say it is bad for you and not to do it, my friend done it and lost alot of stones thankyou

2. by Delilah October 10th, 2010 8:08 pm

   Hi Lee,
   There are pros and cons involved in most diets, so my best advice is weigh up the pros and cons of the Atkins diet and decide if it’s the best diet for you. Good luck!

3. by Jacqueline Nauvall October 21st, 2010 7:30 pm

   I actually read that if you drink ice cold water then you will lose weight even faster, because the boy will need generate heat -energy.