3. Drink your daily required amount of water.

4 minute read... As I'm sure you already know, water is the number one essential nutrient that your body needs not only for optimal health but for survival. You can go without food for weeks but without water, after a few days you'd be dead!

It is imperative that you drink pure clean water, if the water you are drinking is contaminated in any way then you are harming yourself. We'll come onto that later but first let's look at some of the less well known benefits of drinking water and show you how drinking enough water can actually speed up your fat loss...

Lets first look at several other facts and benefits of drinking water that you may not be aware of:

Blood is 92% water, bones are 22% water, the brain is 75% water, and muscles are 75% water.

Water also:

• Makes up the majority of every cell in your body.

• Is the biggest part of your blood and lymph systems, carrying food and oxygen to the cells and carrying away waste.

• Helps flush your kidneys to get rid of toxic substances (Very important; this links in to why insufficient water intake may slow down your fat loss, we'll discuss this below).

• Helps balance your electrolytes, which help control your blood pressure.

• Helps moistens your eyes, mouth, and nasal passages.

• Helps regulate body temperature - Helps keep the body cool when it is hot and insulates the body from cold.

• Acts as a shock absorber to cushion the body's organs.

• Helps lubricate joints and is part of your blood, sweat, tears, and saliva.

• Can provide many of the trace minerals your body needs.

• Helps maintain blood volume, which maintains your energy.

• Improves your concentration and reaction time, especially during exercise.

• Increases the number of calories you burn during regular daily activities.

• Helps prevent the stomach distress medications can cause.

• Helps rid your body of excess sodium that can cause fluid retention.

• Reduces risk of developing: colds, constipation, urinary tract infections, kidney stones & bladder cancer.

• Improves appearance of your skin: smoother, softer, more supple & less wrinkles.

• Gives you more energy during exercise.

• Increase the calories you burn during exercise.

• Helps your body reduce fat deposits.

Phew, I think that just about sums it up! So I'm sure you would agree that drinking the right amount of pure clean water each and every day is a no brainer right?

Lets now look at how insufficient water intake can slow down your fat loss or even cause weight gain! As mentioned in point 3 above, clean pure water helps flush your kidneys to get rid of toxic substances. If you are not drinking enough water, your kidneys have a very hard time eliminating all the toxins from your body. If you are in a chronically semi-dehydrated state then your kidneys are so over worked that your liver has to step in and help them out. One of the many roles of your liver is to convert fats into usable energy. Therefore if your liver is now preoccupied helping out your kidneys to do their job, your liver isn't converting fats to energy as effectively and your fat loss attempts will be hampered.

Also, chronic dehydration leads to an increase in the stress hormones[1] and elevated stress leads to fat accumulation round the midriff[2] and also obesity[3]. So even if your diet isn't so bad and you're exercising regularly, your tummy can still get fatter. So by drinking the proper amounts of water every day, we can lose belly fat and weight overall and remove one less stressor in our lives.

So now we've established how important it is to drink pure clean water each and every day, you might be thinking "how much water do I need to drink"? This depends on your body weight. As a general rule and assuming you are exercising every day, you should aim for 

35ml of pure water per 1kg of body weight.

So for example someone weighing 79Kg (174lbs) would need a daily water intake of 2.8lts (79X35/1000=2.765). If your calculated number comes out higher than 4lts then just cap it at 4lts max, unless you feel the urge, desire or need to drink more then go for it, you just might need to add electrolytes, or use plenty of Himalayan salt on your foods. 

As mentioned at the start of this section, it is imperative that you drink pure clean water, if the water you are drinking is contaminated in any way then you are harming yourself. Tap water contains Chlorine which is a toxic chemical that should not be consumed in large quantities along with other chemicals, contaminants and harmful organic compounds particularly of concern is Trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are a group of four chemicals that are formed as a by-product predominantly when chlorine is used to disinfect drinking water. They are referred to as disinfection by-products and are known carcinogens.

Tap water may also contain bacteria and viruses that you don't really want to be putting into  your body either!

The next option up from tap water is bottled water. The main issues with bottled water are that:

1. You can't guarantee the source of the water and how old it is (about 80% of bottled water is just filtered tap water!) and
2. Toxic chemicals can leach out from the plastic into the water, especially if the bottles have been stored in hot temperatures or direct sunlight which can increase your risk of cancer, and 
3. The environmental issues associated with the consumption of single use plastics bottled water.
   

Carbon block filters would be the next best thing but although this method filters out most of the chemicals and larger particles it doesn't treat the bacteria and viruses that may be present. Also most carbon block filters are inconvenient as you have to fill them up and wait for the water to filter through.

So the best option would be to invest in a domestic water filter system which comprises of a combination of carbon filtration to filter out the cancer causing chlorine and THMs along with UV light disinfection to kill any bacteria or viruses. All of this in one point of use system that you don't have to fill up and wait for to drip through and that costs less per litre than bottled water and carbon block filters and which is also safer on the environment.

The product I personal use is called eSpring which provides me and my family with the cleanest and safest water on the planet. It's such a powerful filter that it can even turn Coke into pure water! Check out the videos below, it's awesome...

I have a business account with this company and get a big discount, so if you want one let me know and I'll sort you out.

Try to build up your water consumption gradually, especially if you don't drink any water at all currently. Take a few weeks to build things up to your calculated amount. Sip your water at regular intervals throughout the day as opposed to gulping it down all at once (else you'll be running to the toilet every 10 mins and feel super bloated!). Keep a glass bottle with you at all times during the day. There are some great apps available where you can schedule reminders to drink and you can track your intake to get into the habit.

PRO TIP: Down 0.5lts as soon as you wake up every morning. It wakes you up from the inside out, and you get to start the day hydrated and feeling energised. Plus you're already half a litre down on your daily target even before the day has started!

References:

[1] Ulrich-Lai YM, Engeland WC. Adrenal splanchnic innervation modulates adrenal cortical responses to dehydration stress in rats. Neuroendocrinology. 2002;76(2):79-92. doi:10.1159/000064426

[2] Moyer AE, Rodin J, Grilo CM, Cummings N, Larson LM, Rebuffé-Scrive M. Stress-induced cortisol response and fat distribution in women. Obes Res. 1994;2(3):255-262. doi:10.1002/j.1550-8528.1994.tb00055.x

[3] van der Valk ES, Savas M, van Rossum EFC. Stress and Obesity: Are There More Susceptible Individuals?. Curr Obes Rep. 2018;7(2):193-203. doi:10.1007/s13679-018-0306-y