The first thing that goes for me on any diet is the water. It's like there is a little urge in me to NOT drink it, and I don't know if it is because I don't like feeling full afterwards, or what it is. But when I'm not drinking the water I know I have to pause for a moment and get my focus back. The next step after not drinking the water, for ME, is utter mayhem.
I stumbled on an article once that explained WHY water was so important to weight loss, and I have to admit it has been easier to force it down since I understand the mechanism behind it. I'd heard the "flush the fat etc etc" before, but when I finally saw what the actual nuts and bolts of it was, I began drinking 2 L before lunch! It really changed it from something I "had" to do to something that I KNEW would dramatically impact the level of my success on the program. And that made all the difference for me in terms of compliance.
Basically, if your body needs energy and it knows it has fat reserves available because not enough NEW calories are coming in to meet it's daily needs (think Medifast, think Ketosis), there is a hormone called glucagon that sends signals to the fat cells to release fat into the blood stream. Well, this is all well and good, but in order for the body to take the fat from the blood stream and turn it into usable energy it needs to break it down and WATER is a necessary component of this first step. It actually takes water in this metabolic process of turning fatty acids into energy. If we are light on our water, the fat will just keep circulating, with the body unable to really optimally utilize it, and eventually will just get put right back into the cells because the body can't break it down like it should for energy.
THAT is why we tend to get more hungry (and therefore want to snack more), and have less energy, when we aren't drinking our water...our bodies are saying "yeah, I've got this fat to use but I can't use it so feed me carbs instead!" Either that or your metabolism will slow down so your body doesn't NEED as many new calories. Your body is amazing and it will adapt. I DO know that when I am drinking plenty of water, those are the days I'm not hungry at all! (Because my body is happily able to use the fat it is releasing from my fat cells for energy all day long!)
So, bottom line, is drink your water or you will
#1) Feel hungry all the time
#2) Have much less energy
#3) Not lose as much weight as you could have, had you been drinking your water
#4) Slow your metabolism
And that is the physiology in a nutshell behind WHY we need our water!
PS, the sooner we can get 1 liter of water into our bodies in the morning, the better our fat-burning capabilities for the morning will be and it will set us up for a good day of burning that fat! I usually have 500 ml on my nightstand and drink it before I get out of bed, (I'm a guzzler because I just want to get it over and done with), and then I'll have another 500 ml with breakfast, no later than 7:30 am, and with every meal thereafter.
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