Losing Weight by Drinking Water: 7-Ways Water Helps You Lose Weight Just by Drinking It

Everyone knows that a human cannot live without water; but is water a miracle drug? Many health care professionals would say that it is. Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of The Messages From Water series of books, would certainly support the age-old practices of priests in many religions of imparting blessings and "miraculous" healing properties to water using nothing more than prayer, or intention. Some might say that Holy water, or healing waters, may only have power in our minds; but remember - our minds have power over our bodies, our health, and our lives.

Dr. Batmanghelidj, in his book, Your Not Sick, You're Thirsty: Your Body's Many Cries For Water, lists many healing benefits of water - including implications for weight-loss. And common sense tells us that we are made of mostly water and that we should replenish our essence. Though there is no hard-and-fast rule; the amount of water you should drink depends on your circumstances, your body, and other individual factors and characteristics. Even if you know how much water you need to drink each day, that amount would probably change if you were in a drier climate, or if you were working and sweating more, or if your diet changed or became more "toxic" or "polluted."

Common sense tells us we need water; but what do we "need" it for? The fact is that you are mostly water; and you need water to function properly. If you do not replace the water you use, you will become toxic and dehydrated; you will not get that fabulously fit body you're after if you are chronically dehydrated and your body isn't functioning as it should. You don't simply need water to quench your thirst; thirst is simply a signal letting you know that your body needs more water in order to keep functioning properly.

The thought that thirst can be quenched with any beverage has led to a nation that is mostly overweight (66% of Americans are overweight); and soft drinks, beer, kool-aid, and milkshakes - though delightful - are just a few of the tools we've used to create this reality. If nothing else, drinking water will help you avoid the hazards of dehydration, and the harmful effects of drinking so many chemicals, sugars, and artificial colors; but there is much more to the water story. Water helps you maintain a healthy functioning body; and it does many things that support and sustain healthy, natural weight loss.

Here are seven of the simpler ways water can help you lose weight:

1. Water helps you lose weight by making you feel full. We all stop eating when we're full - even if someone offers us one of our favorite foods. If your stomach is full, you don't eat; and, if your stomach is full of something that has no calories, then you aren't gaining weight. Unless you're dead, you are losing weight if you aren't gaining it. Of course, there are some people who do keep eating well past the point where they feel full; if you have clinical disorders, water can still help you in all of these ways, but consider trying one of the new Energy Psychology techniques (like EFT and Z-Point, for example) to possibly eliminate your disorder - quickly, safely, effectively, inexpensively, and completely.

2. Water helps curb food cravings. Most people can't tell the difference between their "thirst-signals," and their "hunger-signals;" so, most people eat when they are actually thirsty. Unneeded calories adds unwanted weight; changing the way you address your cravings changes the amount of calories you put into your body. Eating when you are actually thirsty will help you gain weight; so, it naturally follows that, if you drank water when you were thirsty - instead of eating a snack - your body isn't receiving something it can store or burn, so it has to use fuel it already has onboard.

3. Water quenches your thirst. Besides the fact that people eat when they are thirsty, and water turns-off that impulse; people also drink sodas, and other fattening beverages when they are thirsty. If you are drinking enough water, it will be difficult to continue guzzling those sugar-and-chemical-laden beverages. And, if you stop drinking sugar, you will probably lose some weight.

4. Water flushes toxins from your system. This is a simple matter of common sense; if you don't pee, stuff stays inside you. If you don't drink water, you don't pee. Not all scientists and doctors say the same thing; so you really need to follow your own intuition on all things medical. Water is a fluid; but your body isn't simply made of "mostly fluid." Your body is made of mostly water - Hydrogen and Oxygen. You are an electric entity; you need Hydrogen and Oxygen - not simply random liquids. People who don't drink enough water often think they are supposed to feel sluggish, and that their urine is supposed to have that color and odor... You're not, and it's not; those are actually signs of dehydration you just aren't reading properly.

5. Water increases metabolism. There is a significant thermogenic effect from drinking at least 500ml of water. With no caloric value to "pay for" the energy created as a direct result of drinking water, the body must use it's own fuel stores to heat and process the water you consume.

6. Water Hydrates you. Being hydrated improves digestive function, and every part of your overall health picture. Being dehydrated can put your body in the stress response - which causes your body to produce stress hormones such as cortisol (the hormone responsible for helping your body convert and store undigested food as fat). Hydrated cells are healthy cells; a healthy body is made of healthy cells.

7. Water can be used as a Placebo. Drinking water for any of the reasons listed above could be effective at helping you lose weight for no other reason than you (1.) Think or Believe that drinking water could produce a certain effect; and, (2.) You actually drink water as directed for the prescribed purpose. In other words, placebo studies have shown that people who are given a "remedy" with no known curative properties often benefit simply because they believe they should. So, if you drink water because you believe it has weight-loss benefits, you have increased your chances of experiencing the benefit you seek. Sterile water is often used as a placebo in medical trials; and water has actually cured "incurable" and potentially fatal conditions when used as a remedy in a clinical or therapeutic setting. Placebos show us that it really is "the thought that counts."

No matter what your reasons for drinking water, you need to drink it; this is simply a matter of common-sense if you want to maintain a healthy body and live a healthy, happy life. But, if you seriously consider water as a weight-loss tool, implement, or technique for losing weight, then you are going to find at least the same results you'd achieve with any other weight-loss plan - without harmful side effects. But, most likely, you'll notice profound changes in your health, life, and body within a few days of simply drinking an adequate amount of water for your body and your level of activity. You don't have to do anything crazy or extreme; just drink enough water to keep yourself properly hydrated and see what happens.