Water, Water Everywhere

Here we are for the next installment of weight-loss "secrets", and this time I'm going to devote an entire post to mother nature's candy. Folks, I'm talking about water.
I never used to drink enough water, probably because I went to a Catholic grammar school and our bathroom breaks were severely monitored. There was a complicated sign-out process, and often our class would forget our sign-out sheet, so no one would be allowed to use the bathroom until we returned to our home-room. It's a wonder we didn't all end up with bladder infections. I almost never drank water, but I sure did get my fill of all things liquid from diet coke and beer. This was a big mistake and something that I set out to change in August, on the advice of a friend.


If you are serious about losing weight, chances are that you already know you should be drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. Well, I take it further than that. Most days I drink 4 liters of water; that's 16 glasses. I know that right now you're thinking about some news story on the dangers of overhydration, or that woman who died in a radio station promotion holding "her pee for a wii". What happens in those situations is that some idiot drinks so much water so fast without peeing that they dilute the electrolytes in their body. I've got faith in my readers to use your heads here, but here is a disclaimer: don't try to drink all 16 glasses in one sitting or in some kind of chugging contest. Also, don't be an idiot.

There are a few reasons why I drink so much water.

The first reason is that water is very important for your kidneys. Keeping constantly hydrated takes the stress off of your kidneys, which creates an anotomical chain of events that makes your liver function better. Your liver is the most important organ in your body when it comes to metabolizing fat. So, if you are looking to break down fat into energy, you'd better be drinking your H20.

Another reason why I drink so much water is because it is great for flushing out your body. Your fat cells store toxins, so as you break them down, detoxing becomes very important.Toxins have a nasty habit of hiding out in your fat cells, and when those cells break down, those toxins are released into your body. You need to flush them out.

Sometimes we mistake thirst for hunger. So, we end up eating when our body isn't really hungry, it just needs water by any means necessary.

Water is great for your skin. I have fewer breakouts and generally a radiant glow. Also, keeping your skin hydrated is very important for its elasticity (it's ability to spring back into place). One of the biggest hurdles to major weight loss is excess skin, so you can see where I'm going here.

Did you know that drinking water actually helps combat water-retention? It's true. When I know I'm carrying some extra water weight, I'll drink an extra couple of glasses to jump start my body's flushing it out. Also, when you are bellying up to the bar, you want to drink a glass of water for every alcoholic drink. Not only will it keep you from drinking more than you intended, but it will also help with the hangover the next morning.

So there you have it. H2O, that means 2 molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen. It's tasteless, odorless, and readily available. Maybe if American schools weren't trying to make up budget deficits by hosting coke and Snapple machines  more people would know about it.