Whether your fitness goal is weight loss, muscle gain, or just trying to become more healthy overall, you must first make sure that your nutrition plan is complete. You determine your caloric intake, calculate the amount of grams of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats you need, and from there, most people would assume the job was complete. Before you label the job complete, remember to consider one more detail in your nutrition plan:
Your water intake. Most exercisers completely neglect to consider how much water they are consuming on a daily basis. Everyone knows water is important, but what exactly does drinking enough water do for you? In this article, I'll go over a few reasons why you must start drinking more water if you are going to increase your fitness levels and see faster results.
Water Cleanses the Body
The first reason you should drink water is that water can help flush out the harmful toxins in your body. If, for the last several months or years you have been on a diet that is full of processed foods, the chances are high that you have a high level of toxins in your system. If you want to feel better on a day to day basis, these toxins need to be flushed out of your system.
Ever notice that certain people don't smell at all when they sweat? Why do you think that is? When someone is properly hydrated, their sweat is primarily made up of water and thus, will not have a strong smell. However, if someone drinks a lot of alcohol and takes in other toxins, their sweat is going to smell accordingly. So another extra tip of being hydrated is smelling better!
Water Boosts Your Metabolism
Another huge benefit that water provides and especially important for those who are looking for weight loss results, is that it will help to boost your metabolic rate. When you are properly hydrated, your metabolism will be running at a higher rate than usual, meaning you will burn fat at a faster rate than usual. This means you can either drop a few pounds faster, or you can afford to eat a few more extra calories in your diet plan - which is something that almost all people would appreciate.
Want to speed up your metabolism even more? Make sure your water is ice cold. Colder water means that your body needs to do extra work to maintain your body's ideal body temperature of about 98.6 degrees. The extra work your body needs to do to warm you up will burn more calories, thus helping you lose more weight.
Water Decreases Hunger
Another amazing benefit of water is that it also helps you feel less hungry. If you are often finding yourself being very hungry throughout the day and this causes you to turn to snacking as a way to fill the void, you could be taking in excess calories that your body doesn't actually need. Start hydrating and drinking more water and you'll see that this decreases the hunger levels you're experiencing. Whenever you have the urge to eat, always make it a practice to drink one large glass of water, wait about ten minutes, and then see if you still feel hungry. You'll find that the feeling of hunger passes quickly after downing just one glass of water.
Water Improves Recovery
Another big benefit to staying properly hydrated is that it can speed up your recovery rate from your workouts. Water will aid in replenishing the muscle tissues, removing lactic acid build-up and also helping to deliver more nutrients to the muscle cells. If you aren't staying properly hydrated, especially after a workout, you may find that you don't regain a feeling of strength as quickly as you should. This may mean it takes you a longer period of time to recover between workouts and you aren't able to exercise as often as you otherwise would be. Since a workout can cause you to sweat and dehydrate yourself, make sure that you are drinking plenty of water before, during, and after your workouts.
Water Is Calorie Free!
Finally, the last major benefit to drinking water is that it's completely calorie free. Few beverages can say this and if you choose to hydrate yourself with high calorie containing beverages such as soda, juice, high fat milk, fruit smoothies and so on, this is going to negatively impact your weight loss goals. Water is completely calorie free, so you are free to drink as much of it as you want without it impacting your ability to burn body fat. If you find that you get bored of the taste of plain water, change it up by adding a slice of lemon, lime, or even a few pieces of fruit. Let it settle for a few hours in the fridge and you'll have a refreshing glass of water with a hint of fruit flavoring.
How Much Do You Need?
So now that you've read about all the benefits water has to offer, how much of it should you be drinking each day? Adult men should drink around 3 liters of water per day, while adult females should aim for around 2.2 liters of water daily. Keep in mind if you are physically active and work out a lot, you will need to drink more than this to make up for fluid that you are losing.
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