Does Drinking Water Really Help You Lose Weight? One Woman Says It Allowed Her To Cut Her Body Fat In Half In 60 Days
A top doc says focusing on water can help us slim down up to 17 times faster
We’ve all heard that water and hydration are important. But when it comes to slimming down, does it really make much difference? How much does drinking water help you lose weight? Two words: a lot. When a University of Nottingham team compared dieters allowed either diet soda or only water, “women who just drank water lost 17 times more weight,” reports nutrition researcher William Li, M.D., author of Eat to Beat Your Diet. Meanwhile, reader Scarlett Espinoza, 39, used the power of water to help melt half her body fat in 60 days. Keep reading to learn how you can get wow results for yourself.
Why water beats sugary drinks and diet drinks
The Nottingham study is one of many that suggest it’s not just empty-calorie cola and sweet tea driving health and weight issues—diet soda and sugar-free sports drinks can also make it harder to get lean, says Dr. Li. Why? There are about 39 trillion reasons.
Ounce for ounce, water and diet soda contain nearly identical amounts of water, Dr. Li notes. And even if a diet drink contains caffeine, that has minimal impact on hydration. The real problem: “Artificial sweeteners in diet soda can interfere with and damage your microbiome,” says Dr. Li, referring to the 39 trillion microbes in your GI tract that aid in digestion, immunity, brain function and more. In terms of our waistlines, a healthy microbiome is crucial for things like metabolism, blood sugar regulation and fat burning—“all very important for healthy weight management,” says Dr. Li. Both sugary and artificially sweetened drinks can cause crucial bacteria in the microbiome to die off, making it harder to stay healthy and lean.
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On the flip side, while diet drinks harm the microbiome, a 2021 Journal of Nutrition study demonstrated that drinking more water helps beneficial gut microbes thrive.
You might be wondering: Don’t plenty of diet soda drinkers lose weight? Sure. But focusing on water will likely make weight loss faster and easier, says Dr. Li—especially after age 50.
3 more big reasons water helps with weight loss
Boosted burn at 50+
“Proper hydration is needed for optimal metabolism,” says Dr. Li. “Yet about one in three older adults don’t drink enough.” Turns out, thirst-signaling mechanisms in our brains and blood vessels don’t work over time, so we need to pay more attention to how much we drink.. The metabolism-restoring solution? Rather than just drinking water when thirsty, drink any time your urine turns bright or dark yellow, suggests Dr. Li. Bonus: Not only does improved hydration help with calorie burning long term, but every time you sip 16 oz. at a pop, you spike calorie burn an extra 24% for a full hour as the fluid is processed, per German research.
Shrinking appetite
Drinking 16 oz. of water before meals helps middle-aged and older dieters feel so much fuller, they eat less and lose 44% more weight than water skippers, per Virginia Tech research. Why? Like thirst signals, satiety signals in the stomach weaken with age. Pre-meal water increases stretch in the stomach as you eat, helping “stretch sensors” trigger fullness. As little as one extra cup of water a day has been shown to cut calorie intake by up to 205 calories a day.
Extra stamina
Because cells can’t operate properly without enough fluid, “adequate hydration gives you more endurance and energy,” says Dr. Li. Not only does this feel good, it’ll make you more inclined to be active, “which is important for weight loss over time.”
Water can boost weight loss instantly
Start drinking more water, and metabolism and appetite improve immediately. Even the microbiome “begins to repair itself in 24 hours,” says Dr. Li.
For best results, Dr. Li suggests pairing increased hydration (enough to keep urine pale yellow) with a diet built around natural foods like produce, seafood, whole grains and good fats. Want to jazz up what you drink? Sip up to four cups of unsweetened coffee or tea a day, as these options not only hydrate, they also bolster gut microbes and may give us an advantage for weight loss. For example, obese adults given 4 daily cups of antioxidant-rich oolong tea lost 6 lbs in 6 weeks without changing their diets at all.
Water helped Scarlett Espinoza lose half her body fat in 60 days
Hoping to avoid the health concerns her parents are facing, Scarlett started yoga. One day, she tried a headstand, lost control and slammed into her washing machine. “I shattered my ankle,” says the Miami native, 39.
In pain and unable to walk for months, she lived on comfort food delivered either by Uber Eats or her mom, washing it down with soda and lemonade. “I gained a lot of weight, and I just did not feel good,” she says.
As physical therapy ended, she wasn’t ready to return to her corporate job, so she’d limp to her local Life Time gym and do her rehab exercises there. “I heard I’d get a free session with a trainer if I signed up for a 60-day challenge,” Scarlett says. So she did.
She not only got exercise guidance, but she was also encouraged to eat better and to drink half an ounce of water for every pound she weighed. “I was never good about drinking water, and I didn’t always hit my goal at the beginning,” she recalls. But the challenge had nice prizes, like cash and a fancy fitness tracker, so she took it seriously. She started drinking only water.
After fatigue throughout her recovery, “I’d drink water and it felt like coming back to life,” she says. “I had so much energy.” Her stomach started to flatten before she’d even lost much weight. And as she adjusted to healthier eating, “I could drink a bottle of water if I had a craving and it held me until it was time for a meal.” She says water was the secret weapon that made her efforts feel manageable.
Scarlett came up with tricks to keep her intake around three liters a day. Her favorites: “I keep a bottle of water on my nightstand and drink the whole thing as soon as I wake up,” she shares. “And when I’m driving, every time I hit a red light, I take that as a signal to grab my water bottle and drink.”
In 60 days, “I cut my body fat almost in half,” she shares. And of the challenge’s 25,000 participants, she won the $10,000 grand prize! Now Scarlett uses water to maintain. “It’s an easy habit that keeps me healthy,” she says. “I feel like a new person!”
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