Written by: Lyn-Genet Recitas, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It’s water. Yup, plain old water. Not even the fancy stuff. It is nothing short of incredible how much drinking water affects your ability to lose weight—and to heal. You need water for every singular metabolic and cellular process that keeps your body alive. When you don’t drink enough water, you divert your body’s energy from healing. It’s as though you are telling your body, “Hey, I’m facing a real drought here, so please stop all of the repair work you would like to do.
What I need you to do instead is divert the energy allocated for repair and instead extract as much water as you can from all the food I eat. Then I want you to hold onto this water in reserve inside my tissues, so I can stay alive.”
In other words, when you aren’t drinking enough water, you are retaining water. Sure, it’s just water weight, but what a lousy way to gain weight! Those pounds add up too, while you feel miserable because your rings aren’t fitting and your pants won’t button.
You would be astonished if you realized how much weight gain is due to not drinking enough water. Every day I see someone short themselves by even 16 ounces of water and then retain half a pound of water or even more. The wonderful flipside is all the people I see losing 5 to 7 pounds in their first week just by drinking the amount of water that is right for them!
So how do you determine how much water is right for you? It’s very simple. Divide your body weight in half and drink that many ounces each day. That’s your base. If you exercise, drink right afterward until you’ve quenched your thirst, and in addition, drink your normal amount of water. You’re probably going to add about 8 ounces for every 30 minutes of exercise.
If you have wine at night, add roughly 4 ounces of water during the day for each nightly glass of wine.
Now, here’s your golden rule:
Never drink water after dinner.
That’s because it hampers digestion, which means you might wind up stabilizing or even gaining weight. Gaining weight from drinking water is pretty depressing, so please avoid that if you can! I personally do a mental check-in at noon and at 5 p.m. to make sure I’m getting enough water. Then I make sure to finish my last pint at least 45 minutes before dinner. The good news about getting your water in so early? You won’t have to get up in the middle of the night to urinate! More sound sleeping means improved metabolism and better weight loss.
What about when it’s hot? Hot weather can be tricky, especially because some people retain water when they are out in the heat for too long. The basic rule would be an extra 16 ounces for every 90 minutes you are out being active.
Now, this isn’t one of those situations where if something is good, then more of it is better. Please don’t go over the recommended water amounts because that can tax your kidney function, making your kidneys less able to process water. And that can mean…yes, you guessed it: water weight gain. So don’t think you’ll be the teacher’s pet by drinking more. Stick with what your body needs.
Lyn-Genet Recitas, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Lyn-Genet Recitas, Sports Nutritionist, HHP NMT, is the NY Times and International Bestselling author of The Plan and The Metabolism Plan a groundbreaking anti-inflammatory nutritional protocol which has been published in over 15 countries. She’s been featured on Dr. Oz, Huffington Post, CBS, NBC, Fox News, Women’s Running, Fitness, Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Prevention. Lyn-Genet and her staff of doctors and nutritionists have helped hundreds of thousands of men and women reach their best health by finding their chemical responses to food, not counting calories. The Plan is an effective way to lose weight, improve health and reverse the aging process.
