The Water Diet: Is It Safe and Does It Work?

The water diet has been around for several years, and yet many people have no idea what it really is or if it can work. Many people believe that it is about replacing food with water, but this is not the case at all.

In this article we are going to discuss the two most important questions to ask of any diet – ‘Does it work?’ and it’s safe?’

Before we get to those questions, we’ll first discuss exactly what is involved.

Some people believe that the water diet involves fasting and that drinking water will somehow offset the ill effects of not eating enough. This is not the case. Fasting is not a safe, healthy, or long-term effective method of losing weight. Increasing your water intake while fasting will not make this a safe way to lose weight. No nutritionist will recommend fasting as a weight loss method, either with or without water, for good reason. Fortunately, fasting plays no role in the water diet.

What the Water Diet really is, in a nutshell, is drinking plenty of water while eating normally or, in addition, following some other healthy diet. One popular method is to eat normally and drink an 8-ounce glass of cold water shortly before each meal, one during, and one shortly after. This is known as the Before, During, and After diet. A slight variation on this, and believed to be a more effective method, is to combine drinking water with a more conventional diet recommended by your nutritionist. In any case, the most important component of any water diet is to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of cold water every day.

At first glance it does not seem like an effective way to lose weight. After all, how can drinking water lead to weight loss? However, there are some solid reasons why it may work, and some recent research has shown that it does, in fact, have an effect on weight loss.

The research in question was conducted by Virginia Tech and was revealed at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting by lead author Brenda Davy, Ph.D. Clinical trials showed that adults who drank two glasses of water before meals while on a low-calorie diet ate up to 90 fewer calories during the meal. Over the course of 12 weeks, those who drank water lost about 44% more weight (about 5 pounds) than those who didn’t.

The most plausible theory is that by filling your body with water, you won’t need to eat as much to feel full, which naturally leads you to eat less. Another reason why people believe that a water diet will work is that by drinking a lot of cold water, your body needs to burn more calories to warm the water to your body temperature. While this is true, the amount of calories used in this process is not very large and will not have a significant impact on weight loss.

So that’s what it is and how it’s supposed to work, but does it really work? Well, the short (and unhelpful) answer is yes and no. For some it has been very effective and for others not so much. The main problem seems to be the large amount of water to drink. Some people feel uncomfortable and bloated and, combined with more frequent visits to the bathroom, this is enough to put them off.

For others, however, it can lead to great success. The most striking example, as reported by the media, was 41-year-old Blake Silva. After a series of unsuccessful diets and weighing 270 pounds, he began a before-during-after diet in which he claims to have eaten normally but drank up to 10 glasses of water every day. Over seven months he lost 70 pounds. There have been other reports of success as well, though not as dramatic, with the amount of weight lost varying considerably between different people.

So we know it can work for some, but is the water diet safe? Well, the good news is that it is. While drinking too much water can, in some rare cases, be harmful, it takes drinking more than 8 glasses to be dangerous. In fact, it’s perfectly healthy and good for your body. The benefits of drinking more water include, but are not limited to, helping your body detoxify, increasing your alertness and concentration, and even helping you look young and healthy by helping to keep your skin hydrated.

Finally, does it work in the long term? Well, like any diet, it will only lead to long-term changes if you don’t return to the bad habits and lifestyle that lead to being overweight. However, that is not to say that you have to stay on a permanent weight loss diet. The best way to maintain a healthy weight is to eat healthy foods and exercise. There are many good articles on the subject of healthy living, so I won’t go into the details, but eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and avoiding high-fat foods is a great way to start. Combining this with even a little bit of exercise, such as walking every day, will mean you’re well on your way to avoiding the need for weight-loss diets in the future.

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