Next to air, water is most essential to life. The human body is made up of about 70% water. Almost every cell in the body requires water to function properly. If you really think about this fact it is amazing that so many people do not drink enough water. Your body can survive without food for about a couple of weeks but without water you could only survive a couple of days. An important fact to remember is to drink enough water so that the body can metabolize fat adequately.

Benefits to drinking water while losing weight:

1) Drinking water regulates the appetite. Water is a natural appetite suppressant, so developing a good water drinking habit can be a long-term aid in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight..

2) Water helps to increases metabolism

3) Drinking water will boost your energy level

How much water to drink when dieting ?

Although it is recommended that you should drink 8-10 glasses of water per day, there is no clear-cut answer as to how much water to drink per day, because it depends upon a number of factors like your health condition, your activity level and a lot of other factors. A good formula to know how much water to drink is to divide your weight in half, and use that number in ounces of water. For example, for someone who weighs 130 pounds, 65 ounces of water would be required per day which would equal to about 8 glasses.

When you are exercising you need to drink water to keep hydrated, the Mayo Clinic recommends that if your level of exercising is moderate you need an extra 1-2 cups of water. For intense exercise like running, you need to add an extra 2-3 cups of water. Most people wait until they are thirsty to drink water but if you are waiting until you are thirsty you are already dehydrated.

Why so many are dehydrated

I think that one of the reasons we don’t drink enough water is because water has no taste, it does not seam exciting or appetizing to the palate.

There are many ways we can spruce up the taste of water to make it more exciting to the taste buds. For example, you can add flavored packets to your drinking water.

Another thing you can do is to buy water bottles in your favorite color and always take one with you in the car, or when you go out so that you are never dehydrated.

One thing that I do is add a slice of lemon to my water with a little low calorie sweetener and I pour it over crushed ice, this makes for a great drink. I drink lots of seltzer water which I make myself and I add my favorite fruit flavors to it, its really easy and I am sure I get enough water for the day.

Water is especially good for you, so make a habit of waking up and having a glass of water. Make it your first drink of liquid for the day before you get the cup of coffee, and in place of having a soda with one of your meals drink a glass of water. Make water drinking a habit then it will become second nature.

Tip: An easy way to make sure you are drinking enough water is to observe the color of your urine. Your urine should be a very pale yellow, if not, you may need to increase your consumption of water.