Perhaps you’ve heard that hydration is important for losing weight, but how do you figure out how much water you should be drinking to get those calories to start melting off?
To calculate how much water you should drink to lose weight fast, you’ll need to do a tiny bit of math. It isn’t hard. We promise.
Jump to Water Intake Calculator
How Water Helps Us Lose Weight:
- Drinking water increases caloric burn – drinking more 500 ml water can burn around 23 calories on average per day. This can add up to an additional 17,000 calories burned, just by staying hydrated. That could translate to up to 3 pounds of weight loss per year.
- Drinking water before meals can reduce our appetite.
- If we drink more pure, filtered water, we are less likely to drink high calorie beverages like sodas and sports drinks. These are full of sugar, and empty calories we don’t need.
- Water frees fat to be used as an energy source.
- Water helps to clear toxins. When we are overloaded with toxins our body turns to backup plans, like adding fat cells to help store the toxic material. Water helps to flush out both the toxins and fat.
- Too many toxins can disrupt hormonal signals that tell us when we are full, and to stop eating. Drinking enough water helps prevent this from happening.
- Our organs of elimination and digestion can work properly, ensuring we stay a healthy weight when we drink plenty of water.
- Excess sodium is eliminated, and our muscle cells stay hydrated, giving us energy to stay active.
If you are exercising heavily, breastfeeding or pregnant, this number will change, but you can start with a basic calculation found below. Obviously, if you are breastfeeding or pregnant, you won’t want to worry about losing weight, but instead eat correctly to support the growth of your child.
Otherwise, to figure out a general amount of water you should be drinking minimally each day to support weight loss, do the following:
Water Intake Calculation
- Divide your current weight by two
- Your answer equals the number of ounces of water you should be drinking every day
When to Add More Water
When you are sick, working out vigorously for more than 60 minutes at a time, or in high altitudes that your body is not accustomed to, you should add more water.
When we workout vigorously, the body sweats, expelling a lot of water. You can add 12 ounces of water to your daily total for every 30 minutes that you work out, as a general rule.
So, if you work out for 45 minutes daily, you would add 18 ounces of water to your daily intake.
If you are ill, you should add an extra 12 ounces of water in soups, broths, or clear beverages to help the body expel toxins, bacteria and viruses.
Calculate How Much Water You Should Drink A Day
