Can drinking water help with weight loss?
I won't lie, I was reluctant to make this video but I was sent it a few times, so I thought maybe I should address it.
Technically yes, drinking water can reduce subsequent food intake. If you drink a load of water it makes you feel full and then you tend to eat slightly less food at the next meal.
This sounds benign in some ways, because we associate water as being a good thing and the health and wellness industry often tells people that they must drink more.
But, you can maybe see how there is a slippery slope when you tell people to pound back a load of water every time they have a craving for something. It is like all cravings for food are bad and need to be overcome. Some people implementing this advice are going to end up drinking an extraorinary amount of water to try and squash hunger signals that are totally normal.
For example, if you are very lean, your body is probably going to tell you that it wants more food to restore some normality. If you are on a very-low calorie crash diet, your body is going to tell you that it wants more food. These are normal things.
My point is, there is a delicate balance between advice that results in weight loss and advice that can be problematic, and for me this demonstrates how easy it is to step on the wrong side of that line.
References:
– Water consumption reduces energy intake at a breakfast meal in obese older adults
– Immediate pre-meal water ingestion decreases voluntary food intake in lean young males
– Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults
– Efficacy of water preloading before main meals as a strategy for weight loss in primary care patients with obesity: RCT