How to hydrate for optimal weight loss

June 6, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

What’s the first way you notice weight loss?

Typically, it’s not from fat, is it? It’s you, standing on the bathroom scale after Bikram, celebrating the five pound loss you’re about to gain back in half a second. Why? Because, of course, that’s water loss – not fat. But, seemingly ironically, if you replenish with plenty of fluids through the day, that loss will indeed stand to be from fat before you know it.

(Aside from making your workout better, staying hydrated staves off overeating, as well.)

Here’s the kicker, though: according to the experts of all things sweat, getting in your liquid refill mid workout isn’t sufficient. It’s an all day affair. I learned this the tough way myself. During the early months of MMA training, I had to pause every ten minutes to refuel my fluid levels. Once I started pre-gaming with Aquafina, however, those breaks were far fewer in number. (As was the bellowing by my coach that “there are no water breaks in the cage”.)

And that’s exactly what the pros propose we do. For hours prior to running, punching, kicking, spinning, or whatever it is we do – we each should be inundating ourselves with water. And how much? ‘til your number ones look like heavily diluted lemonade. (Nearly clear.) And, if you’re bad at qualitative values, they say seven trips to the loo each day’s a good indicator.

After all that running to the toilet, you may finally be ready for your f’real run. And, when you do, the hydration rules are pretty straightforward. Yes, glug down that good stuff whenever you’re parched. (Obviously.) However, also steal a few swigs even if you aren’t water starved – especially if you’re rocking the intense HIIT workout (in which case, keeping an electrolyte replenisher in the periphery is probably best).

(Drinking through clenched teeth, like this model, optional.)

Then, after your workout, the fun doesn’t end. Calling back on that celebratory scale moment mentioned at the start of this article, what we wanna do is hop on the scale, see how far we’re down, and fill right back up. Sure, the numbers increase initially, but those figures aren’t indicators of the kind’ve weight we wanna lose anyway. (Just ‘cause you’re dehydrated, doesn’t mean you’re any trimmer or tighter.) In fact, for every pound lighter you are, it’s said that hydrating 20 to 24 ounces for the day’s remainder is crucial.

So, what do you get for all of this? What weight loss goals do you reach from initially gaining back all your water weight? Well, first, when you’re well hydrated all day, you won’t eat as much. Overeating (yes, even the healthy stuff) is what decimates that caloric deficit we all need for weight loss. So, by doing this both before and after your workout, you set yourself up for success when it comes to eating just enough. Also, by keeping ideal hydration levels going in your body machine, your noggin operates better (meaning your focus on form is better – which makes for more reps, strength, and maximum fat blasting), and you’re powered to go farther (which obviously means more calories burned.)

Thus, for optimal weight loss, scale up on water intake to make the scale numbers go down!