The TRUTH About Water and Weight Loss
By
Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Posted January 4, 2024
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times. Folks insist one of the “best ways” to lose weight is to drink a LOT of cold water.
(Some online tips even advise drinking up to a gallon of it daily.)
Fans of water as a weight loss tool claim that drinking buckets of cold H2O causes you to burn a bunch more calories and makes you feel less hungry while you do.
But here’s the thing. This advice is not only misleading, but it’s ALSO potentially dangerous…
They say a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. And that is the case with the mistaken notion that drinking MASSIVE amounts of cold water will help you lose weight.
The misunderstanding comes from people misinterpreting studies.
You see, scientists HAVE tested whether drinking water can burn calories. Two studies found that drinking water DOES increase calorie burn.
But the most critical finding of those studies is often overlooked. And that is, the extra calorie burn wasn’t anything significant.
In fact, it only amounted to around an extra 20 calories burned daily. Not enough to have any meaningful impact on your weight.
Scientists have also tested if water makes you feel full, and it does… sort of.
In the studies where this was tested, folks KNEW they were being tested to see if water made them full. This is called an unblinded test.
So, it’s entirely possible (even likely) that these findings resulted from the power of suggestion or the so-called, placebo effect.
Now, to be clear, water IS vital to your health. And most older adults don’t drink enough of it.
But this DOESN’T mean you should drink a gallon a day or gulp down buckets of it quickly. After all, it IS possible to drink too much water.
To figure out if you’re drinking enough, monitor your urination schedule. You should be going at least every two hours.
And when you go, your urine should be a light-straw color—not necessarily clear, but definitely not bright yellow.
P.S. Want to shed some weight? Check out these EASY ways to LOSE a few pounds.
Source:
Girona M, et al., “Cardiovascular and metabolic responses to tap water ingestion in young humans: does the water temperature matter?” Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2014 Jun;211(2):358-70. doi: 10.1111/apha.12290. Epub 2014 Apr 15. PMID: 24684853.
Written By Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Nearly 25 years ago, failed mainstream medical treatments left Dr. Olson in constant pain – and his health in ruins. And that’s when he did something REVOLUTIONARY. He began his career in medicine – and dedicated his life to uncovering the true, underlying causes of disease.
Through his innovative medical practices in Tennessee and Colorado, Dr. Olson has helped cure countless seniors from across America of arthritis… heart disease… diabetes… and even cancer. All without risky prescription drugs or painful surgeries.
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