How does Drinking Water burn Calories?

If you love water, you already like 60% of me. If you are a nerd then you can use it to hit on girls! It is a true fact that an adult male human’s body is about 60% water. Water is the basic requirement of all the metabolic activities happening in our body.

The rate at which these metabolic activities happen in our body is directly dependent on our intake of water. The more we drink water, the faster our body will burn the calories. So, drink plenty of water.

How does water increase Energy Consumption?

Our body is constantly burning energy, even when we are sitting. Our complex mechanism carries out numbers of metabolic activities necessary for our survival and for these it needs energy derived from food. As drinking more water increases the rate of metabolic activities, more energy will be required to carry out the chemical reactions, hence leading to increased calorie burns.

According to a study, drinking 500ml of water can temporarily boost the metabolism by 24-30%.

This graph clearly shows the effect of water on our metabolism.

Researchers have also proved that drinking 2 litres of water every day can increase energy expenditure by 96 calories per day.

What is a good habit of drinking water?

One should always try to drink cold water as our body will burn more energy to heat the water to body temperature.

We should always drink water before having a meal. One study showed that dieters who drank 500 ml of water before meals lost 44% more weight over a period of 12 weeks, compared to those who didn’t.

Every day intake of water should be 3 litres. This will keep you fresh and hydrated throughout the day.

What are the medical benefits of drinking more water?

There are several health benefits of increased water intake:

Constipation: Increasing water intake can help with constipation, which is a very common problem
Cancer: There are some studies showing that those who drink more water have a lower risk of bladder and colorectal cancer, although other studies find no effect (16, 17, 18, 19).
Kidney stones: Increased water intake appears to decrease the risk of kidney stones (20, 21).
Acne and skin hydration: There are a lot of anecdotal reports on the internet about water helping to hydrate the skin and reducing acne, but I didn’t find any studies to confirm or refute this.