As a fitness education company that certifies people to become trainers, we are always teaching our students that our number one goal with our clients should be behavioural change.
We know that small behaviour changes and habits can have a huge impact over time. Most clients come wanting to lose body fat, so we explore what is the smallest change to someone’s habits that can be a big help in this regard.
There is a study that came out recently on the effect plain water consumption has on the amount of calories we consume. The outcome was very interesting. Here’s how the study went.
They looked at plain water consumption compared to how much people were eating. What they found was that for every one per cent increase in water consumption, there was a nine calorie decrease in the amount people were eating.
What that basically equates to, is drinking one extra cup of water – roughly 250 millilitres per day – would equate to around 60 calorie decrease in energy consumption.
Simply put, you end up eating less food. The next part of the study looked at whether participants continue to eat less if they keep drinking more water.
And there was an actual linear progression; if they drink eight ounces versus 16, versus 32, they eat less and less food over a period of time.
What they found in the study was that if you take someone who was drinking a specific amount of fluid per day, and get them to add roughly two cups, that would equate to roughly 150 fewer calories consumed per day.
If you added in another eight ounces that would mean up to 250 calories less per day. That means you’re going to end up eating somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 calories less per week.
Now, if you know anything about diets, that’s kind of a cool deal because over time that can equate to significant weight loss, by simply having some more water.
In a way, drinking two or three additional cups of water a day is equivalent to a 30-minute brisk walk. Adding something as simple as water to a weight loss programme is easy. All you have to do is get your bottle of water and put it where you can see it.
That visual reminder throughout the day to have some more water can have huge benefits over a period of months and years.
What you’ll find is not only will you feel better and start losing weight, in a couple months you will have a new healthy habit that complements everything you’re trying to achieve.
Heba Abdel Gawad is a Neural Performance Specialist, Z-Health Master Trainer, the Creator of the NeuroPilates method, Personal Trainer and Instructor Trainer. She is the co-founder of body//HACK
