8 glasses of water a day, right? You will probably agree because everyone has heard that it is what you are supposed to do. Have a headache? - have some water, you might be dehydrated! How many times have you heard that one? No one seems to question the importance of hydration for health and general well-being. Yet in working with hundreds of people throughout the years I hear it over and over again – I am not drinking enough, I know...

I often say that knowledge is not enough to make a difference… but it definitely helps! With all the talk about how water helps you loose weight, amazingly little information is disclosed about how it actually works so let’s talk about it now!

Fat metabolism is a biochemical process and one of the organs highly responsible for its efficiency is the liver. Liver is somewhat of a chameleon… whenever kidneys fail to do their job, liver aids kidneys in their function so the process of fat metabolism is compromised. Interestingly enough, kidneys experience dehydration before many other organs thus causing your metabolism to slow down when you are dehydrated.

An average size person’s liquid output is about 2 liters per day (half a gallon) – about 1.5l through urination and .5-1 liters through perspiration and evaporation – more if exercise consistently! To replenish 2 liters of lost resources throughout the day you need to consume half a gallon of liquids at a minimum, which is 8 8oz glasses. If you do not do that, your fat metabolism becomes less efficient, making it much more difficult to part with the unwanted pounds. Speaking of which, if you carry a few unwanted pounds, add on another 8oz serving for each excess 25lbs of bodyweight.

It is that simple, consuming sufficient amount of liquid not only helps you feel better, sweat easier during physical activity which cools you down and makes you more comfortable, but actually speeds up your metabolism.

So drink up! Just keep in mind that coffee has a diuretic effect so only half of consumed coffee amount counts toward your daily recommended intake of liquids.