Drinking Lemon Water to Lose Weight – Is it a myth?

Water is the basis of all life and that includes your body. Your muscles that move your body are 75% water; your blood that transport nutrients is 82% water; your lungs that provide your oxygen are 90% water; your brain that is the control center of your body is 76% water; even your bones are 25% water. A 12-ounce can of soda contains around 150 calories and up to 40 grams of sugar. Drinking one a day means ingesting more than 130,000 extra calories a year, or 15 pounds of added fat ! Many people hail the benefits of drinking water to lose weight, but is this just a myth or is there some substance to the theory? Does adding a lemon to the water help you to lose the weight?

As someone who only drinks water and doesn’t have a ton of weight to lose, I had to rely on my experience with the personal training clients and friends who actually took my advice to switch to water drinking only. One of my friends, who was over 300 pounds at one point actually did follow my advice to drink half of his body weight in ounces. What happened? Months later, he told me that he had lost fifty pounds! He hadn’t started exercising or anything else, he just increased his water intake because I told him to do so. So, I don’t believe that drinking water to lose weight is a myth.

Lemon Water Health Benefits

Lemon water has a lot of health benefits that people cite. The following are some of the benefits that you may notice by increasing your consumption of lemon water. Some of these benefits are due to the increase of water consumption and some benefits can be attributed to the vitamins and nutrients in the lemon.

  • Improve digestion
  • Speeds up metabolism
  • Improves depression
  • Improves skin vitality
  • Reduces inflammation
  • Wards off cancer
  • Prevent back pain
  • Heal arthritis
  • Prevent migraines

Replacing Other Beverages With Water

Water has no calories, which other beverages tend to have, therefore leading drinks like soda and juice to increase your daily caloric load. Not only are these beverages higher in calories, but they are also higher in carbohydrates. When your body has too many carbohydrates, it uses them as fuel and stores the excess as fat. Your body can not do that with water, since it has no calories.

Take soda, for example, one twelve ounce soda has about 150 calories and approximately forty grams of sugar! By drinking one can of soda per day, it means that you are drinking an average of 130,000 additional calories each year. That can be turned into fifteen pounds of fat! By replacing your daily can of soda, you will avoid adding those extra inches to your waistline.

While drinking lemon water alone may not lead to weight loss, when you are replacing higher carbohydrate and higher calorie beverages, you reduce the number of calories that you consuming. Reducing your calorie and carbohydrate load will lead to weight loss.

Drinking Lemon Water Prior to a Meal

When you drink lemon water will have an impact on your digestion. If you drink lemon water prior to a meal, you will feel more satiated and need fewer calories to feel full. This can lead to a reduction in your overall carbohydrate and calorie consumption which can trigger weight loss.

The evidence on drinking water prior to a meal is scant, but there is a study published in the journal, Obesity, that may support this theory. Researchers randomly divided overweight older men and women into two separate groups. Both groups were put on a hypocalorie diet, meaning they were consuming fewer calories than their energy expenditure. However, one group was told to increase how much water they drank. Those in the group on a diet and increasing water consumption had to drink 500 ml of water thirty minutes before each of their three large meals. After twelve weeks, it was determined that the group who had drank water prior to their meals had on average lost an additional four pounds (2kg) compared to those who were only on the hypocalorie diet.

Drinking Lemon Water Aids Digestion

Many people claim that lemon water helps to improve your digestion and have noticed that bloating goes down when you drink lemon water. Improved digestion can help aid in weight loss. As your body becomes more efficient with its digestive abilities, it is able to eliminate toxins instead of holding on to them. This could assist you in your weight loss goals.

Lemon juice’s atomic structure is very similar to the body’s digestive juices in the stomach. It is theorized that it tricks the liver into producing bile. This helps keep the food moving through your body and its gastrointestinal tract. This can relieve indigestion and ease and upset stomach.

Lemon juice’s acids can also encourage your body to digest food more slowly. This allows for drawn-out absorption and means insulin levels remain steady and you get more nutrients out of the foods you consume. Better nutrient absorption reduces bloating. Lemon water benefits the enzyme functions in your body, stimulating the liver and flushing out toxins. Because it’s a mild diuretic, you might find yourself using the bathroom more often, helping the urinary tract get rid of any unwanted elements. With these bodily systems working better, it is likely that your body will be able to eliminate toxins and waste better.

Water Boosts Metabolism

While the lemon in the water may not increase your metabolism, it has been shown that drinking water boosts your metabolism. According to a study which was published in “Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism” in 2003, it was discovered that the metabolic rate of adults increased 30 percent after they drank two glasses of water. This effect lasted between 10 and 40 minutes following their water consumption. Therefore, scientists conclude that drinking 8 glasses of water a day can increase your body’s ability to burn calories. Drinking lemon water, which involves just lemon juice and water alone, would add to your daily consumption of water. Increasing your metabolism, or your body’s ability to burn calories will help you to lose weight. This is just one way to do it.

 

 

 

 

21 thoughts on “Drinking Lemon Water to Lose Weight – Is it a myth?”

  1. Wow, I didn’t realize that lemon water had as many benefits as it does. I’ve been looking for ways to cut down on my caffeine intake as well as my sugary drinks. I am going to see if I can make the switch soon.

    1. It really is one of the best things that you can do for yourself! I’m glad you enjoyed the article! Thanks for your comments!

  2. Thanks for a very informative article! I actually drink lemon water first thing every morning before I do anything. Now I think I’ll try drinking it before every meal as well. There are so many positive changes it does to your body I am still amazed.

    Thanks again for a very informative article!
    -Mike

  3. I actually had no idea that drinking water boosted your metabolism. That’s fascinating. I drink so much water already, and recently moved to a dry climate and can’t seem to get enough of it now. I wonder if adding citrus would help it be more satiating. Thanks for the info!

    1. You may want to add a pinch of sea salt before drinking. Too much water can become a diuretic and become more detrimental than healthy, however, most people are nowhere near drinking that much!

  4. Hi there,
    Thanks, I really enjoyed reading your post today. I will definitely start drinking lemon and water, and I will let you know how that goes. Super excited to see the results.

  5. This is not news to me, but it was great to read the facts again. Thank you, you are doing many people a favor by writing about healthier choices and how simple it is to lose weight by doing something this simple. I always begin my day with 500ml of water or lemon water. Lemon helps to cleanse the liver and the intestines which is an added health benefit. I keep drinking the water throughout the day, but I can’t say no to coffee… just one a day and an occasional glass of wine. But the rest is definitely water 🙂

    1. Thanks for the comment! I’m sure you can give up coffee if you put your mind to it! One a day is probably okay since the rest is water though!

  6. This is very interesting. Drinking water before a meal would probably also make you feel less hungry, so you might eat less overall. Do you know if lime instead of lemon would have the same benefits? I prefer the taste of lime, so it would be nice if that worked the same way.

  7. Wow, very interesting. I knew lemon water was healthy, but I really just didn’t know how or why. I often see my mom drinking it and I was curious. She told me it is really good for you, so I started doing it. Now I can inform her on all the benefits of drinking lemon water. Thanks!

  8. I drink lemon/lime water in the morning, before I eat anything in the morning. I have lost some weight but the biggest benefit for me has been how I feel. I feel cleaner and lighter. It helps keeps everything moving,

  9. Benefits of drinking water should be known and apply in our lives which is an essential part of the human life. Research showed that optimal hydration reduces the risk of stroke, manages diabetes and guard against many kinds of cancers.

    Want to know more about benefits of drinking water or Advantageous Impact of Water over the Human health? Please read our full article…

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