Often times I am asked…
What is the best liquid I can drink on the Omad Diet?
The answer: Water
While there are many acceptable liquids that you can drink on the Omad diet, water is always an optimal choice.
It doesn’t have to be the only liquid in your Omad diet, but it is an essential liquid for overall health and well-being.
Let’s take a look at how water can increase the effectiveness of weight loss, benefits, and frequently asked questions.
Can Drinking Water Help You Lose Weight?
The idea that water can help people lose weight is something that has been heavily studied over the last few years.
Scientists and medical specialists have examined this concept from a variety of different angles and have concluded that water can help people lose weight.
In fact, proper hydration with high-quality water is a crucial element of burning fat and staying healthy.
In this section, I will examine a few different studies to give you an idea of what kind of work has been done in this field.
Each of these studies has examined various elements of hydration, including the dangers of dehydration and how water helps you lose weight.
Later on in this article, I’ll talk in more depth about how water triggers weight loss in your body.
For now, let’s talk about why dehydration is such a problem and the negative ways that it affects your health.
You may not realize it, but a vast majority of people around the world are suffering from mild to significant symptoms of dehydration.
This situation has become particularly common because a growing number of individuals are drinking soda, juice, and coffee instead of fresh water.
Dehydration is a Major Health Issue
Recent statistics state that 75 percent of people in America are chronically dehydrated.
Why are so many people suffering from symptoms of this problem?
There are many influences on this epidemic of water-deprived individuals.
First of all, many people in the first world simply do not enjoy drinking water.
The taste is too bland, and they are used to drinks with a more potent taste.
Therefore, they likely turn to soda, juice, or coffee to get their liquids. [1]
The problem with this approach is the fact that soda and other similar drinks dehydrate, rather than hydrate, your body.
The caffeine in soda, tea, and coffee causes your body to lose water and makes it difficult for you to maintain healthy water levels in your body.
While fruit juices and sports drinks are a bit better in this regard, they are still imperfect. You just can’t get hydrated more effective than if you drink water. [2]
Unfortunately, poor hydration is likely causing a variety of adverse side effects in people who suffer from it.
For example, studies have found that dehydration causes negative cognitive issues, including mood swings, difficulty thinking, and much more.
These mental side effects are trying to manage and may lead to problems as severe as depression and even increased anxiety. [3]
In other studies, it is found that hydration is critically important for a successful exercise routine.
Experts estimate that people lose 6-10 percent of their body weight in sweat during athletic competition.
That sweat leads to dehydration and a decreased ability to exercise. Staying well-hydrated during your exercise will help avoid this problem and make it easier for you to keep in shape. [4]
That information is essential to know, you might think, but why does it matter when it comes to weight loss?
Well, exercising is one of the most critical elements of losing weight.
If you are dehydrated and cannot exercise correctly, you won’t lose as much weight as you could have if you were hydrated.
Just as importantly, there are other elements behind this scenario that deserve further study.
Studies Show Water Helps Manage Weight Loss
In multiple studies, the beneficial effects of drinking water on weight loss have been proven.
For example, one study found that “absolute and relative increases in drinking water” helped to decrease body weight and fat levels.
These results were found to be independent of other variables, such as a person’s diet and their exercise routine.
And this is far from the only study to notice this effect. [5]
For example, another study examined the effects of reduced body water or hypohydration on endurance and exercise.
They found that this problem limited a person’s strength and power and minimized their ability to exercise effectively.
As a result, they suggested that staying well hydrated throughout the day, particularly during exercise, was a vital component of a successful weight-loss routine. [6]
The number of studies that confirm these benefits is too numerous to list here.
It is good enough to know that science proves this fact and that you can utilize hydration to your advantage when trying to lose weight.
However, it is worth remembering why these effects occur in your body.
Understanding this information can increase your chances of maximizing your success when trying to lose weight on the Omad diet. [7][8]
How Water Helps You Lose Weight With The Omad Diet
Now that you know studies support the idea that water helps to lose weight, it is important to know why this effect occurs.
There are multiple reasons that water helps you burn weight, each of which offers its own unique benefits.
I have included the five most prominent to give you an insight into what is happening in your body when you drink water.
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Water Suppresses Your Appetite
Drinking water is one of the best ways that you can suppress your appetite. There are a few reasons that this is true.
First of all, the body often triggers a hunger impulse instead of thirst when you are dehydrated.
Drinking a glass of water on the omad diet when you feel hungry, often suppresses this need. [9]
Just as importantly, water takes up a lot of space in your stomach and makes you feel fuller than you would if you didn’t drink water.
Drinking water throughout the day will suppress your need to eat.
Just as importantly, drinking water while you eat will limit the urge to eat more than one plate. [10]
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Ice-Cold Water Burns Calories
Multiple studies have confirmed a fascinating fact about what happens when you drink cold water.
When you drink water that is very cold, you are burning 2-3 percent more calories than normal for at least 90 minutes after you drink it.
That’s because your body must increase the water’s temperature to digest it, which burns extra calories in your body. [11]
Even better, it has also been found that drinking ice-cold water can help to increase your body’s resting calorie burn.
As a result, you are burning more calories every day drinking cold water even if you don’t raise your exercise levels.
This benefit is one that you can use to significant advantage in a regular weight-loss routine. [12]
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Water Detoxifies Your Body
While the concept of detoxification is somewhat controversial, drinking water regularly does naturally eliminate waste from your body.
That’s because it helps to filter waste and other materials in your kidneys and help you retain smooth stools that can safely pass. [13]
Just as importantly, drinking water helps to minimize your risk of bloating.
That’s because waste buildup in your body can create severe bloat that is hard to maintain.
Drinking water will naturally avoid this problem and help you burn a few pounds of waste with minimal effort. [14]
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Water is Free of Calories
When you ingest energy drinks, juice, soda, or sweetened tea or coffee, you are adding extra calories to your diet that you don’t need.
This problem is particularly an issue because they will be empty calories or those that offer you minimal nutrients or vitamins. [15]
Water, while containing a multitude of electrolytes and other vitamins and minerals, is entirely free from calories.
As a result, drinking water is a net positive that results in lower daily calorie counts.
Try to replace most, if not all, of your other drinks in a day to improve your ability to lose weight. [16]
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Water Triggers Fat Burning
One cool fact that you may not realize is that water triggers fat burning throughout your body.
That’s because it helps improve the operation of the process known as lipolysis. During this process, your body metabolizes fats and destroys them for extra energy. [17]
And the first step in this process is hydrolysis, which is water creating fatty acids to break down the fat in your body.
When you are dehydrated, your body won’t perform this process as effectively.
As a result, you are likely to gain weight and struggle to keep it off. [18]
Water Improves Your Body’s Operation
While water is obviously one of the most important things you can consume in a day, it also improves your body’s operation in a multitude of ways.
Most of these improvements will help you lose weight by increasing your overall health and making it easier for you to burn calories. [19][20]
As a result, it is essential to not only drink water but to understand why it improves your health and increases your fat-burning capacities.
Just a few ways that regularly drinking water can improve your health and help you burn more calories more efficiently include the following:
- Improves Tissue Health – Drinking water regularly ensures that your body’s tissues are healthy.
- It provides them with the electrolytes they need to run properly and also helps them to recover from any damage caused by day-to-day living.
- Boosts Spinal Health – Your skeletal and spinal system needs regular doses of water to stay healthy. Water provides them with electrolytes to ensure that they trigger electrical impulses properly and without misfiring.
- Creates Saliva – When you’re well-hydrated, your body produces healthy amounts of saliva. This benefit helps to make it easier to break down your food fully and manages your appetite by making your food easier to digest.
- Filters Your Body’s Waste – I already touched on this point before so I won’t dwell on it here too much. However, it is important to remember that regularly drinking water will decrease the amount of waste material in your body.
- Manages Body Temperature – Sweat might be annoying when you are working but is very healthy because it is the most important way of regulating your body temperature. Drinking plenty of water helps you stay cool by allowing you to sweat when you get hot.
- Decreases Constipation Symptoms – Your bowels need plenty of water to process your waste. Without it, you are more likely to feel constipated for extended periods. Thankfully, a few glasses of water can quickly break apart this waste.
- Boosts Your Digestion – Drinking water regularly while you eat breaks down your food into more manageable chunks. This benefit helps to boost your digestion and your metabolism. Just as importantly, it helps you absorb more nutrients from the foods you eat.
- Increases Your Energy Levels – Water helps to naturally increase your energy levels, which will make it easier for you to exercise and lose weight. It also makes it simpler for you to get your work done during the day and throughout the week.
All of these benefits are critical to your overall health and help you burn extra calories and lose weight while on the Omad Diet.
For example, improved digestion will make it easier to break down the food in your stomach properly. This step improves your metabolism and makes it easier for you to lose weight. [21][22]
Just as importantly, it streamlines the overall operation of your body in a way that increases your ability to lose weight.
When you aren’t fully healthy, your body will hold onto extra calories as a defensive measure. Being fully hydrated improves your overall health and prevents this issue. [23][24]
How Much Water Should You Drink in a Day on the Omad Diet?
Every day, your body burns the water that you drink.
These activities include:
- Breathing
- Sweating
- Urination and bowel movements
- Maintaining your body’s health
Therefore, it is critical to replenish your body’s water supply every day.
You’ve probably heard that you should drink 8-10 glasses of water every day.
That is a reasonable guideline, but your intake can vary depending on a multitude of factors. [25][26]
Typical Suggestions for Water Consumption on the Omad Diet
Your water consumption will vary depending on a multitude of factors.
One of the most important considerations of your water level is your gender.
For example, the common guidelines for both genders include:
- Men – 15.5 cups of 3.7 liters of water
- Women – 11.5 cups or 2.7 liters of water
As mentioned before, you should get about 20 percent of your water from your food and 80 percent from liquid water.
If you can’t reach these levels, sticking to eight glasses of water should be a reasonable compromise.
The glasses must be at least eight ounces to qualify. If you don’t feel like measuring out your water, a good rule of thumb is to drink water whenever you feel hungry or thirsty.
Suggestions for Hydration During Exercise
If you are into exercising, the amount of water that you drink is going to increase.
In fact, there are pretty specific guidelines that you need to follow to ensure that you are fully hydrated when exercising. These are critical to understand before you start a new routine. [28]
These suggestions include how water you should drink before, during, and after your exercise.
This water should be considered supplementary to the water you drink during your normal day.
The guideline to follow includes the following steps:
- 17-20 ounces 2-3 hours before exercising
- 8 ounces 20 minutes before working out during your warm-up
- 7-10 ounces every 10-20 minutes during your exercise
- 8 ounces no more than 30 minutes after finishing
Staying hydrated in this way will improve how well you can exercise without getting exhausted.
Just as importantly, it can improve the efficiency of your exercise by supporting your muscle health. Don’t neglect these steps or you risk hurting yourself with your exercise. [29]
Types of Water to Drink
There are many types of water on the market, which can make it tough to choose the best kind for your omad diet.
There are four main types that you can purchase, including drinking water, spring water, distilled water, and purified water. [30][31]
Each of these water types has benefits and disadvantages.
Typically, it is probably best to buy drinking water because it has been treated to eliminate bacteria and other dangers.
Most of this type comes in bottles for easier consumption. Other kinds that you can consider include the following:
- Drinking Water – This type of water is designed specifically for human consumption. It comes from a multitude of sources, including tap water and wells.
- Spring Water – Water that comes from a spring may seem like it is the healthiest (and it will have the best taste) but some types have contaminants.
- Distilled Water – While you can drink this purified type of water, it isn’t the healthiest type. That’s because its minerals and nutrients have been removed.
- Purified Water – Like distilled water, this type has been purified to eliminate any chemicals. People can perform this process on their own by buying in-home purifiers.
While drinking water is your best bet for your health and weight loss, you may still want to purchase other types of water.
For example, spring water is often the richest in vitamins and minerals and can help improve your omad weight loss in a multitude of different ways. [32]
Purified and distilled water are often used by people who own aquariums or who take care of plants.
These kinds of water are better for these purposes than drinking or spring water. In a pinch, though, you can drink any water and get weight-loss benefits while on the Omad diet. [33]
Picking the Best Bottled Water
Now that you fully understand why water helps you lose weight and know to buy drinking water, it is a good idea to focus on bottled water.
That’s because it is easier to ensure you get the water you need in a day.
Shopping for the right type of bottled water involves:
- Focusing on natural bottled water sources, including artesian springs
- Not buying municipal water, as it comes directly from the tap
- Estimating how much water you’ll need in a week
- Finding a retailer who sells this water at a reasonable price
- Storing your water in a cool and dark location to keep it safe to drink
- Rationing out your water based on your specific consumptions needs
A Few of the Best Brands to Consider
There are over 100 different brands of bottled water that you can purchase.
These include local options as well as national and international brands. Getting the best water can help improve your weight loss and provide you with other health benefits.
Just a few of the best types to consider include:
Hildon Natural Mineral Water – Exported from the UK and served at the Buckingham Palace.
Saint Géron Mineral Water – Originates from France, this brand is rich in calcium and magnesium.
Voss Artesian Water – Based out of Norway, this water is often hard to find in America.
Volvic Natural Spring Water – Sold from France and filtered through volcanic rock.
If you can’t afford these rather expensive waters, you can also go for more generic choices.
FIJI is one of the best choices because it is both inexpensive and filled with calcium and magnesium.
Before you open it, no human has touched it in any way.
Evian is another common type of inexpensive bottled water that is worth a purchase.
Those who want water that is higher in quality than these two but not as expensive as the top brands can try Perrier. [36][37]
FAQ on Water and Weight Loss
Q: Why do men need more water than women?
Men typically have larger muscle mass than most women, though this will vary on a case-by-case basis.
For example, a scrawnier man may have less muscle mass than a woman who lifts weights.
That point being true, it is also a reality that men naturally have more muscles than women and, therefore, need more water to stay healthy.
Your muscles take a large portion of your daily water and require proper hydration to stay healthy.
Experts suggest that you drink at least 80 percent of your water intake from water or other drinks and get the remaining percentage from food.
That’s because just about every meal you eat will have some water in it, even if in a small amount.
This 80/20 level is the healthiest balance that you can obtain, though some may try to increase their food intake to avoid drinking more water.
Q: Can I eat more food with my Omad Meal to get my daily water?
Eating to get your daily water is not a good idea for many undeniable reasons.
First of all, the water will lack a natural purity that liquid water possesses.
It will be diluted with the food and less concentrated. Even worse, you are going to have to eat a lot of food to reach the same kind of water level you would obtain by merely drinking liquid water.
That approach is going to throw your Omad diet off-kilter and make it more difficult for you to lose weight.
In fact, you are likely to gain weight because you’ll be eating such a more significant portion of calories.
Avoid this approach like the plague to get the best omad weight loss results. Instead, start drinking more water to lose weight and burn fat.
Q: Is it possible to drink too much water?
In sporadic and rare cases, it is possible to experience hyponatremia if you drink too much water.
This disease is caused by retaining too much water in your body, which reduces your blood sodium levels. Unfortunately, this can cause excessive water buildup to develop throughout the tissues of your body.
That said, it is tough to trigger this problem because the water levels required are often very high.
You are going to have to drink well over your standard 8-10 glasses of water every day to experience this problem.
We’re talking levels like 20-50 glasses of water or more. While it is true that smaller levels may trigger this health issue, you are as close to 100 percent safe as possible following the recommendations of this article.
Q: How do I know when I am dehydrated?
The fact that you’ve likely lived a majority of your life dehydrated means that you may not recognize its symptoms.
You may believe that constipation, headaches, sleepiness, muscle weakness, and other adverse feelings are just what it feels like to be alive. That is simply not the case, as these problems are common symptoms of severe dehydration.
One of the easiest ways to gauge your hydration level is to assess the color of your urine.
When you are well-hydrated, your urine will be either completely clear or have a straw color. Urine that is dark yellow or even brown indicates that you are very dehydrated. Potent urine smell when urinating is another sign that you are suffering from dehydration.
Q: Can’t I drink sports drinks instead of water outside my eating window?
Sports drinks would not be an acceptable drink outside your eating window.
Many sports drinks are marketed as being “better than water” when it comes to hydration. That fact is simply not true.
No type of liquid is as healthy or beneficial for your hydration levels than water.
In fact, many sports drinks have high levels of calories, meaning that you are likely to gain weight if you drink them instead of hydrating with water.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, water can provide you with a multitude of benefits that no other type of drink can generate on your Omad diet.
However, you might still struggle to regularly drink water because you just can’t handle the lack of taste.
This problem is one that can be hard to overcome, but it can be done with a little bit of help.
Have more questions about water with the Omad diet? Leave a comment below or visit the community forums.
