More on Water for Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Want to lose an extra eight pounds a year without even trying? That's the amount you might be able to lose just by drinking a half liter of water before breakfast.

According to researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksbury, Virginia, drinking water before a meal appears to curb the appetite. Researchers compared two groups of overweight and obese people. One group was given instructions to drink a half liter of water before breakfast (about 16 ounces); the other was not. They found that the subjects drinking the water consumed an average of 75 less calories at breakfast than those who didn't drink up first. They didn't make any effort to eat less -- they may not even have been aware of doing so. But they did. Think that's no big deal?

Consider that 75 calories a day adds up to, let's see now, 27,375 calories a year. By traditional computation (3,500 calories per pound), that adds up to just under eight pounds.

This is important because it adds to the growing body of research showing that small behavioral changes that don't seem to be a big deal can actually translate into different eating behaviors. Drinking water before breakfast is one of those small changes. Eating on a smaller plate is another. Leaving the chicken wings at the table after you've eaten them (instead of having the waitress remove them) is a third. All have been shown to unconsciously influence how much you eat. And all of these strategies take just about zero effort or willpower!

And if you think eight pounds a year is bupkus, consider that there are weight-loss drug studies that don't produce results much better than that. Factor in the fact that drinking water before breakfast is only one of many different tricks you can use to curb your appetite and cravings and before you know it, you're looking pretty good!