Will Drinking Water Help Me Lose Weight?

Will drinking water help me lose weight? – Katie, Penn.

Whether it's South Beach, Zone or American Heart Association, all diets seem to make the same claim: Drinking water will help speed up weight loss. But actually, the evidence concerning this assumption is all over the map.

One 2004 German study found that drinking 17 ounces of water sped up the metabolic rate of volunteers by more than 30 percent for about 30 minutes. When subjects downed six glasses (51 ounces) of water in a day, they burned calories at a rate that would theoretically add up to a five-pound weight loss over the course of a year. The study was quite small, only 14 healthy young people, but the results are compelling enough to make you think twice about passing by a water fountain without taking a drink.

Another study done in 2009 at Virginia Tech found that those who guzzle a glass of water before a meal eat 75 fewer calories. Though just the equivalent of a few forkfuls of pasta or a few bites of dessert, you could theoretically wind up nearly 15 pounds lighter in a year simply by making this one little change. Indeed, the water drinkers lost 44 percent more than the nonwater drinkers over a 12-week period. All good, until you consider that their total weight loss was less than a pound.

Another group's approach to the question is far more clever, in my opinion. University of Pennsylvania researchers examined how drinking water affects calorie consumption by comparing one group of women who ate a chicken-and-rice casserole, a second group who ate the same casserole and downed a large glass of water and a third who ate a bowl of chicken soup containing roughly the same number of calories as the casserole.

Both chicken casserole-eating groups reported the same level of satisfaction and ate approximately the same number of calories in later meals. Drinking water didn't seem to offer any calorie-reducing advantage.

But interestingly, the soup eaters reported feeling the most satisfied and subsequently ate about one-third fewer calories. This led the researchers to speculate that drinking water with a meal doesn't fill you up or leave you feeling any more satisfied, but watery foods may, for reasons that are still unclear, leave you feeling fuller and more satisfied than drinking water with your meal. So perhaps watery foods, rather than water itself, will do the trick.

Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a childhood obesity pedestrian and author of "Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right," said people often mistake thirst for hunger, turning to food when all they really need is a glass of water. For that reason, it's possible that staying well hydrated can indirectly help with calorie control.

She also points out that when you substitute water for sugary, high-calorie beverages (as I mentioned in a previous post), there is a very good chance you will wring calories from your diet that may be the cause of your perpetual belt tightening. An Oakland Research Institute investigation found that dieters who replace sugary drinks with water lose an extra five pounds a year. This is one of the reasons that Dolgoff asks the participants of her Online Weight Loss Program for kids to drink more water.

Weight control aside, there are plenty of important reasons to wet your whistle. Made up of nearly 70 percent water, your body is a veritable ocean. You lose water during various biological functions, such as breathing, perspiring and urinating. Taking in adequate amounts of water keeps your skin healthy, your brain functioning properly and your blood flowing freely. "But the idea that you must have eight glasses of water a day isn't really true," Dolgoff said. "As long as you're getting the equivalent of at least four through liquids and watery foods, you aren't at risk for dehydration."

Here's a list of some common activities and the amount of water you potentially shed when you do them. Keep in mind that you have a built-in mechanism for thirst, so the best advice is simply to listen to your body and drink when you feel parched.

What do you think? Has water helped you lose weight or do you think this theory is all washed up? Dish your opinion here, please, or tweet me @lizzyfit.