* It curbs hunger: Water is a natural appetite suppressant. Insufficient fluid can lead to over eating. Your brain does not differentiate between hunger and thirst. If there there is a slight dehydration the thirst mechanism may be mistaken for hunger and one may eat when the body is actually craving for water. In other words, when you think you are hungry, your body may in fact be telling you that you are thirsty!
As most food contains some water, if you don’t drink enough water, you may be subconsciously driven to eat more to gain the necessary water supply and as a result, you gain more calories and more weight!

* Water makes you feel full. Because it is filling and calorie free, water is part of the solution when it comes to weight loss and maintenance. Water takes up room in your stomach, making you feel full. This means you’ll eat less and feel less hungry.

* It replaces sugary drinks: A half-cup of fruit juice contains between 45 and 80 calories. Sodas, sugary drinks and shakes all contain calories. By drinking them, you would be adding a considerable number of calories. On the other hand water has zero calories. So, to replace sugary drinks and cut down on your calories, keep a glass of water in your hand and sip it instead of grabbing a mixed drink or any other type of drink.

* Water boosts your metabolism. The findings are reported in the December issue, 2003 of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The researchers Michael Boschmann, MD, and colleagues from Berlin’s Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Center tracked energy expenditures among seven men and seven women who were healthy and not overweight. The subjects, after drinking approximately 17 ounces of water, increases the rate of burning calories by 30% within the time frame of 30-40 minutes.

A person who increases his water consumption by 1.5 liters a day would burn an extra 17,400 calories, for a weight loss of approximately 5 pounds in a year. Increase metabolism means increase the calorie burn and fat loss. This is how you can achieve fat loss by drinking water.

Though people may have different opinions about fat loss by drinking water, water can surely curb hunger and encourage you to replace high-calorie drinks. Water is one of the best ways to keep your mouth busy without adding calories, and also, drinking water has other health benefits as well.

How Many Glasses of Water Should You Drink Each Day?

One rule of thumb is to drink 8 eight ounce glasses of water per day or approximately 2 liters. While this is not a bad starting point, I recommend you determine how much water you need by your weight. Take your weight in lbs and divide it by 2. The result is the amount of water in ounces that you should drink per day.

If it is hot outside, or you are exercising you want to increase that basic water requirement by a few more glasses.

Do not kid yourself — this diet is not easy. It brought up a lot of things for me emotional and psychological with regard to food. I was able to remain on the minimally required 10 days but I know others that did not make it that far. It’ s a mental test more than anything else. Surprisingly, even after not eating for 10 days I was never physically hungry.

There is a lot more to the diet than just Lemonade so I STRONGLY recommend reading the book and not just listening to what you may have heard someone else say. The book is a really short read but packed full of information, but there is also the audio CD which only requires an hour.

In the end I heard most people gain back half the weight they lose, but I have not but I have also adopted a much healthier way of eating. The book worked for me, it gave me the kick start I needed! I wouldn’t recommend to everyone — for anyone eating the standard American diet this will definitely be beneficial but hard! A real character builder. But you know, I only lost 9 pounds and I’ve achieved better results with exercise and calorie restriction and without the mental stress. If you are going to do this it has to be for health not just weight loss or you won’t make it through. Good Luck!