It’s a known fact that the more water you drink, the healthier you will be. But what you may not know is that drinking about 16 ounces of water 30 minutes before meals can help with weight loss, especially for obese individuals. These findings are due to new research out of the University of Birmingham in the UK. Although these findings are very beneficial to those individuals who are seeking out the best ways to drop a few lbs. quickly, more research is required through much larger trials. This small study involved 84 obese volunteers whom had been recruited by the study team through the subjects’ doctors.
All 84 underwent weight loss consultations covering their daily habits, diet, and the rewards of regular exercise. The 84 were then split into two groups, 41 of which were requested to drink 16 ounces of water 30 minutes before their meals without sparkling water, carbonated, or sweetened drinks permitted. The remaining 43 were simply asked to imagine they were full before partaking. The results were then tracked for the next 12 weeks and after the first 2 weeks phone consultations were conducted. The results showed that after just two weeks with their new diet routines, those who drank 16 oz. of water before each meal lost an average of 2.87 pounds more than those who imagine they were full. Those who fully committed and consumed large amounts of water before all three meals every day lost an average of 9.48 pounds. Those who did this at most once a day or not at all only lost an average of 1.76 pounds.
One of the study authors, Dr. Helen Parretti, explained, “The beauty of these findings is the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight. When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and [get] on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss — at a moderate and healthy rate. It’s something that doesn’t take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives.”
Next step on this study team’s agenda? More volunteers. With a much larger group of subjects to base this trial on, the team could get a much more accurate and realistic set of results. Therefore, validating their findings and further helping those seeking better weight loss techniques.
Locke, Tim. “Drink Water Before Meals to Lose Weight?” WebMD. WebMD, 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.
