This is possible, but you'll mainly be shedding off water weight (a short-term approach) and not fat (a long-term and more sustainable strategy). Remember, losing 5 pounds weekly is not customarily recommended week after week.
How Much Water Should I Drink to Lose Weight? Along with keeping you hydrated and doing wonders for your skin, drinking water is great for weight loss. How much? It's best to drink the amount of water that equals half your weight, in ounces.
For weight loss purposes, your weight and activity levels govern how much water you should drink. In general, you should drink between half an ounce to an ounce every day for every pound you weigh.
You can lose up to 20 pounds of water weight in one week (up to 5 pounds in a day) after adjusting your diet and beginning an exercise routine. However, total weight loss from proper exercise and diet will slow down after immediate losses because muscle weight sheds slower than water weight.
How Much Water Weight Can You Lose? You can lose up to 20 pounds of water weight in one week after modifying your diet and starting an exercise routine. Trinh Le, MPH, RD, claims that up to five pounds of water may be shed in a single day.
Like other types of fasting, water fasting can help you lose weight. However, it comes with plenty of health risks. If you want to reap the benefits of fasting but also want to lose weight, intermittent fasting and alternate-day fasting are probably more effective approaches than water fasting for 24–72 hours.
Studies of older adults have shown that drinking water before each meal may increase weight loss by 2 kg (4.4 lbs) over a 12-week period ( 4 , 11 ). In one study, middle-aged overweight and obese participants who drank water before each meal lost 44% more weight, compared to a group that did not drink more water ( 4 ).
You can expect to lose ~1-2 pounds per day, but consider this a nice benefit, not the primary motivation. If you're doing it for fat loss you might do it too long or ignore signs to stop.
Drinking more water may help with weight loss by temporarily increasing your metabolic rate. Most of our metabolic processes take place in the presence of water. Water helps in the digestion of food and consequently, helps burn more calories. This will lead to losing belly fat.
Water makes up 60% of your body weight, and it's one of the first things you lose. Weight decreases as a change in muscle, fat and water. Fat mass doesn't change quickly, but you can lose as much as five pounds of water in a day. The average 24-hour urine loss is about 1.8-4.4 pounds because water is heavy.
Losing 5 pounds a week comes to reducing your food intake by 3500 calories over seven days. The value that represents the decrease in calorie intake is known as the calorie deficit. If you want to lose 5 pounds in a week, you will need to reduce your food intake by 17,500 calories, which is a huge calorie deficit.
To lose 10 pounds in 3 days would mean decreasing your calorie intake by 35,000 calories in just 3 days! The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends a slow and steady weight loss of no more than 1/2 to 1 pound a week. Otherwise you are losing muscle and water, as well as weakening your bones.
“In general, you should try to drink between half an ounce and an ounce of water for each pound you weigh, every day.” For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, that would be 75 to 150 ounces of water a day.
Burns calories
Of course, you are not taking in any calories while you sleep, so your body is burning the excess calories that are already there while you are sleeping. This is a great way to lose some extra weight, and another of the many positive health benefits water provides.
Your body comprises about 55–75% water, which accounts for a significant proportion of your weight ( 2 , 3 ). According to some estimates, over 80% of overnight weight loss may be due to water loss. That said, how much you lose while sleeping varies depending on your body composition and metabolic rate ( 4 ).
Generally to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular physical activity. Depending on your weight, 5% of your current weight may be a realistic goal, at least for an initial goal.
But drinking more water should be only one small part of your wellness journey. "Drinking water is not going to have a huge weight loss effect, and without calorie restriction and/or exercise, just drinking water is not likely to lead to significant weight loss," Jampolis says.
The 72-h fasting induced significant decreases in glucose level, body weight, and an increase of ketone bodies that confirmed successful fasting of the volunteers. In addition, the median of BDI-2 increased significantly (4 vs. 7, p = 0.006).