The water diet

What is a water diet?

When losing weight with water, the body should be dehydrated by the additional amount of fluid. This may sound contradictory at first, but it makes theoretical sense from a health point of view. Dehydration helps the body flush out toxins and fats from the organism and this also boosts the metabolism.

It is assumed that if the body gets too little water, it stores more fats. Then the metabolism shuts down. The body needs water for numerous metabolic processes such as burning fat. The metabolism-boosting effect of the fluid on the processes in the body is to be used in this diet. Most diets recommend drinking plenty of water during the diet. One trick of the water diet is that frequent drinking reduces the feeling of hunger.

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Procedure of the water diet

If you want to lose weight with the water diet, nutrition is just as important for drinking water. Everything has to be healthy, balanced and low in calories. Sweets, large amounts of salt, processed foods and foods fried in oil are prohibited in the water diet. Sugar substitutes such as xylitol and sorbitol should be avoided as they can cause bloating. The diet during this diet could include eating unsweetened granola with fruit, rice with turkey for lunch, and fish with green beans in the evening.

It is particularly useful to eat a lot of protein, for example eggs, turkey, chicken. When it comes to carbohydrates, you should rely on whole grain products, potatoes and rice, but consume them in smaller quantities than before the diet. Without any carbohydrates, the dehydration effect increases. It is essential with this diet that you drink regularly before and after meals. You can refine the water with cucumber, ginger or lemon. Cucumber is also dehydrating, ginger boosts your metabolism, and lemon is good for blood circulation. With this form of diet, you should drink at least 40 ml of water per kilogram of body weight. For example, if you weigh 75 kg, you should drink at least 3 liters a day.

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How much can I / should I lose weight with this form of diet?

How much you can lose weight with the water diet depends to a large extent on the diet during the diet, since "healthy, low-calorie, low-fat" can be interpreted and implemented differently. If you reduce the daily calories in your diet to around 800 calories a day, eat low-carbohydrates and low-fat and exercise 2 - 3 times a week, with a consumption of 3 liters of water per day, it is possible to lose 2 kilos in a week. If you drink 3 liters of water a day and keep old patterns, less success is to be expected.

How can I avoid the yo-yo effect with this diet?

The water diet is basically not a diet where a yo-yo effect is to be expected, as it does not specify a strict program. A yo-yo effect can occur if you radically reduce calories and exercise as part of the water diet and lose a lot of weight in a short time. In order to avoid the dreaded yo-yo effect in this case, it is helpful to change your diet over the long term and to live healthy in the long term. In general, the high water consumption should be maintained.

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How good is the success of the water diet?

The success of the water diet is largely dependent on the individual design of the diet, i.e. the implementation of the menu during the water diet and physical activity. The effect of the water alone has almost no effect on weight loss.

Side effect of the water diet

In principle, there are no side effects with the water diet, as water is essential for the body and should always be drunk in sufficient quantities. Side effects are more likely to occur due to the change in diet, such as a bloated stomach from a lot of raw food or the like. However, the diet is determined individually and can be adapted to the needs.

Criticism of the water diet

In general, it is questionable whether the water diet can actually be viewed as a diet, since no special nutrition plan is drawn up. Water as a daily drink is of course healthy and, according to the WHO, should be part of everyone's diet. The diet depends largely on the eating habits during the water diet. If you eat as before the diet and now drink 3.5 instead of 2 liters, you will not notice much weight loss success. If you change your diet, do sports and drink enough fluids, you will effectively boost your metabolism, burn fat and lose weight. In summary, it can be said that the success of losing weight depends on many other factors in addition to the water supply.

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What are the risks / dangers of this diet?

The only real risk with the water diet is false promises of radical weight loss as part of the diet. The reason for this is that the success of the diet depends very much on the individual diet, as the water only helps to stimulate metabolic processes at the cellular level. There are usually no dangers from water consumption, as water is healthy and essential for us. From quantities of 10 liters of water a day you damage your body and can even suffer life-threatening water poisoning, but many people find it difficult to drink a full 2 ​​liters, so this danger is extremely rare.

Medical evaluation of the water diet by

The water diet promises to lose weight by drinking several liters of water throughout the day. However, this only works if the diet is changed in a disciplined manner and, at best, sports activities are added that boost the metabolism and specifically break down love handles (see also: Lose weight by changing your diet). This means that this diet can be designed very differently and depends very much on your own discipline and weight loss goals. Drinking water is undoubtedly healthy and essential for our body to run metabolic processes.

Of course, pure water is healthier than sugary drinks such as lemonade, cola or coffee with high-fat milk and sugar. Nevertheless, most people in our society do not drink enough water, although 40 ml per pound of body weight is recommended daily. Many foods such as cucumber or cooked pasta contain water that we ingest in the same way as the water from the glass. We think that the water diet as a diet is not particularly effective in and of itself, as there are too few specific guidelines, which is of little help if you are overweight. In order to live healthily, one should drink enough water every day, that is for sure.It is very helpful to drink a glass of water about 20 minutes before a main meal, as this makes you feel a bit fuller and you often eat less.

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What alternative diets are there to the water diet?

Losing weight with the water diet is in most cases not construed as a radical diet, but as a somewhat longer process. If you want to lose weight and maintain your weight permanently, the low-carb diet is more suitable for many people, in which carbohydrates are eliminated from the menu and largely replaced by protein. The goal is for the body to break down the protein it consumes from food, maintain its muscles and break down sugar from the love handles. A popular example of this is the low-carbohydrate low-carb Atkins diet, which is preceded by a phase program and a strict menu.

If you want to lose more weight faster, mono-diets are often tried, but they are often accompanied by a yo-yo effect. Examples are the fruit diet, the vegetable diet or the cabbage soup diet.

For athletes and people who want to lose weight quickly and effectively, the Strunz diet, which also consists of several diet phases, in which different foods are allowed. A disciplined sports program is also part of it.

No matter which weight loss diet you choose, people who have previously exercised less should start exercising slowly. Furthermore, it is advisable to gradually increase the calories after the end of the diet and to stick to a balanced diet over the long term. This helps to avoid the yo-yo effect and ultimately to keep the hard-won target weight.

This diet may also be of interest to you: Hollywood Diet