NIH: Could Drinking Water Before Meals Help You Lose Weight?

[usregimechange]

MONDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Close the diet books and skip the pills. The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat.

A new study found that middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.

Researchers divided two groups of overweight and obese men and women aged 55 to 75 into two groups: one group was told to follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet; the other group was told to follow the same diet and to drink two cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After 12 weeks, those who drank water before meals had lost 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the non-water drinkers, a nearly 30 percent difference.

The researchers got the idea for the weight-loss program from their prior research, which found that when middle-aged and older adults drank water before meals, they ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories at the meal.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_102493.html


Back to the basics.

[Skittles]

1. hunger can sometimes just be dehydration

always a good idea to drink some water :D

[tammywammy]

3. I also remember hearing that if you're craving sweets to drink water.

[rocktivity]

2. Wouldn't the very fact that the water would take up room in the stomach

that food would take up have something to do with that?

:shrug:
rocktivity

[Quantess]

7. Duh. That's why you end up eating less.

Seriously, that's what it's about. Nothing wrong with that, if it works. I say it does!

[rocktivity]

8. Which makes this story a candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" award

the "To Figure This Out, You Had To Do A Freaking STUDY?" category.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Quantess]

10. LOL, it's so obvious and well known, I didn't even notice "new study" until you pointed it out.

Before even looking at the link, I assumed it was a Woman's Day article, or Readers Digest.

I guess the researchers felt they needed to increase their degree of certainty? I still say, "Duh!"

[SoCalDem]

4. After three trips to the bathroom during dinner, the meal is cold & unappetiziing

:)

[jkshaw]

5. This has been a weight-loss technique

for years. I remember hearing it in the 50s.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. We got a winnah!

It is older than dirt. Why it works is debated every so often, but it does.

[tridim]

9. But calories aren't necessarily bad for you.

I certainly don't want healthy foods to digest too fast.

[WheelWalker]

11. They are not necessarily good, either. The Middle Way

is furthered by ingesting the Nectar of the Goddess.

[TexasObserver]

12. Water is the only thing I drink with meals, home or restaurant.

At restaurants water is the first thing to arrive, and by the time the meal arrives, I've drunk a glass or more.