The Best Overlooked Diet Secret and Energy Drink: Water?

Yes, water! Drink more water to get an energy boost and improve your metabolism. Only a 5% dip in body weight through dehydration can reduce muscular work capacity by 20-30%. Simply put, a lack of proper hydration will decrease your exercise intensity and delay results. There is also a correlation that drinking less water leads people to drink more beverages with empty calories, such as sodas, juices, energy drinks, and indulgent coffees. So drinking more water helps you work harder and keeps your caloric intake under control.

Most people willingly recover their fluid levels by drinking water during and after their workouts, but there is more to consider than replacing the water lost by sweating during your workouts.

Almost 47% of your daily fluid loss comes from evaporation through your skin and lungs. That percentage increases with your surrounding climate. Outdoor exercise and activities during summer will obviously make you sweat, but don't forget that air conditioning and cold temperatures will tap your fluid levels too. How so? Remember that air conditioners work on the principle of cooling the air through evaporation. As the temperature drops, your body senses the dryness and moves water to the skin, where it evaporates into the air. You can see where this starts to construct a viscous cycle that leads to dehydration.

The best indicator of your hydration level is also the source of most of your fluid loss, urine. On average, 50% of our daily fluid loss happens in the restroom.

During your trips to the restroom, you should be noticing that your urine becomes far more clear and odorless. As much as it may be a nuisance, frequent urination is a sign that you are keeping up on your water intake. Count that as a positive because your body is continually filtering out everything you put into it: coffee, teas, soda, juices, alcohol (beer, wine, and spirits), supplements, and medications. These all will cause your kidneys to use more water to filter out what your cells cannot utilize.

Suggestions from health websites and news reports recommend drinking at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water per day. This means if you weigh 200 pounds you should be drinking 100 ounces of water a day. And, every ounce of coffee or tea, and soda (diet or regular), that drink, you will need to drink the equivalent amount of water to make up for it. For alcohol (wine, beer, and spirits), the amount of water should be doubled. Do not forget to add 16 ounces of water for every pound lost from sweat while you are tallying up your needs.

How well do you match up for your lifestyle and body weight? I challenge you to keep track of your water intake for a week. You may be surprised at how far below the mark you fall.