You hear it all the time when you are trying to lose weight:  drink water.  It amazes me how many people cite that as one of their greatest challenges in a new diet.  But remember,  we are, after all, made up of about 60-70 percent water.  H20, baby!

Water fills you up, too.  Right before a meal, I try to drink at least one, if not more, glasses of water.  It really stems my appetite.  And, it adds to my overall good health.

One of the most interesting facts I learned in my journey was that the body can’t always distinguish between hunger and thirst.  So, that is the first thing you should do when you feel hungry:  grab a glass of water.  When I had some “issues with my tissues” a couple of years ago, Ming, my physical therapist advised me to drink more water.  He believes, as do many in the medical field, that many of us are simply dehydrated.  It is one of the “medicines” I take when I start having aches and pains.

You need it to keep your body lubed up and moving.   It is a pretty amazing diet tool.  And, here in the U.S. we are lucky enough to have good water.  Right from the tap.  Of course, I don’t need to get into the ‘don’t drink bottled water’ riff — we’ll let the green people do that for you.

If I had to point to one thing that has helped me lost my 50 pounds, it would be that I drink at least 8 glasses of water a day – if not more.   How much should you drink?  This from the folks at about.com:

A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water. When you are traveling on an airplane, it is good to drink eight ounces of water for every hour you are on board the plane. If you live in an arid climate, you should add another two servings per day. As you can see, your daily need for water can add up to quite a lot.

So, drink up!  Drink it straight. Add some lemon to it.  Going portable:  get one of those cool drinking bottles from the store that are eco-friendly and have it on your desk, in your car, or wherever you spend most of your time.  You’ll wonder why you didn’t drink more water all along.