Know What You are Drinking! (The Importance of Water)

Many folks watching their diets in order to lose weight overlook what they are drinking. This is a fairly common oversight because weight loss diets focus primarily on solid food. The by-product of this oversight is a disregard for the considerable calories found in the beverages people drink. 

Soft Drinks give you More Calories!

If one were to consume a typical 12-ounce can of soda or bottle of soft drink (not the sugar-free variety, of course) every single day for a year, it would mean ingesting a total of almost 44,000 calories over the same period. Translation: he or she would have to burn off the equivalent of 12 extra pounds in the course of that year. Thus, you may really want to think twice about supersizing it—because that is exactly what will happen to you—you'll go big!


If soft drinks are your first beverage choice and you can't seem to shake the habit, at least switch to diet soft drinks—it can make a difference. Nowadays, they are blended to taste just like the sweetened variety. 

Pre-sweetened Juices and Iced Teas 

The sweetened variety of juices is very common, very popular, and very available. And they are much more calorie-laden than their unsweetened counterparts. Iced teas, on the other hand, is always a favorite all year long. But stay away from the pre-sweetened teas!


Make sure you select 100 percent fruit juice and not "juice" drinks that are artificially sweetened. Try diluting fruit juice with sparkling water for a bubbling and naturally filling effect. 

Sports Drinks

Increasingly popular sports drinks can be split into three major types.  

• Isotonic sports drinks contain proportions of water and other nutrients similar to the human body's, and typically are six to eight percent sugar.
• Hypertonic sports drinks contain a lesser proportion of water and greater proportion of sugar than what's found in the body.  
• Hypotonic sports drinks, on the other hand, contain greater proportion of water and a lesser proportion of sugar than the human body's.

Most sports drinks are moderately hypertonic, having between 13 and 19 grams of sugar per eight-ounce serving. So as much as possible, avoid sports drinks unless anticipating vigorous activity. They contain sugar which, if not dispelled in the form of expended energy, will translate into additional calorie intake. 

The Importance of Water 

For any weight loss program or regimen, it's no-brainer that the beverage of choice is water.  

• Water is fat-free, sugar-free, and carbohydrate-free and therefore calorie-free. 
• It also acts as a natural appetite suppressant (because it is filling), increases our body's fat burning ability and helps our body function at optimal level.
• Water helps to regulate body temperature, lubricate our joints, and maintain healthy skin.
• Water is essential for proper digestion, for transporting nutrients, and for removing waste from our body. 

And if one were to drink the recommended 8-12 glasses of water a day, the space in our digestive tracks and stomach—not to mention our over-appetites—would be compromised.


If you aren't natural water drinker and "need" to have flavored fluids, try adding a twist of lime or lemon to your water for extra zing. And keep a pitcher of "water with a twist" in your refrigerator. Cutting up and squeezing fresh fruit into water can add enough flavor to become an incentive to drink more water. 


So, make sure to think before you drink especially when you are on a diet or if you want to lose weight. (For more tips on weight loss, see Weight Loss Diet and Tips.)

Reference: Healthy Lifestyle & Living enrich Volume 2 Issue 9 April 2009. “Think Before You Drink” p. 22-24. Retrieved 18 February 2011.