Water can make you lose weight: Pint before meals is KEY to dropping the pounds

A glass of water

DRINKING a pint of tap water before mealtimes could be the key to losing weight, scientists revealed yesterday.

 

A study found overweight adults lost nearly 10lb in 12 weeks after drinking water half an hour before breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Researchers say it could provide a low-cost solution to Britain’s escalating obesity crisis.

The trial saw obese adults recruited from GP surgeries and given a weight management consultation.

They were advised on lifestyle and dietary changes and how to improve their levels of physical activity. 

Half were asked to “pre-load” with water before meals and half were just asked to imagine that they had a full stomach before eating.

The first group lost 2lb 14oz more than the second group, on average, with a loss of 9lb 8oz over 12 weeks compared with just 1lb 12oz.

 

Obesity crisis in the UK

The beauty of these findings is in the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight

Dr Helen Parretti

Sparkling water, sodas and sweetened drinks were not allowed and participants drank plain tap water.

Dr Helen Parretti, of the National Institute for Health Research at the University of Birmingham, the lead author of the research, said: “The beauty of these findings is in the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight.

“When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss – at a moderate and healthy rate. 

“It’s something that doesn’t take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives.” 

 

Many weight-loss programmes advise people to drink water, but no previous studies directly tested this.

Last night Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “There is a widely held view that simple tap water is plain boring and couldn’t possibly help you feel full – but it does. 

Dr Louis Levy, head of nutrition science at Public Health England, said “thirst can sometimes be mista-ken for hunger”.

He added: “Whilst water does not cause you to lose weight, it does keep you hydrated and might help you to eat less.”