Peter Petrou fitness has been rated by WOMOW as one of the top 3 personal training businesses in Sydney Australia and my aim is to make top quality personal training affordable to everyone. Including exercise tips and advice, below is just one of numerous articles published online by me to help try to educate people when it comes to health and fitness.
Whenever I meet a new client I recommend they bring water to training in order to help prevent dehydration and a protein drink to ensure they have digested adequate protein within the first hour after training. I am constantly trying to educate my clients about health and fitness and the reason I tell them to do some of the things I tell them to do. Surprisingly, because I said so doesn’t work with my clients. Actually, it doesn’t work with my kids either but that is another story.
People are always being told that they should drink more water but hardly any of them seem to know why. I like to joke with my clients by telling them that drinking water will help you to get fit just because it will have you running to the toilet so much more but drinking water is important to us for a number of reasons.
To begin with, let’s look at some facts. Water is actually your body’s most important nutrient and it is involved in every bodily function. As babies our bodies comprise of approximately 75 to 80% water. Adult males are approximately 70 to 75% water and women are 60 to 70% water. Muscles are approximately 70% water and humans can only go a few days without it. Water acts as a lubricant for your muscles, cushions your joints and vital organs and is essential for you to have energy during your workout as it aids in the transportation of oxygen and glucose throughout your body. It aids in cellular function, it helps to carry nutrients to cells and aids in regulating body temperature.
I hope I didn’t bore you too much with that paragraph but those are some of the facts explaining why your body needs water to operate properly and yes water is weight but it is vital for all the reasons just mentioned. So although you may think, I will lose weight by not drinking much. The problem is that when you’re dehydrated although you may notice a difference on the scale you have not actually lost any fat and you are making it harder for your body to metabolise fat. Something most people don’t seem to know is that drinking more water is actuality vital in losing weight as it allows your liver get back to its job of turning fat into fuel.
When you are getting enough water, your body will readily release water stored in your body and metabolise fat. Yet, if you do not drink enough water, your body will store both water and fat.
Something we all hear often is that if you do not get enough water you risk dehydration and even minor dehydration can have a negative impact on athletic performance. The majority of people respond to this by thinking “what has that got to do with me? I am not an athlete” and the fact that dehydration can have a negative impact on athletic performance only bothers athletes. In fact water deprivation can lead to serious long term illnesses such as:
- Bronchitis (respiratory disease)
- Asthma (respiratory disease)
- Lupus Erythematosus (connective tissue and autoimmune disease)
- Multiple Sclerosis (an autoimmune disease)
Okay so that was my shock and awe approach at letting you know about some of the worst effects of dehydration. The fact of the matter is though that dehydration will actually lead to the promotion of increased levels of body fat. As water contributes to energy storage along with glycogen. When you don’t consume enough water, your body stores extra amounts of glycogen that remain in your bloodstream until reaching the liver, this extra glucose is stored as fat. Even limited levels of dehydration effect you in a negative way as your body then takes the water that is stored inside your cells in order to compensate for each level of dehydration, including your bodies fat cells. When you then have less water in your fat cells they are less capable mobilizing fat for energy. One of the primary functions of your liver is to metabolize stored fat into energy.
Your kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water, and salts out of your bloodstream. If you don’t consume enough water your kidneys are not capable of functioning properly. Your liver will then have to work harder to compensate which places you at risk of a kidney infection and as a result, it metabolizes less fat. Something that is actually applicable to everyone but more so for women who wish to lose weight as tests have shown that women are more vulnerable to dehydration symptoms. An issue that seems minor, not getting enough water, but as well as the way it will affect everyone’s health and weight loss it can actually affect women’s weight loss drastically.
Peter Petrou
Peter Petrou fitness Pty Ltd
Remember: it’s easy to get fit, it’s just hard work