The world is filled with pills and powders promising amazing fat loss. These magic pills represent a billion-dollar industry that thrives on gullible people who are eager to find the easy way to achieve the physical ideals that are placed on society.

Pretty much all of them are pure garbage. The magic solution is cheaper and easier to access for those of us who reside in a civilized society: water.

Most of the pills tossed at us by the supplement industry amount to little more than expensive urine. If that is the least damage they do, then people can count themselves lucky. Though damage to the wallet is never a great thing, it’s not as bad as damage to the body.

Some of the supplements can actually have a cumulative effect of decreasing metabolic rate, which will ultimately cause weight gain rather than weight loss. Others can hurt the organs that try to process them.

Kidney and liver damage are possible results from chronic supplementation. Living without properly functioning kidneys and liver is not a treat.

Water, on the other hand, doesn’t come with a bag of negative side-effects. It is true that a person can drown themselves through too much water consumption, but that takes a lot of water.

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Since nearly everybody I talk to drinks far less water than they ought to, drowning oneself through excessive consumption is not an overwhelming concern.

The benefits of adequate consumption, as well as the affordability and accessibility, make it absolutely necessary for fat loss. In fact, it seems odd that such a miraculous substance gets overlooked by so many people.

That’s not to say that people don’t drink water at all. Obviously they know it’s necessary for survival. The plethora of people that are under hydrated, though, which makes it clear that water’s benefits are not as broadly understood as they should be.

Water impacts weight loss in multiple ways. One is through its influence on kidney and liver function. Kidneys need adequate water to function properly. Without enough hydration, the liver is forced to pick up the slack.

Since the liver metabolizes fat for energy production, forcing it to do more of the kidneys’ job means it’s unable to perform its own job at full efficiency. This means less fat burned and more fat stored.

Water also helps to overcome constipation, which can result from a lack of proper hydration. When the body is incapable of efficient removal of waste products, the ability to shed fat is greatly diminished. Drinking up means helping maintain a regular flow, thus eliminating the problem.

There is also a metabolic boost that results from water consumption. 10 minutes after consumption, water can boost the metabolic rate by 30 percent and the boost lasts until approximately 30-40 minutes post consumption.

Granted, this boost is not substantial enough cause astronomical weight loss by itself, but any boost to the metabolism is going to burn calories at a higher rate and contribute to fat loss. Over the course of a year, adequate consumption of water can lead to five pounds lost.

Finally, there is the water weight issue. Many misinformed people have been led to believe that increasing water consumption leads to water weight, otherwise known as water retention. In reality, it is the opposite.

When the body doesn’t get enough water, it holds onto every last drop it can because it doesn’t trust there will be more coming. This storage leads to swelling and contributes toward a negative appearance.

On the other hand, when a body stays properly hydrated, it doesn’t feel the need to desperately cling to water for dear life. Water stores are released and the overall circumference of a person will decrease.

There are many other physiological benefits from drinking enough water that go beyond fat loss and size reduction. The benefits covered here, however, ought to be enough to motivate a person to put down the supplement bottles and reach for their water bottle instead.

More water means less fat, a higher metabolic rate and decreased water weight. It’s so good, it’s almost magic. Drink up and downsize.