Speaking of water...

This doesn't answer TheBetty's and my question about why we don't eliminate as much as we take in but this is a lite-science explanation of why it's so important to drink water.

Water and Diet
Importance of Water
The body is composed of mainly water. In many places of the country tap water is suitable for drinking however many people still find it suspect.

Drinking and making sure you have plenty of water is really a key ingredient in fat loss. There are actually a couple of factors with regards to water which contribute to fat loss.

The first part is that your liver is primarily responsible for metabolizing fat.

One of its functions is to convert stored fats to energy. It has other things that it does as well but this is one of its main functions. One of the liver's other functions though and this is where the water equation comes into play, is to help out the kidneys which need plenty of water to function properly. If the kidneys aren't getting the water they need, the liver has to help them out. Since it's now doing two things at once it won't be metabolizing that fat as efficiently as it could if the kidneys had enough water to do it on their own.

The second part is that your body has to burn calories to keep itself at its critical operating temperature of 98.5, just like your furnace at home has to burn natural gas, oil or electricity to heat your home when it's cold outside. The body, exposed to the outside air which is generally cooler, is always losing heat. This could explain why people who spend a great deal of their time in water are almost one for one never fat. To make up for this, the body has to burn calories to keep itself at a constant temperature. If you drink a half to a full gallon of ice cold water each day you'll get a bonus of 50 to a little over 100 calories burned per day, because it has to raise the temperature of the water you just took in from around 40 degrees up to 98.5. Just like your furnace at home, it has to burn some form of fuel to accomplish this. The calories required to do this can add up. Plus you'll be giving it plenty of water so it will start releasing all the extra it has stored up- as well as relieving the liver of having to help the kidneys do their job.

Your body can only survive about 3 days without water. If you continue to drink lots of it, your body will stop hanging onto all the excess it has accumulated in an effort to ensure it has enough. Sipping it all day long is actually the best way to do it. The first few days you'll notice yourself going to the bathroom a lot. If you continue to drink lots of it, which you should, this should taper off.

One of the easiest ways to get ice water is to take "sport bottles" of water and freeze them overnight. When you get up in the morning place them in a cooler that you can take with you. As the ice melts throughout the day you'll always have ice cold water to drink. Ice water tastes a lot better also.

Water makes you look good too!

Water does great things for your looks. It flushes out impurities and toxins from your skin leaving you with a great clear complexion. It also makes you look younger. Skin that's saggy from aging or weight loss will plump up when your cells are properly hydrated giving you a fresh clean look. It also improves muscle tone. Muscle requires more water than fat; if your muscles are in need of water you can pump weights like crazy, but until they get the water they need you probably aren't going to get the results you want. After all, muscle is 72% water.

Partial Dehydration

With the current array of soft drinks, coffee, tea, and other factors in the modern world, our sense of thirst is not dependable to tell us how much water to drink daily. In fact many of us go through our lives in a state of partial dehydration. Some of the symptoms of partial dehydration are:

dizziness
headache
fatigue
thirst
flushed skin
blurred vision
muscle weakness

Although there are of course other things that can create these symptoms, don't let something as easy to remedy as dehydration slow you down. Eight glasses a day should be your minimum. However one half to a gallon of ice water when losing weight is what you should drink daily. Ordinary tap water is quite satisfactory if you have no problems with your city's water supply. Otherwise, use bottled or filtered water to keep yourself hydrated. You should notice a difference in the way you feel too.

Drink up !!