Many dieters intuitively understand that water is closely connected to fat gain and loss. And this has nothing to do with water retention and it's effect on your bathroom scale.

Water doesn't even have any Calories, so how can it make you fat?

It can do so indirectly, and there are two reasons for this.

The first reason is that water is an extremely vital nutrient. It is the body's basic substance for quickly moving almost all biochemicals from wherever they may be stored to wherever they may be needed. It is equally vital for eliminating metabolic waste products to prevent poisoning.

Water is so vital for these things that a lack of it will kill you faster than a lack of anything else except oxygen. (Oxygen may be considered a nutrient so vital that it even merits it's own special organ system to reliably supply you enough.)

The second reason is also the basic premise of this series of articles: that anytime your body begins to run low on any vital nutrient - even water - it will generally trigger hunger to motivate you to go get it some more of whatever it needs. (For various reasons, thirst is often not reliable for this.)

Whenever a lack of a vital nutrient triggers hunger, you'll get fat if you ignorantly allow yourself to eat foods that have lots of Calories but only small amounts of whatever you really do need. This is true even for water because almost all foods provide some amount of water - but also provide many unneeded Calories.

In order to lose weight easily and naturally without hunger or cravings or other unpleasantness, you will need to consciously do exactly the opposite of what made you fat - eat foods with lots of the nutrients you really need but very few Calories.

In previous articles we've discussed this concept in depth. We also discussed methods to manage the other vital nutrients properly.

In general, the most effective diet management strategy is to use dietary supplements and certain concentrated natural foods - all of which are ordinary foods and supplements easily available in most supermarkets.

Managing water, of course, is even easier than that - just turn on the tap and drink a glass when you need it.

However, there are still a few important "tricks of the trade" to help manage your water intake.

First, how much water do you really need? Second, why not just drink water whenever you get thirsty? Third, what other things could mess up your body's water balance?

In general, both science and traditional "dieter's lore" agree that 8-10 glasses will provide about the right daily amount of water (about 80 oz).

However, the thirst sensation is not a reliable way to decide when to drink them, because for several reasons you may often feel the need for water as hunger instead of as thirst. So when dieting it's important to consciously drink water before you feel either of these sensations.

This problem can also be aggravated by common substances that suppress thirst - like coffee, tea, alcohol, some drugs, and some supplements.

Together, the above points tend to validate a common water management strategy used by many dieters: drink a glass of water when you first get up in the morning and about every two waking hours thereafter - whether you feel like it or not.

Low-Calorie soft drinks can be substituted for some of this water unless you're sensitive to them, but at least half should always be water.

You need to develop a habit or a reminder system for this, because otherwise you'll tend to forget and find yourself eating more instead.

In my next article, we'll discuss another not-so-obvious nutrient that must be managed effectively to ensure successful weight loss.

-Anderson A. Anonymous, M.D., Ph.D.- Copyright © 2000 Hamilton/Wolcott Publishing

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"Dr. A." is a nutrition researcher who has deliberately chosen to publish anonymously.

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