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Dieting and losing weight are often difficult goals that people continue to try everyday. Even though a select few people can lose weight by going to the gym and eating well due to a strict regimen, others find it hard to keep the motivation up. Since maintaining a healthy lifestyle through exercise and diet is important, researchers have continuously searched for new weight loss methods. In a new study, researchers looked into the effects of water on weight loss. Previous studies have found that water can create a bloated effect, which then curbs hunger. In this study, researchers also found that water appeared to be effective in staving off hunger especially when people drank water before eating.

This study, headed by Rebecca Muckelbauer, a researcher at the Berlin School of Public Health, Charité University Medical Center Berlin in Germany and Brenda Davy from Virginia Tech University in the United States, found that people who drank water before meals ate fewer calories. When participants drank two cups of water before every meal, the average weight loss was four pounds. One of the logical reasons behind the weight loss that the researchers reported was that water is capable of curbing hunger. This then turns into fewer than normal calorie intake.

Although this explanation has been reported in other studies, Muckelbauer believes that it is not the only factor that could be promoting weight loss. According to Muckelbauer, another explanation for weight loss could be water induced thermogenesis, which is when water consumption leads to energy expenditure. Even though this possibility makes sense, Muckelbauer admits that it is "not very well studied." More research would need to occur before water induced thermogenesis is considered a valid explanation as to why weight loss occurs when people increase their water consumption.

Despite finding that water helped with weight loss, the researchers also stated that they did not find a cause-and-effect. They found that the total amount of water consumed was not positively correlated to weight. For example, some obese people drink a lot more water than skinny people. Even though water consumption was not directly tied to weight loss, the researchers stressed that replacing beverages with water could be an effective way to lose weight. Americans drink around 400 to 500 calories a day and by replacing those calories with water, people could cut out a huge portion of extra calories from their diet.

This study was a part of a review that included 11 studies researcher the effects of water. Three of the studies also found evidence that water could help with weight loss. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.