Increasing the amount of water you drink can help improve weight loss.

Drinking water has been shown to increase the amount of calories you burn while resting. With some studies showing a 25-30% increase in calories burned just after 10 minutes of drinking water. This effect lasts for 1.5 hours.

A very interesting study shows how women who increased their water consumption with 1 liter managed to lose 2kg (4.4lbs) of weight. The impressive part is that the only lifestyle change that was made for participants was the amount of water they drank. Everything else remained the same.

Drinking water before meals is also shown to help reduce appetite.

In this 12 week weight loss study, participants who drank water 30 minutes before their meal managed to lose 44% more weight than the group that did not.

Drinking water has also shown signs of lowering the risk of weight gain through fat storage.

The recommended consumption of water to achieve these results is roughly 8 oz (2 liters) per day. This varies from person to person. Try and aim around 2 liters as your base line.

Summary:

Drinking water can help improve weight loss. Make sure you drink about 8 ounces or 2 liters of water a day.

You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

Not getting enough sleep could be the main reason why most struggle with weight loss. I mean it.

A study showed how people with poor sleep have 55% to 89% higher likelihood of suffering from obesity.  Another study claims that people who got less than four hours of sleep were 73% more likely to be obese.

Another study showed how participants who underwent a 14 day decrease in their quality of sleep saw a 55% drop in weight loss performance. This is while participants maintained the same caloric deficit.

This is potentially caused by a rise in the stress hormone cortisol, which signals the body to conserve energy. Cortisol is shown to increase fat storage and weight gain.

Using your phone, laptop or TV before bed to watch something, or to fall asleep to, might be disrupting your sleep.

They are shown to suppress the release of the sleep inducing hormone melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep.  As well as reducing the quality of sleep. According to experts, setting a “tech curfew” that is anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours of no screens before bed will benefit you and your sleep.

Drinking too much coffee, tea or other caffeinated drinks during the day might be disrupting your sleep too.

Instead of relying on your morning coffee to you wake up, perhaps your goal should be better sleep. Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep.

Summary:

Sleep deprivation can slow down or completely stop your weight loss. Make sure you get about 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. Limit your screen time before bed to anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours before going to sleep. And try to lower the amount of caffeine you drink during the day to help improve your sleep quality.