Burn Calories by Drinking Water

Did you know you can burn calories by drinking water? It’s true. Aside from facilitating virtually every process in the body, water can be used to burn calories if consumed at the right temperature.

Every movement you make requires energy: every step, every jump, every word you say, every heartbeat every nerve impulse, and by processing cold water!

For every gallon of ice cold water (40 degrees F) you drink, you burn 123 calories¹. You can put this calculator on your website by visiting my calculators page.

You can figure the calories burned by taking the liters of water you consume times the temperature difference between your core body temperature (37° C) and the temperature of the water in Celsius.

Remember to drink 2.0 liters of water per day as discussed in a previous post.

1. Darden, Ellington (2004). The New High Intensity Training, pg. 196. Rodale.

Tags: Calories, Water, Weight Loss

What are Calories | How Many Calories are in 1 lbs/kg

Calories

In my Top 10 Reasons Why You’re Fat post, I talked about the importance of regulating your calories. A calorie is often referred to a kilocalorie (kcal) in the academic world. I will use the word “calorie” so I don’t cause confusion.¹

One calorie is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water 1 degree Celsius¹ (4.23 cups of water 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit²). A calorie is the potential energy in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, proteins contain 4 calories per gram, and fats contain 9 calories per gram.¹

How many calories do I have to burn to lose 1 lbs or 1 kg?

You must burn 3,500 more calories than you consume to lose 1 lbs of fat (7,700 calories to lose 1 kg).³  This means that if you consumed 2,000 calories and burned 2,500 every day, you would lose 1 lbs in a week ( (2,000 - 2,500) x 7 = 3,500).

To lose weight you can either eat less calories, burn more calories, or both.

1. Insel, Paul, & Turner, R. Elaine, & Ross, Don (2004). Nutrition –2nd ed, pg. 14. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

2. 1 US gallon weighs 8.34 lbs or 3.78 kg. 0.26455 gallons weighs 1 kg (1 / 3.78). There are 16 cups in a gallon, so 4.23 cups weigh 1 kg (0.26455 * 16).

3. Corbin, Charles B. & Lindsey, Ruth (2005). Fitness for Life –5th ed, pg. 230. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Tags: Calories, Weight Loss