How Much Water Should I Drink on Keto and Why?
The amount of water you should drink on keto is calculated by multiplying your body weight (in kilograms) with 70 (ml). So, if you weigh 80 kg, you should drink 5.6 litre water. It is extremely important that you drink enough water because it is required to metabolize existing and dietary fat and burn it down as energy.
Water acts as a catalyst and a medium of transporting macronutrients and micronutrients in our body. Our body needs water to metabolize fat and, also, to replace existing fat in our cells. Whenever body is replacing fats from existing sources, it fills up the fat molecule with water and after a long period of time body demolishes that molecule. This is called the ‘whoosh effect’ and explains the sudden drop in weight, after many days of having stagnant weight.
Water is a basic component of any fat metabolic stage and neglecting it can lead to many problems such as uneasiness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea etc. Water is a major nutrient, apart from macronutrients and micronutrients. Thus, its importance in weight loss and overall health cannot be stressed enough.
Now drinking water is not going to work if you are not doing it properly. Sometimes you might drink 1 litre of water right after waking up and then forget about it for the next 3 hours. Chugging down 2 litres of water to meet the 5litre goal is a job done wrong. Your body needs water to function so when you play these games, your body does not get water when it needs and all you end up achieving is frequent bathroom breaks.
Equally important is to make sure you are not infusing your water with additives like cinnamon or lime. For the body to benefit from the water and utilize it for metabolic processes, a lot of your water intake should be made of plain water. Each time you add a flavour, you may be changing its chemistry and because there are no free lunches, each teaspoon of cinnamon might also add carbs. So, fill your flask with water and drink up. And always remember, if you are not peeing enough, you are not doing keto properly!