Why Is Water Important?

Many gastric bypass patients were not good at hydrating themselves before surgery and now, when it's near impossible to drink much at any given time, they find themselves drinking less than before. Why is water so important?

We won't get into the obvious which is that every part of your body including your organs depends on proper hydration. It is dangerous not to keep your body properly hydrated. Instead I'll touch on just a few areas. If any of you have additional things you'd like to say on this subject, please add comments.

Water is the best weight loss drug ever invented. Okay so it wasn't really invented. But during my weight loss journey, every time I hit a plateau, the way off was increasing my water intake. Everytime I hit a plateau it was because I wasn't drinking enough water (well, except for one, but that was because I had replaced my water and propel flavored water with vitamin water which is evil water). Think about it. If you are drinking enough water between meals, you aren't going to be as hungry. You are keeping your pouch moist and your body hydrated. This increases your health, benefits your sleeping, etc. Plus, it helps flush out your system. When you dehydrate yourself, your body retains water. When you drink tons, your body lets all of that out -- which doesn't just contain retained water but everything that was trapped in there with the water. And I didn't even mention that when your body is properly hydrated so is your skin. That helps it tighten to the biggest extent possible. And we all know we want that.

How to get your water in every day. This is a common complaint amongst gastric bypass patients. I've heard all kinds of justifications and excuses. What it comes down to is this: just do it! I had a hard time up front. Some days I don't make the conscious effort and still don't get enough water in. You have to be committed but the benefits are so worth it. What I did to get myself on track was to purchase a see through 32 ounce bottle from REI. I even bought a splash guard to make it easier to drink from. Here's my schedule (adjust the time to fit yours):

6am: breakfast
6:30-10:30am: 20-32 ounces of water
11:00am: lunch
11:30am-3:30pm: 20 ounces of water
4:00pm: snack
4:30pm-6:30pm: 20 ounces of water
7:00pm: dinner
7:30pm-bedtime: 20 ounces of water

For me, I sometimes switch around the snack and dinner. On occasion I might even add another snack before bedtime (depending on how late I stay up). But by knowing I need to break my water up like this, having clear cut goals that are based on how much water before a certain time of day, really helps. Am I perfect with this? Not even. But my water bottle has the measurements on the side, I can see the water level and I carry it with me EVERYWHERE. It helps, I promise.

Sean