Why Drinking Water Is Important For Body Contouring Treatments
At Elite Body Contouring, we love educating our clients on the importance of water consumption for both our treatments and also your health and well-being. And we know that taking care of yourself isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
We are all so busy nowadays trying to juggle all the stresses of day-to-day life that we often forget to take care of ourselves in the right ways. Sometimes, even the most simple parts of self-care can seem difficult to achieve. But in the long run, it’s crucial that we prioritise our own self-care and health essentials.
There’s a lot of hype around food and making sure that we give our bodies the right nutrients, vitamins and minerals to support our health and well-being. In the discussion of diet, supplements and superfoods, we tend to forget about how important water is to the body and the role it plays in keeping us looking and feeling our best.
Why is water important to the human body?
Many people have heard that our bodies are made up of 60% water, but did you know that our blood is also made up of 90% water? With so much of our body and its function being made up of water, you can see why it’s important to replenish our body and keep it hydrated.
You’ve probably heard that you need to drink eight glasses a day or two litres a day. While that messaging is very prevalent, the fact is that people come in many different body sizes, shapes and types. We’re all different, and so we can’t just follow one simple rule to determine the amount of water each of us should be consuming each day — so if we shouldn’t just follow one rule, how do we manage our water intake?
Let’s start with understanding why drinking water is so important.
Key benefits of drinking water
Water is the best thing for our bodies when it comes to beverages. Not only is it calorie-free and the best form of hydration our bodies need, but there are plenty of health benefits, including:
- Better digestion and gut health
- Improved circulation and oxygenation of the body
- Support for healthy cell and organ function
- Aid your body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals
- Regulation of body temperature
- Energised and improved muscle performance
- Assistance in flushing out toxins
- Improved skin health and vitality
Boosted metabolism - And a lot more!
Why is drinking water so important after non-surgical body contouring treatments?
Ensuring you drink enough water after having a non-surgical treatment plays a key role in how well and how quickly your body responds to the treatment. Hydration helps your body in recovering and healing, which is why water is so important for the body.
Many of the treatments we offer at Elite Body Contouring work by destroying the fat cells in your body. This kills those cells for good and is generally a permanent solution for removing stubborn fat pockets from areas of your body. Once fat cells are destroyed, though, your body needs to get rid of them. This process happens when your body identifies those dead fat cells as waste and removes them via your lymphatic system.
The more water you drink, the faster your body will respond to flushing waste through your system, which in turn will also ensure that you will see the results of your treatments sooner.
Is drinking water more important than other beverages?
If you love to reach for tea or coffee, juices, energy drinks and soft drinks throughout the day, you may find that switching to water is difficult. While all of these drinks do contain some H₂O, the additives in some beverages can cause dehydration and stop you from getting the full benefits of the water you are consuming.
Drinks like tea and coffee can stain your teeth and potentially dehydrate you, and soft drinks, juice and energy drinks contain sugar which can add up to a lot of calories throughout the day, spike your sugar levels and also cause damage to your teeth if you consistently reach for them over water day after day. Water is by far the best option for providing hydration day in, day out.
How Much Water Should You Drink Each Day?
OK, so we’ve established that the golden rule of eight glasses of water a day isn’t necessarily the right amount for every single person and body type or size. But how do you tell how much water you should be having? The correct amount of water intake for each individual can vary a lot based on a number of different factors, such as the climate you live in, physical activity, weight, height and gender.
At Elite Body Contouring, we use the formula of [your body weight x 0.04] to calculate your daily water intake. If you are working out, keep in mind that the water you are drinking is only replenishing what you have lost in sweat, which means you will need to increase your water intake to account for this.
If in doubt, listening to your body is always a good place to start — drink water when you feel thirsty, and reach for water rather than tea, coffee, soft drinks or other beverages which don’t provide as much pure hydration. If you’re doing any kind of exercise or outdoor activity where you are sweating, make sure to have water available to keep yourself healthy and hydrated.
How do you know if you’re drinking enough water?
One of the best ways to know if you’re drinking enough water is to have a body composition scan in order to measure your body’s intracellular and extracellular water levels.
At Elite Body Contouring clinics, we use the InBody770 body composition scans to track and measure both intracellular and extracellular water levels (as well as many other aspects of your internal health) to help to get a deeper understanding of what’s happening inside your body.
What are intracellular water and extracellular water?
You may be thinking that all water is water. But when we ingest water by drinking it, it replenishes different places in our body that need it to function properly. If there’s an underlying health condition you’re not aware of, water may also end up being stored in areas where it’s not needed.
Intracellular water is the water content that is inside your cells. This shows whether your cells have enough water to function correctly.
Extracellular water is the water content outside of your cells. This shows if you are retaining extra water and can also be an indication of other underlying health conditions.
When you get a body composition scan at one of our clinics, you can pinpoint any areas of concern and establish whether your body is getting the hydration it needs to give you the full benefits of the water you’re drinking.
Want to find out more?
If you’re concerned about making sure you’re staying properly hydrated, worried you’re not drinking enough or you just want to track your internal health, Elite Body Contouring can help!
Drop into one of our clinics and talk to us about performing an InBody770 Body Composition Scan, or book a consultation with one of our friendly staff today.
