Why You Must Always Stay Hydrated

Yes, protein is important to build muscle, but what if all that protein you’re consuming is not getting synthesized. What is Protein Synthesis? In very simple terms, protein synthesis is basically muscle growth. The amount of muscle you build is directly dependent on how well your body synthesizes the protein you consume. One of the easiest things you can do to make sure that your body is doing this well is by drinking water. Yes, it is as simple as that, yet one of the most overlooked things when it comes to nutrition. Here are a few reasons why you must always stay hydrated:

1. Helps in metabolizing fat

If you don’t drink water, your kidneys will not perform at its full and healthy potential. When this happens, your body essentially transfers some of your kidney’s responsibilities to your liver. The liver’s function is to metabolize fat. Now, if the liver is taking up some of the kidney’s work, its own potential to burn fat takes a hit.

2. Clearing toxins

Water helps in releasing the toxins present in your body. When you are consuming a lot of protein for muscle growth, it is important that you flush out all the extra nitrogen, urea, and ketones from your body. Drinking adequate water ensures that your kidney can function properly. Moreover, it also prevents constipation by keeping your colon healthy.

3. Helps with salt reduction

If there is too much salt in your diet, it might cause excessive water retention. Increased sodium consumption leads to increased water retention. This can be countered by either reducing your overall sodium intake or increasing the amount of water you consume

4. Acts as an appetite suppressant

This point will be especially useful for you if you have been struggling to lose weight. The only way to lose weight is by cutting down your overall caloric intake. This process can be difficult as you might get hungry and end up consuming more calories than you were supposed to. Water is great at naturally suppressing your appetite and metabolizing fat. Less water consumption leads to increased fat deposits.

5. Makes supplements work better

If you workout regularly, there are chances that you might have some kind of supplementation in your diet, be it whey protein, creatine, glutamine, fish oil, and so on. All of these supplements work best when you are consuming enough water. For example, creatine pulls water in muscle cells and leads to muscle growth through an anabolic process. In order for this to work well, one has to naturally consume a lot of water. Moreover, many vitamins are also water-soluble, and water helps in utilizing their full potential.

Apart from the points listed in this article, water helps with a number of other aspects such as muscle pump, better performance, preventing muscle cramps, etc. Water constitutes almost 65 to 70 percent of our bodies, and inadequate consumption can show detrimental effects and slow down your rate of progress. We put in a lot of effort in our workouts and nutrition but we often tend to overlook this one basic aspect. Consuming adequate water is the simplest way to reach your fitness goals faster.