As incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single, most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off. How so?

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat. Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase and vice versa. Here’s why: the kidneys can’t function properly without enough water. When they don’t work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver. One of the liver’s primary function is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But when the liver has to do some of the kidney’s work, it can’t operate at full throttle. As a result, it metabolizes less fat. Thus more fat remains stored in the body and weight gain sets in.