Water is the essence of beauty life. Without it, you’ll die. 

Here’s a list of things the liquid of life does for your body:

• dispels toxins
• regulates body temperature
• aids in digestion
• promotes healthy skin
• dissolves water-soluble vitamins like Vitamin C, B6, B12, Niacin, & more.

Water plays a huge role in every chemical reaction that happens in the mobile chemistry labs you use every day to live, laugh, fuck, eat, and binge Netflix.

And when it comes to fat loss, proper hydration will help your body burn fat more efficiently.

Good hydration helps your liver break down fatty acids to use as fuel. And it also keeps your kidneys running in tip top shape.

When you’re dehydrated, however, your liver has to pick up the slack from your less efficient kidneys to rid the body of toxins. This means that the fat burning capabilities of your liver take a hit.

Dehydration can even cause you to have shitty workouts. Drinking enough H₂0 could be the difference between hitting those last 2-3 reps, adding an extra 5 or 10 pounds to the bar, or erasing a few more seconds off your record run time.

For more about how hydration can affect your training, check this article out from former podcast guest Mason Woodruff.

Water Sucks, It Really Really Sucks

“Ugh, Robbie water is boring. It’s bland and tasteless.”

You know what else is boring?

Using the block button in Smash Brothers. Why block when I can swing Link’s sword like a crazed madman? (Oh, right because it helps me stay in the game longer.)

If you’re trying to look better naked and lose a few pounds or build lean muscle, water is one of the most powerful power-ups you can use in your battle for fat loss.

So here are a few of my favorite ways to make water taste more awesome.

Classic Citrus

There is nothing better than the refreshing taste of lemon water.

And no, I’m not talking about “lemonade.” I’m talking about water with lemon. Adding lemon to water is easy: slice up a few lemons, throw them in a pitcher, add water, then drink.

For more of the refreshing citrus taste added by lemons, place the pitcher of water in the fridge overnight.

Hate lemons? Cool, you can always substitute lime instead.

Or hell, use both and have lemon-lime flavored water. Delicious.

Fruit

Everything from bagels, to cookies, rice crackers, protein bars, and more have fruit flavorings.

Fruits like watermelon, strawberries, grapefruits, apricots, peaches, cantaloupe, and pineapple are comprised of more than 85-90% water.

Adding pieces of these fruits or even oranges, mangoes, or papaya to your water can help deliver bursts of flavor to the hydrating goodness of H₂0.

Now, before anyone asks, “but Robbie those fruits have sugar in them and won’t they add calories to my water?”

Yes, fruit does have calories, but you’re only cutting up and adding 2-3 strawberries, and the amount of sugar they contain is negligible.

Plus, consuming cold water forces your body to burn extra calories, as it has to heat the water up to your body’s temperature. According to Greatist, one 16 ounce glass of ice cold water can burn up to 17.5 extra calories just from this thermogenic process.

As long as you’re in a calorie deficit a small amount of fruit meant to flavor your water won’t hurt.

Veggies

Tomato juice is disgusting unless it has vodka, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and a dash of salt and pepper.

Blenderizing veggies and trying to consume them in liquid form isn’t my thing.

Cucumber, on the other hand, is the only veggie I would suggest slicing up and letting flavor your water.

You can combine it with any of the fruits or citrus mentioned above or even add bits of mint to your cucumber water for an added jolt of flavor.

Herbs

These titans of taste have more functions than adding some zest to flavor up lean cuts of meat.

Mint is an excellent herb to add to water to give it a little more kick.

Rosemary adds a nice little zing with its flavors as well.

You can even be adventurous and add a little ginger to your water.

Herbs are best when added with some of the other flavors already mentioned like lemon, lime, strawberries, melons, or cucumber.

Flowers

This one sounds weird as fuck, right?

You smell flowers or give them to loved ones every Sunday but adding them to water? That seems weird.

Actually, it’s not that bad.

Flowers like lavender, dandelion, hibiscus, or jasmine do have their own distinct tastes. Hibiscus has a tart-cranberry like taste, dandelions are sweet, and lavender has a smokey-mint taste that imparts these flavors throughout the water.

0 Calorie Flavorings

Crystal Light was one of the first products on the market to offer their low-calorie flavor packets you could add to aqua.

Now you can pick up what they call an aqua enhancer like MiOFit which is a 0 calorie solution to your bland water woes.

Mix and match the fruits, herbs, and veggies mentioned above. Find combinations that you enjoy like strawberry mint, watermelon mint, lemon basil, blackberry ginger, lemon lavender, and more.

While you begin your Fat Loss Quest, the cheapest and most beneficial tool you can wield in battle is water.

Stay hydrated my friends.