Lemon water for belly fat? I must be kidding, right? Well, no.
However, before we dig right into it, why should you even care about losing your flabby midsection?
Losing belly fat can be hard, tedious, and frustrating. I know, but you have to persevere because your life depends on it.
Belly fat is dangerously close to your essential organs, like the liver. You see, there are two types of stomach fat.
One is the subcutaneous fats that you can pinch with your hands. The other is deep inside your belly, encasing your organs—visceral fat.
Visceral fat is attached to your liver and releases harmful chemicals, which can lead to liver disease. [Source: “Trunk Fat as a Determinant of Liver Disease”]
By drinking lemon water to lose belly fat, you may additionally be protecting your liver. [Source: “Protective Effects of Lemon Juice on Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Mice.”]
Albeit, the study was performed on animals; the efficacy in humans is yet to be determined. However, lemon water tastes great.
Moreover, there has never been a greater time to buy lemons. Research has shown that vitamin C can help boost your immune system. Just perfect for these pandemic times.
Vitamin C appears to be able to both prevent and treat respiratory and systemic infections by enhancing various immune cell functions.
[source: Vitamin C and Immune Function]
How does drinking lemon water make you lose belly fat?
How does lemon water get rid of my belly fat!?
Keep your pants on, let me explain, the juice from 1 lemon has about 11 calories. You add it in a cup of water and drink; you will only be consuming 11 calories because water has 0 calories.
On the other hand, one can of 250 ml soda contains about 100 calories.
Say, your primary drink beverage for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are sweetened drinks like Coke or Sprite. If you replace that with just lemon water, you are reducing your daily calorie intake by as much as 270 calories.
That is how to lose belly fat with lemon water. So, yes you can lose belly fat by drinking lemon water.
Drinking lemon water itself has no weight loss benefits; some would like you to believe otherwise. But it is a great natural flavor additive.
The research was done on premenopausal Korean women to find the effect of the lemon diet and fat loss.
They concluded that the caloric deficit from the lemon detox contributed to fat loss.
[source: Lemon detox diet reduced body fat, insulin resistance, and serum hs-CRP level without hematological changes in overweight Korean women.]
Other than the lower calories contained in simple lemon water compared to sodas, there is a proven health benefit in downing lemon juice. Lemon is a good source of vitamin C.
That alone may want you to start drinking lemon water or go on lemon detox.
Lemon detox
Lemon detoxing has been advocated by many, most from alternative health groups. I have tried lemon detox for two days.
Did I lose weight? Yes. Did the water taste great? Not really, it was sort of like drinking a watered-down lime juice.
Did my liver feel right after? No idea. There was no data recorded and measured.
Many websites claim that there are many benefits to detoxifying your body with lemon water. Although, NCBI, the largest data of myth-busting health-related topics, found that detox programs aren’t needed because our body prevents toxification from happening.
[Source: Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence.]
There is also little or concrete evidence that detox programs work and all the tests were on animals. More research is needed.
How to make a lemon water
Drinking lemon water to detox your body is not needed because your body does this exceptionally well. So, forego drinking lemon water before breakfast and enjoy a watered-down lemon juice any time of the day.
There are many ways you can make better lemon water. For example, instead of just lemon water, you can have it with tea and honey. But, we know that will add more unwanted calories to your count, so we’ll stick to lemon water only.
- The first step is to have a mug or cup ready.
- Take out your lemon squeezer. I prefer the squeezer which goes on top of a cup, catches the seeds while the juice trickles down to your mug.
- Cut the lemon in half, horizontally.
- Put the squeezer on top of the cup and squeeze and turn half of the lemon.
- Grab the other half and do the same.
- Voila! Fresh, vibrant, vitamin C dense lemon juice in a cup.
- Add 200 ml of water to your cup with the squeezed lemon.
- Drink!
- If you like the sour taste, you can have it straight. On a hot summer day, add ice and leave it for a few minutes. Drink it ice cold. I suggest you have it only with water though; the water affects weight loss more than the lemon juice itself.
- If you don’t like it sour, you can always add a little bit of salt, avoid sugar when you can. Don’t go overboard with the salt. Add little by little and taste to your liking.
A tastier alternative to the basic lemon water
When your calorie intake permits or after proper strength training, you can have some honey lemon tea.
It may not be the healthiest due to the sugar content, but it’s a great cheat beverage. Also, if you have this after a good workout, you will be helping your body recover faster.
It’s proven that ingesting fast-absorbing carbohydrates immediately after a workout helps in replenishing lost glycogen levels.
If recovery and maximal performance in 24 hours is required, they advised consuming more than 1 g carbohydrate per·kg body mass. Starting as soon as possible after exercise and at frequent intervals after that (i.e., every 30 min)
A caveat: only do this if you had a very strenuous workout that depleted your stored glycogen. For example, 90 minutes of heavy lifting and aerobics warrants a proper carb intake.
[Source: Glucose Plus Fructose Ingestion for Post-Exercise Recovery—Greater than the Sum of Its Parts?]
How to make honey lemon tea
- Put some water in the kettle and let it boil.
- Meanwhile, as the water boils, you take out your favorite cup and lemon squeezer.
- Take out your all-natural lemon while you’re at it.
- Cut the lemon in half.
- Lay the squeezer on top of your cup.
- Using the squeezer, turn and push down one half of the lemon into the cup, leaving out the seeds and peel for the bin.
- Do the same for the other half, or you can stop with just half a lemon.
- By now, the water should have reached a maximum boiling point, and it’s ready to be poured into your cup.
- Pour the boiling hot water into your cup.
- Add your tea and let it steep for about 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add some honey until you are happy with the taste. I like it a little sour, but not too sour that you pucker up your face every time you drink it.
You’ll get to know your flavor after many attempts. The taste shouldn’t be too sour, not too sweet; it is smack bang in the middle. That’s what makes a great honey lemon tea.
Conclusion
To recap, lemon water will make you lose that fat in your belly. Not due to its fat-burning properties, but the fact that it may reduce your calorie intake by replacing your current sugary beverages you drink.
The detox business is lucrative, and it will only continue to boom. But if you are reading this, you will know that the research done on its effectiveness to burn fat, does not apply to humans.
Consider lemon detoxing as just one of the many weapons you can use to fight the fat.
You need to lose your stomach fat. If you don’t do anything and continue to ignore it, you could be in serious trouble.
Research shows that the fat in your belly can lead to an early grave. If you want to be healthy and prolong your life, simply get rid of your fat gut.
Want to know the easiest way to get those six-pack abs? Go to this article, “Lose belly fat,” where you learn the easy tricks to eliminate this visible killer.
Many people are finding instant results with this method. I myself have learned so much and helped friends and family with this knowledge. You can do the same and help your loved ones be healthy and a better version of themselves.