So, Tochi and I used to be plus-sized ladies. We didn’t feel insecure about our body sizes for a day because we came from a background that taught us to accept ourselves as we are and to strive to be better always. We were cool with our plus size and rocked so many outfits. As high school students, we were pretty confident about our appearance and a lot of people usually admired our confidence and how we didn’t let anyone get off with teasing us.

However, on our way back from school one Wednesday afternoon, we walked past a store that had on display two beautiful dresses. It was love at first sight and we had to go to the store to make some enquiries. Sadly, the dresses were only available in size 8. Tochi was devastated. I was quick to move on to other dresses in the store although my heart still longed for the one on the display window.

Suddenly Tochi said, “we have to become a size 8”. “Huh?” was my first response. What did she mean? But she clarified, “Uche, I am not letting that dress go. I will work on myself to achieve a size 8 and then I would come back for the dress”.

I knew Tochi better than to talk her out of a decision once her mind was made up. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea”, I said, trying to figure out how on earth she would achieve that even though I silently jumped at the idea because I really wanted to have the dress too.

We deposited for the dresses with the little money we had on us and pleaded with the store owner to keep them for us at least for a month. So we had just a month to go from a size 14 to a size 8. We enrolled at the gym and started working out. While it was having some effect, it was rather slow.

Our gym instructor was quick to give us some tips on how to lose weight and in no time, we were a size 8. We got our dresses and we were happier for our achievement. The secret to our quick weight loss was drinking water.

Yea, you heard right. Drinking water helped us lose weight in a month, alongside our gym classes.

Water doesn’t only boost your metabolism, cleanse your body of waste but also acts as an appetite suppressant. In drinking more water, your body learns to stop retaining water and you begin to lose those extra pounds of water weight. So how does this work?

• Drink before eating. As an appetite suppressant, taking water before meals makes you fuller thereby cutting down on your food intake.
• Ditch the calorie-filled drinks for water. Do you think water has a bland or dull taste? Try adding a slice of lemon and enjoy your richly flavoured water. Interestingly, the pectin in lemons also helps to curb your food cravings.
• Taking ice-cold water causes your body to put in extra effort to warm up the water, thereby boosting your metabolism. In doing so, your body burns more calories and helps you shed some weight.
• Water keeps your joints lubricated hence preventing muscle cramps. This enables you to work out harder for a longer time.
• Try as much as you can to follow the 8*8 rule i.e. drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water per day. If you exercise a lot or even sweat more, you might need to drink more.

However, your water intake is dependent on your body size, weight and activity level. An indication to show your water intake level is your urine.

A clear or light yellow coloured urine helps shows you are well-hydrated. Darker urine calls for more water intake particularly if you intend to shed those unwanted calories.