scaleThe quest to lose weight drives people to take extreme actions -- from cleanses to crazy products, Americans spend billions of dollars trying to take off the pounds. But we may be overlooking something very simple.

A new study says one quite effective weight loss aid is something most of us have plenty of at our disposal without spending an extra dime.

Any guesses as to what it is?

It's water. Agua. H20.

That's right, the very liquid that flows freely from your tap and your nearest water cooler has been shown effective in weight loss. A new study found that drinking just two glasses of it before each meal helped dieters lose weight AND keep it off.

Two groups followed a low-fat, low-calorie diet for 12 weeks, but one group was asked to drink two glasses of water before each meal. Those who drank the water lost 30 percent more weight than the other group.

After a year, those who kept up the water drinking kept off the pounds, and even lost more.

Chugalug!

While I always knew that eating soup or sipping water was a good way to fill up your stomach before a meal, researchers previously thought (and I found) that people just made up for those calories later in the day. This study, however, proved that isn't the case if you do it before each meal.

Pass the water, please! I am absolutely going to start doing this right away ... like before I eat dinner this evening. I know I don't drink enough water anyway (it gets in the way of my coffee consumption), so this is a great motivation to start drinking more of it.

The only bummer about it (for some of you) is that it only seems to be effective for those of us 35 and older (at least one perk for being classified in the middle-aged and older category). Apparently, "our" stomachs take longer to empty than younger, more sprite stomachs.

Will you try this simple weight loss technique? Do you think it would work for you?

 

Image via - Paul H -/Flickr