I realized this week how important it is for me to drink a large amount of water each day.

I don’t know what it is, but whenever I’m away from my usual routine, like I was when on vacation this week, I let my water drinking slide. In fact, I think I rarely drank more than one or two small bottles of water each day. Everything else I drank was Diet Coke or a mixed cocktail.

Now that I’m back home, I’m filling up my giant water bottle and I’m going to make myself drink at least two each day. Weight Watchers recommends drinking 64 oz. a day, and I plan to track my water consumption on my WW app.

According to WebMD, water helps with weight loss by keeping you hydrated and aiding in the smooth function of your metabolism. It may not help you actually lose weight, but it just keeps things running better.

From WebMD: “One study, for example, found that people who drank water before meals ate an average of 75 fewer calories at each meal. That doesn’t sound like a lot — but multiply 75 calories by 365 days a year. Even if you only drink water before dinner every day, you’d consume 27,000 fewer calories over the course of the year. That’s almost an eight-pound weight loss.”

So drink your water! I’ll be drinking mine today.