The human body can last weeks without food, but only days without water. The body is made up of 55–75 per cent water. Water forms the basis of blood, digestive juices, urine and perspiration and is contained in lean muscle, fat and bones. As the body can’t store water, we need fresh supplies every day to make up for losses from lungs, skin, urine and faeces. The amount we need depends on our metabolism, the weather, the food we eat and our activity levels.

Facts about water in our bodies

Some facts about our internal water supply:

by STEFAN, BAppSci, IBLS-AIS, CSCS

Cholesterol is a type of fat that is needed for many bodily functions, such as the production of hormones. It is also an essential component of cell membranes. It has many good uses, but is a problem when there is too much of it in the blood. Eating healthy foods, choosing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils and reducing saturated fats in your diet will help reduce cholesterol levels

Brain cells, muscle, skin, hair and nails are just some of the body parts that are protein-based. Estimates suggest that about half of the human body’s dry weight is made up of protein. Many of the foods we eat contain protein, particularly flesh foods (chicken, beef, lamb and fish) and legumes like beans and lentils. These proteins are digested to release amino acids. In the body the amino acids are used to make new proteins, converted into hormones such as adrenalin or used as an energy source.

How much protein you need

The goal

Your new body begins with setting a goal. Do you know how much weight you need to lose to put you into your healthy weight range?

Get a calculator and work out your BMI (Body Mass Index) by dividing your weight by your height squared (kg/m2). Alternatively, just use the ninemsn Health BMI calculator. A BMI of 20 to 24.9 is considered a healthy weight. Anything over 25 is considered overweight. If you’re over, work out how much you need to lose. This is your goal weight.

Caffeine also known as trimethylxanthine, exerts a direct effect on the part of central nervous system that affects perception of effort, arousal and motor unit recruitment, which in turn allows individual to produce an increased work output.

Recent studies showed that the dosage of 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight, helped trained runners to increase race-pace endurance by 44% as well as cycling endurance by 51%.

Alcohol has dramatic negative impact on the weight loss, as not only it reduces the number of fat calories you burn but also increases your appetite and can reduce your testosterone levels for up to 24 hours after you finished your last drink.