When you start to diet, chances are you will execute a 180-degree change with your meal plans. Of course, you will have to get rid of sugary drinks, junk and refined foods, unhealthy fats and so on. You may very well be comfortable with letting go of such foods. However, the one thing you might not be willing to give up just yet is your morning coffee. Yet still, you are most likely contemplating the facts and misconceptions related to the efficacy of coffee for weight loss.
Coffee consumption indeed has some positive effects on weight loss. However, this potential solely depends on the ingredients as well as your frequency of consumption. Do not expect to lose those excess pounds from coffee after drinking five or seven cups of it a day. And especially do not expect any changes resulting from this drink after overdoing it with the sugar, creamer and sweetened flavorings.
These are just some of the factors that determine whether coffee helps or not with your weight loss goals. Here are some other coffee weight loss tips to implement for effective and faster results.
Why Coffee?
Before looking at these tips, it is crucial to examine why and how coffee helps with weight loss. To begin with, coffee refers to a drink prepared from coffee beans. It tends to contain a substance known as caffeine.
Caffeine can also be found in other plants including tea leaves and cacao pods. The amount of caffeine you have in your body or consume in a day varies. The more coffee you have, the more caffeine content you will have as well.
Typically, one 8-ounce serving of coffee has caffeine ranging from 95 to 200 mg (2). Caffeine tends to stimulate your central nervous system, making you more alert. It might explain why most people working night shifts opt to have a cup or two of coffee.
You are asked to limit the amount of caffeine you consume because it has fatal side effects. Two cups of coffee will give you at least 400 mg of caffeine. Such an amount is not fatal. However, beyond this amount will result in insomnia, dehydration, restlessness, anxiety and/or headaches.
Read More: Does Coffee Break A Fast: Science-Backed Take On Coffee And Its Effect On Fasting
How Coffee Helps With Weight Loss
There have been a lot of myths and speculations concerning how coffee fits in with weight loss. Some believe this drink cannot help you slim while others believe it certainly can, but only when some conditions are met.
For example, you may think it could help with weight loss depending on the type of coffee you consume. The truth is that coffee can help you slim. However, this might not happen in the way you think. According to experts, coffee helps with weight loss in the following ways:
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By Increasing Your Metabolism
Coffee is prepared using coffee beans, which tend to contain polyphenols (6). These compounds are from a group of antioxidants. Antioxidants are known for protecting your body cells from free radicals. These radicals increase your risk of attaining cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
This might explain how drinking coffee regularly can help in preventing cancers and heart diseases. Also, these free radicals may cause inflammation and influence several metabolic syndrome aspects.
The polyphenols also help in boosting metabolism, making you burn extra calories in a limited duration. Metabolism is linked to weight loss in that the more calories you burn, the more pounds you get to shed. In other words, the more calories you burn, the more body fat you drop.
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By Initiating Thermogenesis
Thermogenesis refers to the process where your body produces heat. It occurs in all organisms. Our body produces heat in several ways. One of them is by breaking down food and turning it into energy. You use energy to move around, swing your arms, and so forth.
Regarding this effect, experts discovered that drinking coffee stimulates the body to release a heat-generating type of fat (3). The fat, merely known as “brown fat” helps in burning more calories, which equals shedding more pounds.
So, the thermogenesis properties of coffee can help in weight loss. However, experts do acknowledge the need for more research on these properties. Further studies will help in validating the significance of these properties in weight loss among obese people.
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By Blocking Extra Calorie Intake
Coffee generally has low calories. However, they may be high depending on the type of coffee you drink and what you put in it. If you have, for example, black coffee, chances are you will block further caloric intake because it only contains about 2 calories.
On the other hand, a cup of coffee filled with creamer, sugar and sweetened toppings, will give you more calories. Remember that each ingredient you add to your coffee also contributes to the total calories in your drink.
So, it is safer to go with those ingredients which have fewer calories. You can try ditching the creamers and sweetened toppings to lower the calorific value in your coffee. Here is a example of the calorific value you will receive from drinking coffee with such ingredients (9):
- Sugar-1 teaspoon or 14 g of sugar in your coffee accounts to 16 calories
- Half-and-half-2 tablespoons of this ingredient (about 30 ml or 1 ounce) contribute 37 calories
- Heavy whipping cream-2 tablespoons of this cream (roughly 30 ml or 1 ounce) adds up to 101 calories
- Fat-free milk-2 tablespoons of this milk (an estimated 30 ml or 1 ounce) has 10 calories.
If you tally all these calories, they amount to 164 calories. So, avoid the assumption that all types of coffee have low calories and could thereby help you to lose pounds. Some types will only add more calories instead of limiting your caloric intake.
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By Suppressing Your Appetite
You also get to lose weight from coffee due to its appetite-suppressing properties. Weight watchers tend to use appetite suppressants like coffee to help them manage and control their weight. The less they eat or drink, the lesser calories they acquire.
Coffee manages to suppress your appetite due to its high caffeine content. Caffeine will reduce your feelings of hunger for a short duration (5). As a result, you will snack less and even eat fewer portions in your meals.
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Types Of Coffee To Choose For Weight Loss
Like tea, there are also various types of coffee drinks you can have. You may have tried or prepared several of them. The most popular ones include Latte, Cappuccino, Americano, Doppio, Arabica, Espresso, Robusta and green coffee.
All these types vary in terms of the ingredients used as well as their flavors. It might help in shedding light on why people have different coffee preferences. However, this is not meant to say that all these types can help you lose extra pounds.
Only a few drinks out of all these coffee types can help with this, primarily due to their low calorific content. These are prepared as black and green coffee.
How Green Coffee Helps In Weight Loss
Drinking green coffee for weight loss has proven effective over time. Most weight watchers using this drink for this goal have reported positive outcomes. Scientists believe a component in green coffee is key to its weight loss effects due to its high chlorogenic acid properties (8).
This nutrient is found in the green coffee bean extract. It helps in boosting fat metabolism, which means improving the calorie-burning process. Additionally, it helps in lowering insulin spikes by reducing the number of carbs absorbed in your digestive tract.
The other advantage of the high levels of chlorogenic acid in your body is reduced triglyceride and cholesterol levels. This also helps with improving the hormone levels associated with obesity. Besides helping with weight loss, regular consumption of green coffee can also:
- Help in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The chlorogenic acid helps in improving your blood glucose and insulin levels.
- Help you control your blood pressure. Experts acknowledge that drinking 400 mg of this coffee for one month can lower the blood pressure of those who have hypertension.
Determining The Correct Green Coffee Dosage For Weight Loss
The effectiveness of green coffee in weight loss does not give you the right to abuse it. Too much of this drink can result in several health complications. Since there is no current standard, the correct method of determining your optimal amount remains in speaking to your doctor.
Let them know your plans and why you think this drink would help in this achievement. They will recommend a healthy amount and detail how frequent you should have your green coffee. Follow all their instructions to avoid jeopardizing both your health and results.
Read More: Weight Loss Programs For Women: Drop Pounds And Maintain The Result Over The Long-Haul
Black Coffee Weight Loss Properties
Black coffee can also help with weight management due to its high caffeine content (7). Experts acknowledge that drinking black coffee regularly and daily initiates the fat-burning process. As a result, you get to burn more calories, especially if you also incorporate exercise.
Black coffee also helps in weight control and health management due to its low calorific value. Here is the nutritional analysis of one cup of black coffee:
- Calories-2
- Fiber-0 g
- Protein-0 g
- Sugar-0 g
- Fat-0 g
- Sodium-5 mg
- Total carbohydrates-0 g
Besides helping with weight loss, black coffee also helps with the following:
- Diabetes management. It reduces your risk of getting any type of diabetes due to the low sugar builds up.
- Prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Experts reveal that black coffee drinkers above 65 years old have a 16% reduced risk of getting this disease. This is in comparison to those within the same age group but are not having this drink.
Preparing Black Coffee For Weight Loss
You will need either the black coffee raw beans or pre-brewed coffee. Both of these impact the flavor of your drink. So let what you choose to use be determined by the flavor you want for your coffee.
Freshly ground beans will have a stronger flavor and taste better. So, you can give them a try if you love strong flavors. There are various methods you can use to brew your black coffee.
They range from an Aero Press, French press, pour-over method to the auto-drip coffee maker technique. Select a technique that you are most comfortable with, have the equipment and/or love most.
Coffee Weight Loss Tips
Drinking the right coffee for weight loss does not mean you will automatically have the results, nor as fast as you want them. In some cases, it may take ages to see results despite drinking either black or green coffee.
It means that there are extra aspects that influence the effectiveness of drinking coffee for weight management. Here are some coffee weight loss tips that can help in speeding up your results:
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Drinking It Alongside Other Weight Loss Programs
Although coffee can help in fat loss, it can, however, take longer to show the desired outcomes. To trigger faster fat loss, incorporate another program such as exercise or caloric restriction (4). These two methods are quite intense, so first talk to your doctor before implementing them.
They would like to recommend the best workout program as well as guide you on the best meal plans for calorie restriction. Again, they should guide you in selecting a suitable program depending on your goals, body composition and other factors.
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Drinking It In The Morning
Although you might not know it, your coffee drinking also influences your weight management journey. Most experts recommend that you enjoy this drink early in the morning. In this way, it will help in boosting both your energy and concentration levels.
As mentioned previously, it will make you more alert due to its stimulant properties. Increased alertness can help with improving or increasing your productivity throughout the day.
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Seeking Medical Advice
Do not just read about the effectiveness of coffee in weight loss and then start drinking it. You should always talk to your doctor to determine how long and how frequently you ought to have this drink.
More importantly, speak to your doctor before drinking coffee if you have any of the following (2):
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- Sleeping disorders such as insomnia
- Ulcers or GERD
- High blood pressure
- Anxiety/mood disorders
- Migraines or chronic headaches
- Are expectant or breastfeeding
- Have irregular or fast heartbeats
- Are taking medications for various health conditions
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Regulating Sugar
Of course, you might like to add sugar to help with sweetening your coffee. This is nothing extraordinary. However, this could turn a potentially helpful cup of black or green coffee into a harmful cup with the sugar you add in it.
Sugar has a lot of calories. So, when you put a bunch of it in your drink, you most definitely increase the calorific value of your coffee. You might end up consuming 100 plus calories from a cup of black coffee that previously contained only 2 calories.
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Sticking To The Required Daily Limit
Drinking more coffee than is required will not help you slim down overnight. More importantly, it will not help you attain all the benefits of drinking coffee without any risks. You are always advised to drink coffee, whether green or black, modestly and moderately.
In a day, you could drink at least 3 to 4 cups of coffee. This contributes at least 400 mg (8). Such an amount has been discovered to help in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and death. If you exceed this number of cups, you may risk damaging your health.
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Drinking Coffee Smoothies
If you want to break the monotony of how you have your coffee, then try coffee smoothies for weight loss. These can help in giving you a morning buzz just as much as your regular cup of coffee. You can find many coffee smoothie recipes online.
That being said, do not just try every recipe you find. For a start, speak to your dietitian about your goals and your preferred coffee smoothie. They will provide more insight on what recipe best suits you depending on your goals and other factors.
Additionally, also consider the following when preparing these shakes:
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The Ingredients
All the products you use for your smoothie must also help you lose weight. Therefore, you have to choose ingredients that promote weight loss and are low in calories. They range from healthy fats, fat-free dairy products, fruits and vegetables.
If you have a recipe in mind, go through it with your dietitian. This will help in determining if the overall ingredients that can make a product that will help you achieve your goals.
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The Servings
Every recipe you choose suggests the number of servings of the shake you are making (1). The servings are highly influenced by the total calories in the drink.
It’s best to follow the general rule of one serving per shake. Anything more than this can cause you to surpass your daily caloric intake.
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When To Take Them
Some smoothies are considered more effective when drunk in the morning and others in the evening. For example, green smoothies are recommended at night, just before you go to bed. However, coffee smoothies might be recommended for the morning.
This could be due to their stimulant properties that tend to increase your alertness. As such, they are not suitable at night as they might cause insomnia. Ensure that you double-check what time of day you are recommended to have these shakes to benefit the most from them.
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The Nutritional Content
The coffee smoothie you choose should provide you with essential nutrients. Besides helping with initiating the calorie-burning process, the shake must provide you with nutrients such as calcium, protein, fiber, etc.
Additionally, make sure you evaluate the nutritional content of each of the ingredients you receive from these shakes.
The Bottom Line
Coffee is one of the very few drinks that can help in promoting weight loss. Two specific types, green and black coffee, are quite popular in weight management due to their unique properties.
Nonetheless, too much of them can be harmful to your health. Remember to seek medical advice and determine the frequency, quantity and how long you should drink coffee for weight loss.
Also, check that you adhere to these coffee weight loss tips. The benefits of coffee weight loss tips are many, including but not limited to a quick fat loss journey. They range from incorporating exercise, regulating the amount of sugar in your coffee, drinking coffee smoothies to drinking your coffee in the morning.
DISCLAIMER:
All the views in this article do not constitute medical advice in any manner whatsoever. Seek professional help before trying out any of the recommendations in this article.
SOURCES:
- Best and Worst Smoothies (2009, webmd.com)
- Caffeine (2020, medlineplus.gov)
- Coffee Might Be Your Go-to Brew for Weight Loss (2019, medicinenet.com)
- Coffee: No Harm, No Foul If Only 4 Cups Daily (2017, medpagetoday.com)
- Does caffeine help with weight loss? (2020, mayoclinic.org)
- Health benefits and risks of drinking coffee (2019, medicalnewstoday.com)
- Health Benefits of Black Coffee (2020, webmd.com)
- How does green coffee bean extract work? (2020, medicalnewstoday.com)
- I’m trying to lose weight. Should I cut back on coffee? (2020, mayoclinic.org)
