Does Coffee Help to Weight Loss

Coffee is a popular beverage all over the world. Statistics revealed that the average coffee intake among regular drinkers in the United States is 3 cups per day.

Thinking about losing some weight or want to try out a diet plan that incorporates coffee?

Well, truly speaking, the impacts of coffee are mixed when it comes down to weight management. In this piece, we tried to dig deep into the topic – coffee for weight loss.

Coffee for Weight Loss: A Detailed Discussion

Caffeine Is a Booster of Metabolism

Caffeine is a natural stimulant, and coffee is a rich source of caffeine. A cup of brewed coffee contains about 95 mg of caffeine. However, the amount of caffeine varies according to the types of beans, roasting methods, and brewing.

Metabolism is basically a measurement of your calorie burn per day. Caffeine can upgrade your metabolism.

In a lot of weight loss supplements, you may find the presence of caffeine. But high dosages are needed for a remarkable influence in this calorie-burning process. Keep in mind that too much caffeine intake may open the door to many other troubles like anxiety, insomnia, addiction, etc. In some cases, it causes diseases like muscle breakdown.

However, according to some studies, regular caffeine intake plays a role in weight loss and maintaining body weight.

Caffeine May Contribute to Decreasing Appetite

Many factors like the nutrient composition of food, activity level, hormones, etc. take part in controlling appetite. Whether caffeine plays a role in suppressing appetite or not – is a controversial topic, and more research in this field is still needed to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

Some studies revealed that caffeine might decrease the level of ghrelin (the hunger hormone). Thus, caffeine plays a role in reducing appetite. Besides, caffeine intake can reduce the daily amount of calories you are consuming.

On the other hand, according to other studies, caffeine plays little or no role in decreasing appetite, contributing to weight gain.

Benefits of Black Coffee

Black coffee works as a catalyst in losing weight, as it contains chlorogenic acid and antioxidants. Chlorogenic acid helps to decelerate glucose production in our body.

Taking black coffee after meals means less production of glucose and fat cells in our bodies. The antioxidants in black coffee assist in weight loss. Besides, as discussed earlier, caffeine boosts the metabolism process and may decrease appetite.

Additionally, black coffee is rich in caffeine. Due to the boost in metabolism achieved by black coffee, many people love to have this drink a couple of minutes before hitting the gym. This allows them to get a better result from the workout session.

Also, black coffee contains fewer calories. No fat or cholesterol is present here. A regular coffee drinker has to go through frequent urination.  As a result, the additional water contents get out of the body, leading to temporary weight loss.

Always remember that adding milk, cream, or sugar will destroy the ‘weight losing’ factor from your black coffee as they contain cholesterol, fats, and calories.

Coffee Diet

In the book ‘The Coffee Lover’s Diet’, Dr. Bob Arnot argued that a few cups of coffee per day could enhance metabolism and fat burning, prevent calorie absorption, and reduce the appetite. He did his research on the healthy and elderly people of Ikaria, a small island in Greece.

From his studies, he assumes that high coffee intake (enriched in antioxidants) played a vital role in the good health and durability of the people of Ikaria.

According to Dr.Arnot, coffee helps to lose weight. He developed the coffee diet. To maintain a coffee diet, you need to drink a minimum of 3 cups or 720 ml of coffee daily, exchange one of your meals with a homemade green smoothie and look for high fiber and low-fat foods.

Dr. Arnot gave special importance to the coffee type and the brewing method. He suggests an evenly roasted coffee bean (whole) that you would crush or grind at home and made using fresh water.

You can have both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee on the coffee diet until you reach your 3 cups. Don’t forget that you have to maintain your distance from sugar, milk, cream, and other dairy products. He also discourages highly processed foods, for example, frozen foods and refined snacks.

The meal plan suggests consuming approximately 1500 calories per day. It is most likely fewer calories than a typical person ingests.

The Opposite (gaining Weight) Can Happen Too!

Although some researchers argued that coffee is a potential drink for losing weight, it can also negatively affect the weight in various ways.

  Deranged Sleep Patterns:

To understand how coffee can lead to deranged sleep patterns, we need to know it’s working process. Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine, which is basically responsible for making you feel sleepy. Sounds great if you need an energy boost, right! However, if you drink coffee later in the day or intake large doses, it may derange your sleep patterns.

In succession, this habit may open the door to weight gain. Because insufficient sleep is related to higher body weight, enhanced appetite, and more desire for processed food.

Coffee with Pastry & High-Sugar Snacks:

Many of us drink coffee with pastry and other high-sugar snacks. This is because caffeine changes the perceived sense of sweetness and generates a desire for sugary snacks. If this continues, you can get fat instead of losing weight!

To prevent this, drink your coffee with foods that offer protein and healthy fat, like nuts or eggs. Protein and fat develop the feeling of fullness and make the desire for sugary foods less.

Some Coffee Beverages Contain a Massive Amount of Calorie and Sugar:

Although plain coffee contains fewer calories, many caffeinated beverages are full of calories and, most importantly, sugar. Beverages like sweetened coffee drinks found in the coffee shops have additives and a lot of calories.

A Starbucks Grande (470 ml) Caramel Frappuccino contains 420 calories and over 66 grams of sugar. If you are habituated to a regular intake of these kinds of beverages, you may gain weight and face a greater risk of obesity.

Also, many people add butter or coconut oil to the coffee intending to prepare a drink known as Bulletproof coffee. It may be beneficial, but mixing too many of these high-fat or high-calorie ingredients to the coffee without adjusting the extra calories can increase your weight rather than decrease it.

So, How Should You Drink Coffee without Picking up Weight?

Firstly, stay away from extra sugar. You can find sugar in many flavored additives, and a lot of people mix table sugar or liquid sweeteners with coffee.

Secondly, many of us may find our coffee flavorless without sweeteners, so what to do? Here are some excellent solutions to avoid sugar while still maintaining the flavors.

1. Add cinnamon.
2. Mix unsweetened milk like almond milk or coconut milk etc.
3. Mix a minimal amount of natural and no-calorie sweetener like Stevia.
4. Drop some vanilla extract.
5. Mix a small-sized melted good quality dark chocolate.
6. If you want to have Bulletproof coffee, pick up a small number of healthy fats like coconut oil or grass-fed butter.

To maintain these properly, try to avoid coffee shops and brew your own coffee at home. Besides, keep track of your daily calorie eating to prevent over-consumption.

To sum up

According to some research, we may say that coffee plays a vital role in losing weight by boosting metabolism and reducing appetite. You can try out a coffee diet or black coffee for weight loss but most importantly, avoid the extra amount of sugar to get the benefits of these means.

Otherwise, you may turn out to gain weight rather than losing some or maintaining a good shape.

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