Find out how a cup of coffee could be just what you’ve been missing from your weight loss plan.
The world runs on coffee. We drink it in the morning for a quick energy boost and often throughout the day when we work, socialize, and relax. This miracle substance helps us stay alert and focused, even when we’re overtired and sleep-deprived. In several countries, the drink is a major agricultural export, with over 500 billion cups consumed each year.
But did you know it can also help you lose weight?
Coffee isn’t just flavored water, remember it’s a beverage derived from the berries of the Coffea plant, which are full of nutrients and compounds that end up in your cup! These compounds affect everything from neurotransmitters to hormone levels to metabolism, and if you drink coffee the right way, it can help you speed up your weight loss goals.
Let’s take a look at the weight loss benefits of coffee and how you can take advantage of these properties to jumpstart your weight loss journey.
Coffee stimulates weight loss
Numerous studies show that drinking caffeinated coffee can help you not only lose weight, but keep it off. That’s because coffee suppresses the source of weight gain – the desire to eat!
According to Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky, caffeine suppresses hunger, but its effects don’t last long. That means a small cup of coffee is the perfect antidote to sudden cravings for a snack or high-calorie meal. When used strategically, coffee can help you stick to a low-calorie diet by keeping hunger at bay at key times.
Coffee can also give you a boost of energy while you’re dieting, helping you feel energized instead of tired. Cutting calories can make us feel sluggish and miserable – coffee helps offset this by stimulating the brain to produce pleasure-inducing chemicals.
Did you know that one serving of caffeinated beverage can boost your metabolism by as much as 8 percent, which means you burn about 174 extra calories a day? One study shows just that.
Metabolism is simply the overall chemical processes that occur in your body. What we’re talking about here is how many calories your body burns each day. When you safely boost your metabolism through external means – in this case, coffee – you increase the number of calories you burn.
Adding coffee to your day as part of a healthy, low-calorie diet can make losing weight a lot easier, so take advantage of the dark liquid!
Coffee helps you perform
The benefits of coffee extend beyond your diet and into your workouts!
According to Mike Wiedenbach, owner of Adlertraining in New York City, coffee “is a powerful antioxidant, which is important for post-workout recovery and overall immune health. Additionally, coffee mobilizes free fatty acids that can then be oxidized during exercise.” So not only does coffee help you maintain your energy during long stints in the gym, it also helps you recover faster afterward. It’s a win-win.
By drinking about the equivalent of a medium Americano before your workout, you’ll also stimulate thermogenesis, the body’s way of producing heat and energy from digested food. This can cause you to burn a few extra calories during your workout.
Aerobic exercise is the best way to start shedding pounds, so use the energy from your coffee to jog, climb, or swim your way to fitness. This is where coffee really shines – endurance exercise benefits the most from caffeine’s energizing power.
So if coffee gives you an edge in the gym or on the treadmill, why not add it to your diet?
Putting it all together through diet
Now that you know the benefits of coffee, let’s look at how you can incorporate it into your weight loss plan!
For best results, you’ll want a sustainable, long-term diet plan that uses coffee to curb cravings, enhance the benefits of exercise, and boost your metabolism.
This is more of a lifestyle than a diet, and involves cutting calories enough that you steadily lose weight over a long period of time. To do this, reduce your portions until you’re eating 300 to 500 fewer calories per day than you need. Most people need about 2,000 calories a day to maintain their current weight, but your exact threshold may vary, so don’t be afraid to experiment!
What you eat is also very important – you need plenty of protein and fiber to feel full and build lean muscle. You also need the nutrients of leafy green vegetables, so try steaming broccoli and kale, for example.
Include coffee in this diet, drinking a cup between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner, to help curb hunger and keep you feeling great. Since you don’t cut calories too much on this diet, you shouldn’t feel tired or run down, but if you do, drinking coffee twice a day will give you a boost of energy.
To speed up your weight loss, hit the gym three days a week – for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Drink a cup of joe before your workout and you’ll feel better and more motivated to keep going.
Whatever you do, avoid adding high-calorie sweeteners and creamers to your coffee – you’ll undo all your hard work. Instead, add skim milk and use a zero-calorie sweetener. Or, if you’re feeling particularly strict, just drink your coffee black – no pesky calories!
Drink to your health
Coffee is a great addition to a healthy diet and can help you stay on track with your weight loss plans. Remember, though, that this is only one part – you also need to focus on eating right from all food groups, getting enough exercise, and maintaining good health with enough sleep.
Combine all of these components with a couple of cups of delicious coffee a day, and you have a recipe for sustainable weight loss that won’t leave you feeling down.
