The effects of caffeine on weight are mixed. Under certain circumstances, it may cause weight gain and an increase in belly fat. But if consumed sensibly, it will actually benefit the waistline. Continue reading to discover caffeine's numerous effects on weight management, metabolism, and fat burning.
Some studies show that caffeine may increase cortisol levels in some people. Since researchers have also found a link between high cortisol levels and abdominal weight gain, you may want to limit how much caffeine you consume if you are already prone to stress.
Weight loss and muscle gain can both be improved by giving up caffeine. There is research to suggest that short-term consumption of particular caffeinated drinks may promote weight loss, but there is a lack of long-term studies set in the real world [8].
Research that points to coffee hindering weight loss:
Drinking caffeinated coffee has been linked to an increase in sugar cravings, meaning that your a.m. cup could be setting you up for making bad snack choices later on in your day (and preventing you from losing weight).
At present, even though caffeine may have a small effect on energy and appetite that could lead to some positive short-term effects on your energy balance, there's no evidence that it can actually cause you to lose weight. On the other side of the equation, excessive caffeine consumption clearly can be harmful.
Cut down slowly on the amount of caffeine in your diet. Don't make the mistake of stopping totally. You'll likely experience withdrawal symptoms and go back to drinking coffee or soda or taking a headache medication with caffeine in it to make the symptoms disappear. This starts the dependency cycle all over again.
By quitting, you can return to a normal state of alertness and improve energy levels. Financial Savings: Modern specialty coffee drinks can take a big bite out of your monthly budget. Lower Blood Pressure: Quitting caffeine can lower your blood pressure and take pressure off of your heart.
1. Exercise: Vigorous exercise trims all your fat, including visceral fat. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 5 days a week. Walking counts, as long as it's brisk enough that you work up a sweat and breathe harder, with your heart rate faster than usual.
If you use coffee the way nature intended it, it can actually help you shed belly fat. Funny how life works. Studies show that consuming caffeine prior to exercise can increase fat metabolization by up to 29%. This study concluded these to be the best practices for using coffee to burn fat.
For most people, caffeine withdrawal symptoms can last two to nine days and you should be feeling fine again no more than two weeks after you stopped using caffeine.
The severity of symptoms vary from individual to individual, and most commonly include a headache, fatigue, decreased energy/activeness, decreased alertness, drowsiness, decreased contentedness, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and feeling foggy/not clearheaded.
Caffeine (especially from coffee), can interfere with your body's natural detoxification process. According to Dr. Mark Hyman, “Constituents in coffee can interfere with normal drug metabolism and detoxification in the liver, making it difficult to regulate the normal detoxification process in the liver.”
If caffeine is a big part of your daily diet, taking it away can have a host of unpleasant effects in the short term. These include headache, tiredness, sleepiness, down moods, trouble concentrating, and crankiness. You'll start to feel symptoms a day or two after you stop. They can last anywhere from 2 to 9 days.
Headaches aren't the only painful symptom of caffeine withdrawal. Those who stop consuming coffee have reported side effects like depression, anxiety, dizziness, flu-like symptoms, insomnia, irritability, mood swings, and sluggishness.
How much caffeine is in decaf coffee? Decaffeination removes about 97% or more of the caffeine in coffee beans. A typical cup of decaf coffee has about 2 mg of caffeine, compared to a typical cup of regular coffee, which has about 95 mg of caffeine.
If wish to cycle caffeine, try completely cutting out its consumption for anywhere between two and eight weeks depending on your previous use. This will have you feeling the full effects of caffeine once you start consuming it again.
Caffeine promotes lipolysis (the process by which fats are broken down), due to a greater release of adrenaline. Lipolysis then causes fatty acids to be produced as a result. These fatty acids are then released into the blood and transported to muscle to be used as energy.
Common symptoms include headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and dysphoric mood. Low doses of caffeine have been shown to suppress these symptoms.
Breaking the Habit
“Depending upon your level of daily intake, you might want to cut your caffeine level in half the first week and in half again on week two. Some patients have found it useful to go to half-decaf, and then to decaf, then to gradually replace the decaf with another non-caffeinated beverage,” he says.
Caffeine withdrawal fatigue can last anywhere from two to nine days. If you're sleep deprived and rely on coffee to perk you up, though, you may feel fatigue until you address this.
Based on this, the research team concluded that regular coffee consumption “safely” burns the body fat, especially when it comes to the visceral type.