How Does Coffee Affect Weight Loss?

No matter how hard you try, the smell of freshly brewed coffee is quite irresistible. Be it a frustrating day at work or a chilly winter morning, a warm cup of joe comforts us all. It simply isn’t a beverage that fires up your body but is also an organically farmed substance that has real people working behind it.

We all know that caffeine can help lose weight. It is a pertinent factor considering the fact that caffeine is the most commonly consumed mind-blending drug in the world. Just like any other drug, there is a negative as well as a positive aspect to it. When it comes to coffee, there is always a heated argument whether coffee benefits your body.

By the time you reach the end of this article, you’ll be an expert on what caffeine does in the body, how to consume caffeine in a way that it benefits us.

WHAT IS CAFFEINE?

Caffeine acts as a stimulus to our central nervous system. It is consumed by hundreds of people all over the world to improve their focus, to feel active and to increase wakefulness. It has a mood-altering trait in it which is why a lot of people drink it for various reasons. How coffee affects our health greatly depends a lot on the number of cups you’ve had. If your dose of daily coffee is low to moderate, then there is nothing to worry about. Although everybody’s tolerance to caffeine is different, the high dosage will harm you.

SIDE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE AND WEIGHT GAIN

As mentioned above, heavy consumption of coffee should be avoided. It will negatively affect your health if the caffeine consumption exceeds 500-600mg. You might have noticed that you feel quite fresh and awake just after you have had a cup of coffee. This is because it triggers a chemical in our brain, blocking it from being released and hence we feel awake for a longer period of time.

Having too much coffee can handicap your sleep and wake cycles. Generally, 8 hours of good sleep is required by all the adults but consuming a large amount of coffee can result in insomnia. This insomnia can lead to weight gain. Consume with utmost care.

HOW DOES CAFFEINE WORK WITH FAT LOSS?

Around 20 minutes after you have consumed coffee, caffeine is absorbed deep into the tissues and blood vessels which helps in breaking the fatty acids and helps the fat to flow faster in the body, preventing it from sitting at one place and increasing the amount of fat. It can also be seen as a way of burning the calories as the generation of heat in the body after you drink coffee helps in digestion, in return your calories are burned. When you drink coffee, it reduces your hunger and also decreases your desire to eat for a good amount of time.

METABOLISM

The number of calories you burn when you are inactive is called as the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). A higher rate indicates that you will not gain much weight and likely to remain the same. A reason why people prefer coffee is because it elevates the metabolic rate.

As I mentioned earlier that intake of caffeine gets the body heated up via thermogenesis and fuels your body into an overdrive for a brief moment of time. Another advantage is that it increases the process of fat burning. Since we know that everyone’s tolerance to caffeine is not the same likewise even the RMR will not be the same for everyone.

CAFFEINE FROM COFFEE

The caffeine in a cup of java varies making it hard for people to keep a track of their daily intake levels. For example a cup of coffee can have anywhere between 50-135 mg of caffeine.

Always Remember: the lighter the roast, the more caffeine.

Caffeine in a coffee depends on various attributes: Roasting, brewing and additives. Caffeine from the coffee is burned while roasting the coffee beans. Roasting them gives a  smoky flavor and a dark texture.

It is shown that coffee has very short-lived effects on fats burning and weight loss, but has always proven to be great in having long-term positive effects on various other diseases like: Depression, Diabetes, lowers heart problems and more.

Surprisingly, about 2 cups of coffee has been reported to improve lifespan. Another interesting factor to consider is that coffee is an antioxidant which also is helpful for our health.

LAST WORDS

A word of advice: Do not consume more than 500 mg of caffeine. If you are drinking coffee just to lose your weight then it is important that you bear in mind that the effects of it will be short-lived. In the end everything depends on our level of consumption of coffee. Bear in mind deprivation of sleep also known as insomnia can increase your chances of gaining weight rather than losing. So choose wisely!