How Coffee Affects Your Weight
For most of you currently watching this video,
we’re going to go out on a limb and assume
that coffee is a staple of your morning routine.When
it comes to the actual nutritional value of
coffee, however, not everyone can seem to
agree on whether or not this caffeinated drink
can be considered “healthy”, especially
for people who are trying to lose weight.
For anyone trying to shed off a couple of
extra pounds or just trying to maintain a
healthy diet, you should probably be aware
of the fact that coffee contains both pros
and cons when it comes to helping with managing
your weight. Let’s take a closer look at
that cuppa joe you pour yourself every day
and see how it can affect your weight loss
regime for the better...as well as for the
worse.
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Let’s start with some of the positives about
coffee: on its own, black coffee is extremely
low in calories. And when we say “extremely”,
we mean it: one cup of black coffee contains
as little as 2 calories. However, the same
can’t be said for some of coffee’s most
popular additives, such as cream, milk and
sugar, all of which add an additional surplus
calories to your morning brew. If you’re
trying to lose a significant amount of weight
or even just drop a few extra pounds, you’ll
probably be better off taking your coffee
black. The fact that coffee is so low in calories
makes it a healthy and weight loss-friendly
alternative to many other beverages as well,
such as sugary sodas and other soft drinks.
In addition to being low in calories, coffee
has a high caffeine content which can potentially
help your weight loss routine by speeding
up your body’s metabolism. By boosting your
metabolism, the number of calories you burn
also increases, which can help you lose weight
at a faster rate as a result. Don’t cancel
your gym membership just yet though, according
to experts, it would take an exceptionally
large dosage of caffeine from coffee in order
to boost your metabolism by a significant
amount. In one study on the effects of caffeine
and metabolism, it was determined that in
order to increase the metabolism of a person
weighing 150 pounds by as much as 13 percent,
they would have to drink a grand total of
7 whole cups of coffee in order to increase
their metabolism by that amount. If you started
to feel a bit jittery just listening to that,
then trust us, you’re not the only one.
So while yes, coffee does technically boost
your metabolism, don’t start thinking of
it as a substitute for good old fashioned
diet and exercise.
Finally, coffee can also prevent unnecessary
weight gain by reducing your appetite and
therefore encouraging you to eat less than
you normally would. This is because drinking
coffee is hypothesized to reduce your body’s
levels of a certain hormone known as ghrelin;
ghrelin is a hormone produced by your gut
and sends signals through your bloodstream
to your brain, which leads to feeling of hunger.
By reducing the production of ghrelin in your
body, your hunger levels also decrease, and
as a result you’ll feel less inclined to
eat more, thus reducing your risk of overeating.
However, the actual effectiveness of coffee
as an appetite suppressant is something the
jury’s still out on; some studies indicate
that coffee might not actually have any significant
impact on whether or not you feel full.
So now that we’ve covered some of the potential
benefits that coffee can have on weight loss,
it’s time to discuss the elephant in the
room: what are some ways in which coffee might
affect your weight negatively? For starters,
an excess of caffeine can have a negative
impact on your sleep patterns, which in turn,
can make it harder for you to lose weight.
We’ve actually already made an entire video
on how a lack of sleep can negatively impact
your everyday life; if you haven’t already
seen it, be sure to check out “The Effects
Of Sleep Deprivation On Your Body” on our
channel.
Additionally, we previously mentioned that
popular added ingredients such as milk and
sugar can potentially bog down your coffee
with additional calories, effectively undoing
the low-calorie benefits of black coffee in
the first place. Many popular chains of coffee
shops also contain caffeinated beverages that
are high in sugar and other added ingredients
by default, meaning that just because it’s
technically a coffee doesn’t mean that it’s
necessarily low in calories and sugar. According
to some studies, the caffeine found in coffee
may also alter your sense of taste and cause
you to crave sweet foods, which can potentially
lead to you binging on sugary snacks. If you’ve
ever wondered why donuts and other pastries
are popular pairings with coffee, this could
possibly be the explanation. For low-sugar
and low-calorie alternatives to sweeten up
your coffee drinking experience, try swapping
out the milk and sugar for cinnamon, coconut
or almond milk, vanilla extract, or even dark
chocolate.
Being one of the most popular and most addictive
beverages around the world, it’s easy to
see why people who drink coffee on a regular
basis might be concerned with how the piping
hot brew can potentially impact their weight.
The good news is this: on its own, black,
unmodified coffee will most likely not impact
your weight or weight loss goals in a negative
way. However, many of the things we associate
with coffee, such as added table sugar and
pastries, can potentially lead us to fall
back into bad habits when it comes to what
we consume. At the end of the day, it would
seem that the coffee itself isn’t the problem,
but rather the manner in which we enjoy it.
Speaking of enjoyment, did you like this video?
Is there anything you think we skimmed over
here that deserves a closer examination? We’re
always eager to hear your feedback, so be
sure to let us know in the comments section
below and help us keep this conversation going.
