9 Ways Coffee Can Support Your Weight Loss Journey

Coffee may aid in weight management and support a healthy metabolism because it contains natural ingredients, such as caffeine, that may boost your energy and help burn fat. Drinking coffee can also temporarily curb your appetite and cravings.

Caffeine in coffee may boost your metabolism because it:

• Blocks adenosine: This is a chemical that makes you tired. When coffee stops adenosine from being produced in your body, this can raise your energy levels, which can help make your metabolism faster.
• Contains chlorogenic acid (CGA): This is a natural ingredient in coffee that helps break down fats, making them available for energy in the body, and promotes fat oxidation (burning fat). It’s also an antioxidant, which is a substance that helps lower inflammation and cell damage.
• Contains trigonelline: This is another natural ingredient in coffee and a form of vitamin B3. It may help control blood sugar and lipid levels (fat levels in the blood) to support a healthier metabolism.

Coffee may help burn calories because of caffeine’s effect on the muscle protein called sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA). This protein moves calcium through the body, helps muscles relax, and creates heat in the muscles, known as thermogenesis. Thermogenesis can burn calories from producing heat.

This process won’t burn many calories. It may still contribute to your overall calorie burn. More research is needed to fully understand the benefits of this process for weight management.

Caffeine can make you feel more energized, which may help improve your muscles’ function during physical activities. This is partially because caffeine gets your heart pumping. It may also positively affect your mood and focus, both of which can keep you motivated.

Coffee contains antioxidants, mainly CGA, which has been linked to weight loss. Research suggests that about 200 milligrams of CGA may be an effective amount for supporting weight management. Roasting coffee beans significantly lowers the amount of CGA, so people who drink coffee may end up consuming only 0.5-1 gram of CGA a day.

Unroasted coffee, also known as green coffee, can be a good alternative. It contains up to 129 milligrams of CGA per cup. While you can buy green coffee beans to brew at home, you won’t get the same flavor and intensity of a regular cup of coffee. Green coffee is also available in powder and capsule forms.

Caffeinated coffee before exercise may be an effective way to burn fat because it raises the amount of fat your body needs for energy during physical activities. About three milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight, one hour before exercise, can promote fat burn. The amount of coffee that helps with burning fat can vary from person to person.

People who regularly consume caffeine may experience less significant results than those who don’t consume it often. People who also routinely do aerobic exercise, like running, may see less of an impact than those who typically perform higher-intensity workouts, like weightlifting.

Caffeine can speed up your heartbeat, sharpen your focus, and make your muscles more active. These three factors can improve your exercise performance. As a source of caffeine, coffee might be a welcome stimulant before exercise.

Once consumed, caffeine is quickly absorbed and crosses the blood-brain barrier, which means its stimulating effects can be immediate.

Plain black coffee has very few calories, often six to eight calories per eight-ounce cup, depending on the brew method.

Milk, cream, and sugar can significantly increase the calorie count of your coffee. Research suggests that adding milk to your coffee may reduce some of its anti-inflammatory and cell-protecting benefits. This depends on the amount of milk added, as well as other factors like the temperature of your coffee.

Caffeine, particularly in green coffee, may help suppress your appetite. This is because it may lower ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and raise serotonin, the happy hormone. As a result, you may feel fuller longer and have less of a desire to eat. More research is needed to better understand how caffeine works to suppress appetite.

If you drink your coffee black, you’re more likely to notice how bitter it is. Some people find that consuming something bitter can curb their craving for sweets, and there may be some science to back this up.

Research suggests that bitterness may help lower sweet cravings by blocking sweet receptors, proteins that detect sweetness on the tongue and other parts of the body. Bitter flavors may also cause the release of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that lets your body know when you’re full.

Having too much caffeine, over 500 milligrams in a day, can lead to negative health effects. These may include increased anxiety, worsened symptoms of depression, acute diuresis (excessive fluid loss), and potential impacts on bone health.

It’s also important to consider what you add to your coffee. Extra ingredients can significantly affect your health and weight management goals. Adding large amounts of sugar, milk, or cream can transform a low-calorie beverage into a high-calorie, sugar-laden drink, similar to a dessert.

Bulletproof coffee, which is often made with grass-fed butter in place of traditional creamers, can also add extra calories, contribute to high cholesterol (fat) levels in the blood, and may cause gastrointestinal discomfort for some people.

Black coffee may have the most beneficial effects related to weight loss. If you like to have your coffee with milk or cream to balance out its boldness, consider limiting it to a quarter of a cup. Reduced-fat milk can help keep calories low.

Avoid adding too much refined sugar, syrups, and other highly sugary add-ins, or flavored creamers. Consider trying a small amount of stevia, cinnamon, or pure vanilla extract instead to sweeten with very minimal, if any, calories.

When it comes to timing, consider the following:

• Coffee one hour before exercise may positively impact your exercise performance.
• Morning coffee may temporarily boost your metabolism.
• Coffee too late in the day may cause sleep disturbances. Disrupted sleep can affect your metabolism and impact your weight loss goals.

Incorporating black coffee for weight management may support fat burn, more energy, and exercise performance. It may temporarily suppress your appetite or curb your cravings. Be careful about what you add to it, since too much milk and sugar may cancel out some of its benefits.

To get the most potential weight management benefits out of drinking coffee, consider having it in the morning or an hour before you exercise.