Coffee by itself does not lead to weight gain and may even aid in weight loss by accelerating metabolism and reducing appetite.
However, it may have a negative impact on sleep, which could lead to weight gain. Many coffee beverages and well-known coffee pairings also have high calorie and added sugar content.
A lot of people enjoy drinking coffee in the morning. Numerous people also drink this energizing liquid all day long.
The effects of coffee on weight are examined in-depth in this article.
Does Coffee Make You Gain Weight?
Yes, excess coffee intake may lead to weight gain. This is mainly because it contains caffeine. Caffeine is primarily found in coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, tea, and energy drinks; the average person takes in about 300 mg of it each day.
Caffeine May Disrupt Healthy Sleep Patterns
By inhibiting the effects of adenosine, a brain chemical that causes drowsiness, caffeine acts as a stimulant.
If you need an extra boost of vigor, this could be useful. Coffee may disrupt your sleep patterns, though, if consumed later in the day.
This may then result in weight gain. A lack of sleep is linked to an increase in body weight, a larger appetite, and more cravings for processed foods.
Popular Coffee Pairings May Be Fattening
A pastry or other sweet treat is frequently associated with coffee. This is due to the fact that caffeine alters how you perceive sweetness, which may cause you to crave sweet foods.
Daily consumption of a high-sugar snack in addition to your coffee may eventually result in weight gain.
Enjoy your coffee with foods that offer a source of protein and healthy fat, such as a handful of nuts or an egg breakfast, to prevent the sugar cravings and potential weight gain that may result from consuming high-calorie, sweet treats.
Both protein and fat help to make you feel full and may lessen your cravings for sweets.
Certain Coffee Drinks Are Loaded With Calories and Sugar
Even though plain coffee has few calories, many coffee drinks are calorie and sugar-laden.
Sweetened coffee drinks with additional sugar and hundreds of calories are sold in coffee shops and well-known franchises. A Starbucks Grande (16 ounces or 470 ml) Caramel Frappuccino, for instance, contains 420 calories and more than 16.5 teaspoons (66 grams) of sugar.
Regular consumption of sugary drinks, like sweetened coffee blends, is linked to weight gain and an increased risk of obesity.
To make the popular beverage known as Bulletproof coffee, many people also add butter or coconut oil to their coffee.
In spite of the fact that including healthy fats like coconut oil in your diet can improve your health, consuming too many of these high-fat, high-calorie foods with your coffee without accounting for the additional calories can have the opposite effect and cause you to gain weight.
Why Drink Too Much Caffeine Can Stall Weight Loss?
It depends on one’s health, body mass, and metabolism how the body reacts to caffeine. Caffeine is metabolized differently by each individual.
The antioxidants in coffee are quickly absorbed and eliminated by people with faster metabolisms. But people who have slow metabolism keep the caffeine in their systems for a longer period of time. This may increase abdominal fat and raise blood sugar levels.
No matter how quickly or slowly your body breaks down caffeine, drinking too much coffee can prevent you from reaching your weight loss objectives.
The other components in your coffee, besides the caffeine, may also cause you to gain weight. These components and other potential causes for weight gain from coffee will be discussed in the section that follows.
Why Your Coffee is Making You Gain Weight?
- Sugar Syrups And Add-Ins
Relishing coffee with excess sugar syrup or any other sweet ingredient can add more calories
- Larger Serving
When consumed daily, a large cup of sweetened coffee can result in weight gain.
- Whipped Cream
While adding whipped cream to coffee can improve its flavor, more calories are consumed.
- Sweetened Milk
coffee flavored with oat milk, almond milk, etc. is high in sugar. Additionally, flavored milk might have extra sugar in it.
- Bottled Coffee
Although bottle coffee is a quick and easy option, it is very sweet.
- Full-Fat Milk And Sugar
Full-fat milk and sugar significantly increase the calorie content of coffee.
Not only do sugars affect weight loss, but also how much caffeine you consume.
When Should You Drink Coffee to Lose Weight?
A cup of coffee is a fantastic way to start the day. If you consume it too close to bedtime, you run the risk of disrupting your sleep cycle. Make sure to finish your last cup of coffee before 2:00 p.m. because you need about eight hours of sleep per day. In this manner, the caffeine will have completely left your body by the time you’re ready to go to bed.
Additionally, Capille advises drinking coffee with breakfast. Your cells are prepared to support your body when you wake up in the morning. She clarifies that in order for them to produce energy, they must eat something. If you skip breakfast, your cells will turn to your fat cells and your muscle cells for food.
You want to reduce your body fat, but you don’t want to do so to the extent that you start to lose muscle. Drinking coffee alongside whole grains, a protein-rich breakfast, and a healthy fat is an simple solution, she advises. It’s also a great idea to include fruits and vegetables.
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an example of an exception. You can still have coffee if your IF schedule requires you to skip the customary morning meal. Just make sure your first meal is balanced and contains everything your body requires.
Next, how soon can you drink coffee after taking omeprazole? Click here!
What Can You Put in Your Coffee to Lose Weight?
Being aware of what you’re putting in is crucial. According to Capille, overdosing on cream and sugar can negate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits of coffee and hinder your attempts to lose weight. She recommends switching to sugar-free syrups, stevia, or an alternative sweetener instead.
Both plain coffee and sweetened coffee are acceptable as long as you are careful about how much of each you add.
Decaffeinated coffee has the same nutrients as regular coffee when it comes to weight loss. Choosing your preferred blend and sipping away will ensure that every cup contains plenty of healthy niacin, potassium, magnesium, and antioxidants. Additionally, as long as you don’t add too many extras, both black and sweetened coffee are acceptable.
Does Black Coffee Affect Weight?
You won’t gain weight if you drink coffee black, which means devoid of milk and sugar. Black coffee has almost no calories and won’t make you gain weight. Actually, according to some studies, the caffeine in coffee can aid in weight loss. You may eat less because of the appetite-suppressing effects of coffee’s caffeine. Additionally, caffeine can speed up your metabolism, enabling you to burn more calories even when not working out.
A typical 2,000 calorie diet includes less than 5 calories from a cup of black coffee, which is utterly insignificant.
Read about What Is White Coffee?
Does Decaf Coffee Do Any Good for Health Or Weight Loss?
FYI, even decaf coffee contains a little bit of caffeine, so if you’re not allowed to have any caffeine at all, you should avoid decaf and regular coffee. However, if you’re just following a low-caffeine diet, the decaf’s six milligrams of caffeine per eight-ounce serving, according to Gorin, probably won’t do any harm…though it may not help you with your weight-loss goals much, either.
Do Milk and Sugar in Coffee Contribute to Weight Gain?
If you drink your coffee with milk and sugar—or even worse, cream and sugar—you should watch how much you consume each day. Two 8-ounce cups of coffee per day, with 2 ounces of cream and 2 teaspoons of sugar, adds an additional 300 calories to your diet. For the purpose of comparison, a slice of pumpkin pie or a piece of cake contains about 300 calories. If you add cream and sugar to your coffee, you’re essentially doing what you would never consider doing: eating a piece of cake for breakfast every morning.
Unfortunately, the situation isn’t much better if you use milk. Even though whole milk has roughly half as many calories as cream, consuming it every morning puts you at a disadvantage and makes weight loss more difficult.
What About Coffee Supplements? Are Those Healthy?
Dislike the taste of coffee? Thanks to a substance known as green coffee bean extract, you may not be completely out of luck when it comes to taking advantage of coffee’s potential fat-burning abilities.
The extract, a dietary supplement that can be taken as a powder, pill, capsule, or liquid, is made from unroasted coffee beans, which purportedly have higher levels of chlorogenic acids, also known as “green tea.” the antioxidant stuff in coffee typically associated with its major health benefits, than roasted beans. There is no such thing as a miracle drug for weight loss, so anyone trying to lose weight the traditional way should be wary of supplements like green coffee bean extract that are advertised as being “natural” weight-loss aids.
How to Make Your Coffee Healthier?
You might feel like you’re in a pickle if you don’t like black coffee and are shocked by the amount of calories cream and sugar add to your diet. Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple solution, so if you’re serious about losing weight, you’ll have to make some adjustments.
Trying to transition from creamy, sugary coffee to black immediately is a common mistake. Since the change is so extreme, it is unlikely that you will maintain it, and you will quickly find yourself back where you were. The incorrect strategy is to abruptly stop using cream and sugar.
A better choice is to gradually reduce your usage of cream and sugar over time. Reduce the amount of cream you normally use in your coffee by 1.5 ounces for a week. the following week, reduce that to 1 ounce. You’re much more likely to get used to your coffee’s new flavor by gradually reducing the amount you use.
Another strategy is to gradually transition from using cream to whole milk, 2% milk, 1% milk, and finally non-fat milk. Some people won’t need to completely switch to non-fat milk. Two percent milk has one-fourth the calories of cream, while 1% milk has half of that.
It might surprise you to learn that reducing your intake of cream and sugar has no impact on how much you enjoy your coffee. Once your taste buds get used to the new flavors, you might find previously hidden coffee flavors that cream and sugar had overpowered. You may even, gasp, eventually begin to drink your coffee black. But before we go too far, let’s be realistic.
Editor’s tip: a breve is a coffee beverage made with espresso that is also referred to as a breve latte or a caffe breve.
Best Caffeine Sources Weight Loss
Natural Teas
A great way to get your caffeine fix is through tea. Since there is so much evidence supporting green tea’s ability to help people lose weight, it is one of my personal favorites. Another well-liked and healthy choice is black tea. Some tea brews are especially designed to aid in weight loss.
Natural Caffeine (Green Coffee Bean Extract)
Green coffee beans are simply coffee beans that have not been roasted. They contain a lot of antioxidants and have been linked to reduced blood pressure and weight loss. Additionally, chlorogenic acid, which is found in green coffee beans, is thought to prevent fat from accumulating, speed up weight loss, halt the absorption of carbohydrates, and even assist the body in controlling blood sugar levels after meals. Although green coffee extract supplements are available, they may only contain trace amounts of caffeine. Pure LYFT Energy Sticks are a better option. They contain 125mg of caffeine and vitamins A and B, and they can be dissolved in any liquid (including water)!
Healthy Energy Drinks
Energy drinks do not all contain a lot of sugar and chemicals. There are energy drinks that are beneficial for you and, in addition to giving you caffeine, also give you important vitamins and minerals. Guayusa, a plant native to the Amazon rainforest with twice as many antioxidants as green tea, is the main ingredient in RUNA, a healthy energy beverage. There are no calories and 120 mg of caffeine in this energy drink.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Need to Stop Drinking Coffee to Lose Weight?
No. As long as you don’t drink too much coffee, it’s okay. Only consume 2 to 3 cups of it daily at most. Consuming too much coffee can hinder your efforts to lose weight.
Does Coffee Make You Lose Weight?
Caffeine can increase fat burning in the short term by speeding up your metabolism. This stops working as your body becomes more tolerant to caffeine.
What is the Best Food to Burn Fat?
Chili peppers, whey protein, coffee, eggs, green tea, and fatty fish.
What Are the Disadvantages of Drinking Coffee?
Anxiety, insomnia, digestive problems, muscle deterioration, addiction, high blood pressure, and exhaustion.
Conclusion
Due to the caffeine in coffee, excessive consumption may result in weight gain.
To lose weight, however, limit your daily coffee intake to 2-3 cups.
Caffeine slows down systems with slow metabolisms, raising blood sugar and insulin levels as well as belly fat.
Caffeine in moderation stimulates the nervous system, decreases anxiety, and reduces the chance of certain medical issues.
