Does coffee make you gain weight or lose weight? If you are a raving fan of coffee, a weight-loss coffee diet will turn your coffee addiction into a coffee cult.
The “coffee diet” preachers claim that coffee can boost metabolism and suppress cravings. On the contrary, some health experts suggest that coffee can lead to weight gain.
Who holds the truth about weight-loss coffee? Let’s find out scientifically-backed facts about weight loss coffee.
Does coffee make you gain weight or lose weight?
Before we talk about the truth of weight loss coffee, there’s one common confusion around the coffee diet.
“Is coffee bad for you when you’re trying to lose weight?”
The simple fact of the matter is, drinking too much coffee with sugar, milk or creamer can cause metabolic syndrome and weight gain, according to a study.
Drinking too much coffee
The researchers discovered that drinking 3–4 cups of black coffee a day helps in decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, but 5–6 cups a day can be harmful to health.
Weight loss is not a thing. Health is a thing. Weight loss is just a byproduct of health.
— Eric Edmeades, trainer of Mindvalley’s WILDFIT Quest
When taken in moderation and in the correct way, coffee can actually help you lose weight.
Can you lose weight by drinking coffee?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could drink coffee all day and still lose weight naturally?
Though it may sound too good to be true, there’s some scientific truth to it. But, most likely, you weren’t told the entire story.
The truth about coffee and weight loss
Weight loss coffee was popularized by a medical doctor, Dr. Bob Arnot, in his book, The Coffee Lover’s Diet.
The coffee diet by Arnot works based on the principle of eating low-calorie, healthy foods and using coffee as a supplement.
The reason why the coffee diet works is because caffeine has been linked to two potential benefits, suppressing appetite and boosting metabolism.
A study has discovered that people who consume caffeine 30 minutes before a meal eat less food than people who consume coffee 3–4 hours before meals.
Another study echoed the same message. The results showed that decaffeinated coffee can decrease hunger and increase the feeling of fullness.
As for boosting metabolism, it has been shown that caffeine in coffee can have a few effects on the metabolic rate.
A review of 6 studies discovered that caffeine supplementation significantly increases your body’s metabolism over a period of 24 hours. This effect, however, is often short-lived.
Weight loss coffee is not an urban legend. It does help you lose weight on a small scale when done right.
In the next section, you will learn what those hacks are so you can lose weight by drinking weight-loss coffee.
Which coffee is the best for weight loss?
Latte, mocha, cappuccino, espresso, long black, light roast coffee, or dark roast coffee.
With so many types of coffee out there, which coffee is the best for weight loss?
Although there are some types of coffee that aid in weight loss better than others, what’s more, important is the way you drink coffee and understanding what coffees to avoid.
Don’t worry, we’ve written five coffee tips to follow so you can make the most of your weight-loss coffee diet.
1. Black coffee goes a long way
As we’ve mentioned above, black coffee aids in weight loss because caffeine boosts metabolism and promotes fat burn.
However, coffee with sugar, milk, and creamer does the exact opposite. Both sugar and most creamers are packed with a lot of calories that lead to weight gain.
The key to using coffee for weight loss here is no sugar, no milk, no creamer, and nothing else. Just coffee beans and water.
2. Go for light-roasted coffee beans
Coffee can be roasted in three ways: dark roast, medium roast, and light roast.
Do you know which type of roast contains the most caffeine?
This may surprise many Avid coffee drinkers, but a study showed that lightly roasted coffee contains the most caffeine among all other types of roast. And as we’ve mentioned, caffeine helps with weight loss by boosting metabolism and suppressing appetite.
Additionally, Dr. Arnot recommends drinking black coffee from lightly roasted beans because lightly roasted beans contain more antioxidants than other types of roast.
3. Drink 3-4 cups of weight-loss coffee a day (and not more)
The sweet spot of coffee is drinking 3–4 cups a day. This allows you to reap the rewards of weight loss coffee without suffering the effects of overdrinking.
Drinking too much coffee may disrupt your sleep cycle, cause headaches, trigger anxiety, and cause heart palpitations.
If you’re watching your caffeine intake, drink decaf coffee. Decaf coffee is also shown to help in suppressing appetite, making you feel full for a longer period.
4. Pair weight-loss coffee with a healthy diet
Coffee alone does not help you lose weight. Consider it as a supplement.
When black coffee is paired with an active lifestyle and the human diet, it can accelerate weight loss.
Eat more high-quality whole foods that are low in calories such as almonds, hemp seeds, tofu, lean meat, and so on…
Double your fruits and vegetables.
Gradually reduce refined sugar and refined carbs in your diet.
The more closely a species adhere to their natural evolved diet, the healthier that species will be.
— Eric Edmeades, trainer of Mindvalley’s WildFit Quest
The verdict is, coffee can never outrun a bad diet and lifestyle.
5. Avoid coffee marketed as “skinny coffee”
Generally, people perceive weight loss coffee and skinny coffee as the same thing, but they’re actually different.
Weight loss coffee is the usual black coffee that people have been drinking for years.
Skinny coffee, on the contrary, may have some ingredients that can cause some adverse side effects in some people.
What are the side effects of skinny coffee?
Certain ingredients in skinny coffee may cause digestive upset, poor sleep, anxiety, irritability, and potentially, liver damage.
Skinny coffee may help you suppress your appetite, but at the same time, you’re also losing touch with your body’s hunger cues.
In short, don’t fall for the “skinny coffee” scam.
Drinking black coffee in moderation and pairing it with the human diet is the way to go.
The takeaway
Weight loss coffee is not a scam.
Science has linked black coffee to weight loss through appetite suppression and metabolism boost, though the amount of fat loss is small.
What you can do today is follow the five tips when using coffee for weight loss.
- Drink only black coffee
- Go for light-roasted coffee beans
- Drink 3-4 cups of coffee a day
- Pair weight-loss coffee with a healthy diet
- Avoid coffees marketed as “skinny coffee”
Remember, weight loss coffee alone cannot help you shed those pounds off.
Lasting transformation is not about following a bunch of restrictive rules. It’s about changing our psychology and our relationship with food.
— Eric Edmeades, trainer of Mindvalley’s WILDFIT Quest
What provides lasting health transformation is the overall diet, which includes the way you eat and the way you live.
