How Much Does Coffee Help Overall Weight Loss Efforts?

The Answer Is Going to Delight You!

There are many benefits to drinking coffee, and helping people who are interested in shedding some pounds is among the top benefits. In fact, a very strong case can be made for this as the top overall benefit (as you will be finding out soon).

Black coffee is among the few natural beverages with little to no calorie content. Even though it’s not necessary to drink coffee black, it is ideal to achieve the maximum weight loss benefits.

For those who prefer the taste of pure black coffee (and for those who can at least tolerate drinking black coffee), drinking plain black coffee is definitely the way to go.

Having discovered the natural great taste of several types of coffee like organic and gourmet , I seldom end up adding anything to my coffee.  My favorite is Lifeboost coffee, which to me tastes so good that I don’t even consider anything to it.

These days, there are many low calorie options to give great added flavor to coffee. Those who prefer not to drink their coffee black can still keep calorie content relatively low. Regardless of your preference, coffee is simply priceless as a low calorie beverage that also helps you lose weight.

How Coffee Naturally Helps Burn More Calories

Coffee contains various substances that increase our metabolism (the chemical process that turns food and beverages into energy). Our bodies burn more calories as our metabolism increases.

While caffeine has the biggest effect on metabolism, coffee contains additional substances that help our bodies burn extra calories. Because of this, even those who prefer low caffeine or decaffeinated coffee can still achieve a higher metabolic rate.

Coffee Also Helps Us Feel Less Hungry

Coffee contains substances in addition to the ones mentioned above. One of them is known as CGA (which stands for chlorogenic acid). It is a substance that has the ability to suppress our appetite (or in other words, makes us feel less hungry).

In addition to increasing our metabolic rate, caffeine also plays a part in suppressing our appetite. Together with CGA it can help control our craving to eat more than we should.

Many diets end up slowing our metabolism because we’re not getting enough to eat, and the body overreacts automatically as an instinct of self-preservation (survival instinct).

In contrast, coffee allows us to eat a suitable amount of calories while burning more of the calories that we consume. That is a perfect combination.

Caffeine Helps in One Important Additional Way

Because caffeine is a stimulant, drinking caffeinated coffee generally leads to a more active lifestyle. It energizes us physically, and it also helps improve our mood. As we’re more motivated and on the move, this further helps boost our metabolism.

Here is the NEAT part. Being more active doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to hit the gym or perform aerobic exercises for a long period of time.

NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. That’s just a fancy term for physical activity that isn’t categorized as exercise.

This could be things like shopping (in brick and mortar stores), gardening, and knitting. From a different perspective, it’s anything we do besides being completely inactive (were completely inactive when we’re doing things like sitting on the couch watching TV or sleeping) or exercising.

In Helping With Weight Loss, Coffee Complements Other Health Benefits

Obesity is tied to various leading causes of death such a heart disease and strokes. A National Institutes of Health publication states that NEAT can be considered “a critical component in how we maintain our body weight and/or develop obesity or lose weight.”

Being more active and losing extra pounds is valuable on its own. Coffee helps with both of those things, and in doing so additionally helps in preventing serious health consequences from obesity.

In my article on the general health benefits of drinking coffee, I explained how antioxidants in coffee helps keep our cells and organs healthy. By additionally helping us achieve a healthy weight, coffee in a sense offers double protection from various serious diseases.

Neater than NEAT

As you know by now, coffee is a great idea for those looking to lose weight. My perspective is that it’s a basic recipe that works well on its own.

What if you wanted to “spice up” that recipe?  Emeril Lagasse (a popular chef) would refer to this as “kickin’ it up a notch.”

Coffee and Exercise Can Push Your Metabolism Into Overdrive

Even if the effects of each (coffee and exercise) were separate, it would make sense to incorporate both into a weight loss plan.

Without getting too much into the science behind this, (caffeinated) coffee can do more than motivate you to exercise. It can also help you exercise more vigorously and / or longer. This this article on caffeine and weight loss applies to caffeine in general, and it explains how caffeine enhances our performance while exercising.

The end result is that additional quantity and quality in terms of exercising will lead to a higher metabolism.  This in turn will help our bodies burn off excess fat.

Enjoying Exercise

I rarely ever exercise when I don’t want to. That’s why I have regularly exercised for over 40 years and continue to do so in my fifties.

If you want to shed some pounds (and more importantly, maintain a healthy weight once you do), developing a long term perspective is a must. If you don’t enjoy exercising, it’s very unlikely that you will do it consistently.

Even Moderate Exercise Can Boost Your Metabolism

Walking, swimming, riding a bicycle, and playing your favorite sport can all do wonders for your metabolism. You don’t need to jog or work out at the gym for hours to increase your metabolism. Though if that’s something you enjoy, then you can “kick up your metabolism several notches.”

Coffee Can Be a Gateway To a Healthy and Stable Weight

Maybe coffee motivates you to do additional things or to follow through with the things that work for you. Perhaps it might open your eyes to some basic and useful knowledge that helps you lose weight more effectively (like realizing that natural appetite suppression works better than willpower).

While coffee can do a lot for you, it usually won’t be able to do it all for you. Yet you are practically guaranteed to be motivated by whatever it is that coffee can do to help you lose weight.  That will likely lead to exploring additonal options.

Getting Additional Benefits Without Adding More Caffeine

Coffee is far from the only thing that help you lose weight. There are quite a few additional things that can help suppress your appetite, burn more fat, etc.

There is a lot of information available about these other alternatives that can help you lose weight. For example, this article (other weight loss supplements to consider) covers over 10 of these in detail.

I would love to hear from you if you have any comments or questions regarding this fascinating topic.  Do you have any success stories about how coffee has helped you lose weight?  Is there any additional information you would like to have related to this topic?  Please feel free to share any questions or comments below.