Does coffee promote weight loss?

If so, how should we drink it, when should we drink it, and is it actually necessary for losing weight?

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In my last post, I spoke about weight loss promoters and the contrary effect they may have on weight loss for those who don't come into a healthy lifestyle.

Assuming that you're already experiencing a healthy and balanced lifestyle and you only want to add a little boost to your weight loss, then coffee will definitely do the trick.

I don't recommend adding coffee to your diet if it isn't already there.

This section is only for those who already are in the habit of consuming coffee, as a guide to help tailor its use to be most beneficial.

The following 4 principles show you how:

1. Drink only clean coffee, without any kind of sweeteners and without any kind of milk (or just a tiny bit if you must).

2. Drink your coffee only between meals and not during or close to meals.

3. Drink your coffee 40 minutes before exercise.

4. Don't drink more than 4 cups of coffee a day. In high quantities, coffee lose its effect as weight loss promoter and causes you to be addicted.

Here are some explanations for these principles:

1. Sweeteners - Using sweeteners in your coffee causes the release of insulin. Those who follow my posts are already familiar with the negative effect of insulin on weight loss, and the importance of keeping the levels of this hormone low. The thing is that even the healthiest and most natural sweeteners with the lowest glycemic index, when consumed daily and consistently, make changes to the bacteria in our intestines that ultimately results in the release of insulin almost in the same way that sugar consumption does.

2. Milk – Due to the lactose in cow's milk and carbohydrates in most plant-based milk, drinking coffee with milk leads to a release of insulin and therefore hinders the ability of the coffee to assist in weight loss. In fact, when you drink coffee where a quarter or a half of it is milk, you aren't really drinking coffee. You're actually drinking a candy. This kind of coffee contributes calories and encourages a release of insulin just like candy does, and as a consequence it encourages weight gain.

3. Drinking coffee between meals – Drinking coffee between meals helps regulate hunger and increase a feeling of satiation. It does so by suppressing the release of the "hunger hormone" ghrelin and by encouraging the release of PYY, which is the hormone that induces satiation. Having your coffee between meals means to drink it at least one and a half hours before meal to reduce hunger and about two hours after the meal to maintain the feeling of satiation.

What happens when we drink coffee during the meal or right after the meal? Instead of assisting in your weight loss efforts, coffee actually does the opposite. It encourages the body to store the calories from the food you just ate as FAT. The same also goes for eating something sweet along with your coffee, like a cookie or a date. This combination will also encourage the body to store the calories it just received as fat.

4. Drinking coffee before exercise – When drinking coffee 40 minutes before exercise, we gain twice: first, coffee improves our performances, and second, coffee actually encourages more fat burning during exercise.

5. Drinking high quantities of coffee – When drinking coffee in high quantities, it loses all of its positive effects. Coffee causes the release of the two pleasure hormones in our brain: dopamine and serotonin. These hormones make us want to repeat the action that caused their release in the first place. In this case, drinking coffee. With a constant intake of coffee, we get a constant release of these hormones, and as a result the body gets used to the good feelings they produce. That causes the body to need greater quantities of coffee in order to have the same good feeling. The way for us to check if we're addicted to coffee is by examining whether the quantity of coffee we drink increases over time, as the heightened sensation and reduced feeling of satiation drops or ceases to exist at all. If this is the case, then we're already addicted and therefore can't enjoy the positive effects of coffee on weight loss.

So as we see above, by following a basic series of principles, coffee does help in losing weight.

But is it really necessary?

If you ask me, I'd say definitely not!

In general, I don't encourage incorporating substances into your menu in order to accelerate weight loss.

I believe that adopting a balanced life style is more than enough to get your desired results without being dependent on all sorts of magic potions or weight loss promoters. Especially if these are stimulants, like in the case of coffee.

But the decision of using these substances is subjective and should be made individually, according to your already existing habits and to what feels right for you.

So considering all the information you've received here, make your own best decision.

And enjoy!