The Truth About Caffeine and Weight Loss
A lot of people have questions on whether or not caffeine can play a role in weight loss. Caffeine can suppress appetite, but the effects from it don’t last long enough to cause significant weight loss.
Caffeine is also a diuretic and can increase the amount of water lost from the body in the form of urine. While water loss does decrease body weight, it does not decrease the amount of body fat.
It is also important for your body to have enough water. Staying hydrated is important for many bodily functions. Since thirst is often mistaken for hunger not being properly hydrated can actually cause overeating.
Caffeine is a stimulant. When your body intakes too much caffeine, you can get a shaky feeling that can be misinterpreted for hunger. Caffeine can also cause your blood sugar to drop, which can also result in feelings of hunger.
The weight loss that can be caused by increased caffeine intake is neither significant nor permanent. Any suggested use as a weight loss aid is quickly outweighed by the possibilities of it actually causing you to feel more hunger. Besides the fact that caffeine does not have a serious effect on weight loss, using it to try to lose weight by consuming high doses can actually harm your health.
Effects of Caffeine
Caffeine’s affect on the nervous system causes an increased heart rate. For some people, ingesting large amounts of caffeine can cause jitters, insomnia, irritability and elevated blood pressure.
Caffeine is also highly addictive. Abruptly quitting caffeine intake can cause withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, sleepiness and irritability.
Coffee, tea and soda are three of the most common sources of caffeine consumed by American’s today, but caffeine can also be found in cold medicines, wake-up pills, chocolate, and painkillers among other products.
What it all comes down to is moderation. For most healthy adults, 200-300 milligrams of caffeine a day (about two cups of coffee) should not pose any physical problems. However, when not used in moderation, caffeine can cause many of the problems listed above.
The bottom line is that caffeine is simply not effective for use in weight loss. And in large quantities, it can even pose health risks.
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