Do you have to deprive yourself of all your daily luxuries when you are trying to lose weight? Does coffee help weight loss or not? Read on for the lowdown on whether your Starbucks or home brewed espresso is aiding or sabotaging your diet.
Many diet products do contain caffeine. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, caffeine can stimulate your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories. How many calories actually burned is still up for discussion. Secondly, caffeine acts as an appetite suppressant, meaning you may feel less hungry after that cup of coffee.
However, before you reach for that mochaccino or flavored fancy coffee consider this:
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regular black coffee contains no fat and ranges from zero to only a couple of calories.
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a teaspoonful of sugar will add 15 calories.
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1 cup of full cream milk will add 150 calories. (How much milk do you actually pour into your mug?)
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1 cup of skimmed milk will only add 85 calories.
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the muffin you might have as well could contain anywhere between 300 and 600 calories, not to mention fat grams and carbs.
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a plain donut contains a minimum of 180 calories.
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commercial coffees (such as Starbucks) can range from 80 calories for a tall Cafe au Lait made with 2% milk to a whopping 320 calories, 12 grams of fat, and 49 grams of carbs for a tall White Chocolate Mocha Frappaccino with whipped cream.
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too much coffee can result in heart palpitations, mood swings, restlessness, and sleeplessness
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many of us are ingrained into the habit of having something to eat with that cup of coffee. Maybe it is a simple cookie for morning or afternoon tea. Perhaps it is a slice of mud-cake with a side serve of cream at the local cafe. No amount of caffeine is going to burn away the extra calories contained in a slice of cake.
Conclusion. Your cup of coffee can assist with weight loss and burning calories. However, the simple black coffee with no fat and relatively few calories can easily sabotage your diet when accompanied by sugar, flavorings, full cream milk, or whipped cream. Not to mention a little sweet something to eat with it. When drinking commercially prepared coffees it is probably worthwhile to check out the calories before you order. By all means, switch on the kettle, but perhaps bypass the cookie jar.
Being overweight, eating
Being overweight, eating poorly, and being physically inactive all increase your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. Other factors affecting your disease risk include your family and medical history, and lifestyle factors such as whether you smoke or drink too much alcohol.
You need to start calculating how much calories your taking in, so keep a diary of what you eat over a week. Write down the amount of calories your eating at the end of the 7 day week and look at what types of foods you are consuming. If you have too many junk foods in there then its time to cut it out and get eating some whole foods full of healthy nutrition.