Coffee & Not Being Able To Lose Weight

Coffee is an almost completely noncaloric beverage, so you can drink as much of it as you wish without adding calories to your diet, as long as you do not add anything to it. This makes it a good beverage when you are trying to lose weight, but coffee can sabotage your diet if you use it in the wrong way.

Additions

Coffee, an intensely flavored drink brewed from coffee beans, is a good dietary beverage on its own. Many people add sugar and milk or cream to their coffee, which adds calories that work against weight loss. Flavored creams usually contain sweeteners, which raises the calorie count even more. You can offset the damage by skipping dairy products and using diet sweeteners in place of sugar or drinking coffee made with flavored beans instead of using flavored creamers. Resist specialty coffees at coffee shops because many such drinks are high in calories.

Effect on Appetite

Coffee contains caffeine, which is sometimes cited as a weight-loss drug, but Mayo Clinic dietician Katherine Zeratsky advises that caffeine's appetite suppressant effects are minimal. The drug may have a temporary effect, but not enough to help you shed pounds. You hurt the success of your weight loss program if you rely on coffee and its caffeine content to cut your appetite.

Water Weight

Coffee's caffeine content makes it a diuretic, which means that it may temporarily cause you to drop water weight. Water passes out of your body more rapidly because caffeine makes you urinate more frequently. This effect is misleading because you might believe that coffee is helping you lose weight, only to have the pounds quickly reappear since you did not lose any body fat, according to Zeratsky.

Benefits

The caffeine in coffee stimulates your central nervous system and gives you more energy, which may be otherwise lacking when you are on a diet. This stimulation may help you exercise, and physical activity helps you lose weight. The myth that coffee does not hydrate you as well as water is false, Zeratsky reports, so you can safely drink coffee for a caffeine boost before your workout.

Considerations

Coffee's effect on weight loss is just one small part of a major undertaking. You cannot lose weight if you take in more calories, from sugary, creamy coffee or any other source, than you burn off. Your diet should include a healthy eating plan and regular exercise or you will not shed any pounds. That plan can include coffee, either black or with an artificial sweetener.