Drinking coffee before exercise can help you lose weight! The key is: what kind of exercise?

People who are losing weight may have heard that "drinking a cup of coffee before exercise can help reduce body fat accumulation", but do you know what kind of exercise is more effective? Many people are accustomed to drinking coffee for breakfast to wake up the brain and see if it can achieve the effect of weight loss. But do you know how much coffee you should drink for breakfast? The secret lies in the big data of research literature!

In our busy lives, coffee has become an indispensable spiritual food for office workers. Recent studies have found that the "caffeine" component in coffee is a methylxanthine (methyl-xanthine), which will activate lipase (HSL), promote the decomposition of fat into free fatty acids, and release them into the blood. If combined with exercise at this time, the weight loss effect will be more significant!

Coffee improves fat burning ability during exercise, “how to exercise” is a science!

However, there are many types of sports. Which one is more effective in losing weight when combined with coffee? Huang Yinglian, a nutritionist at Yuanlin Christian Hospital, said that in 2017, "Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging" published a study that randomly selected seven men aged 24 to 26, weighing 60 to 63 kilograms, with a BMI of about 22 and who had exercise habits.

The research team asked the subjects to drink hot water or coffee (containing 5 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine) one hour before exercise, and then perform continuous exercise for 30 minutes or intermittent exercise for 30 minutes. At the same exercise intensity (40% of maximum oxygen uptake), the energy utilization and respiratory exchange rate before, during and after exercise were compared. The "30 minutes of interval exercise" here refers to the exercise pattern of exercising for 10 minutes → resting for 10 minutes → exercising for 10 minutes → resting for 10 minutes → exercising for 10 minutes.

The results showed that for those who drank coffee before exercise, the fat oxidation rate in the intermittent exercise 30 minutes after exercise was 9±5% faster than that in the continuous exercise; for those who drank hot water before exercise, the intermittent exercise was 6±10% faster than that in the continuous exercise, indicating that intermittent exercise has a greater impact on the fat oxidation rate; moreover, for those who drank coffee before exercise, the fat oxidation rate in the intermittent exercise 30 minutes after exercise was faster than that in the hot water group. It shows that drinking coffee combined with intermittent exercise can promote fat burning after exercise, which is a new way to reduce body fat!

Drinking coffee for breakfast can help you lose weight, the key number for concentration is "6"!

In addition to improving the fat burning efficiency of intermittent exercise, drinking a cup of fragrant and refreshing coffee at breakfast also has an unexpected effect in assisting weight loss. Nutritionist Huang Yinglian said that in 2013, "Obesity" published a single-blind experimental study, which divided 33 subjects into two groups, with an age range of 25 to 30 years old. One group consisted of 16 normal-weight people (BMI value below 25), and the other group consisted of 17 overweight/obese people (BMI value above 25). The two groups were further divided into three groups, which drank boiled water, light coffee (containing 3 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine), and strong coffee (containing 6 mg/kg of body weight of caffeine) for breakfast. A buffet was provided for lunch and the subjects ate on their own for a period of three days.

The results showed that among the "overweight/obese" group, those who drank strong coffee for breakfast could reduce their calorie intake by 550 calories per day on average compared to those who drank water; those who drank strong coffee for breakfast could reduce their calorie intake by 300 calories at lunch and 725 calories per day compared to those who drank light coffee; however, those who drank light coffee for breakfast could increase their calorie intake by 281 calories at lunch compared to those who drank strong coffee. However, for people of normal weight, drinking coffee or water for breakfast does not make much difference in fat loss.

Caffeine is just an "assistant" for weight loss! No more than 300 mg per day

Nutritionist Huang Yinglian reminds us that although there are many research papers proving that caffeine is beneficial for weight loss, "coffee is just an aid". If you want to lose weight, you still need to have a balanced diet, exercise and drink plenty of water. In addition, the more coffee you drink, the faster you lose weight. When the daily caffeine intake exceeds 500 mg, it is easy to experience mild caffeine poisoning symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, irritability, palpitations, etc. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan recommends that the daily caffeine intake of the Chinese people should not exceed 300 mg.

According to the new 2015-2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines, each person's daily intake of free sugars (added sugars) should be less than 10% of total calories, and saturated fat should be less than 10% of total calories. If we take the daily requirement of 1,500 calories as an example, it is recommended to consume less than 37.5 grams of free sugar and less than 17 grams of saturated fat every day. One convenience store sugar bag contains 5 grams of free sugar, and 8 bags a day will exceed the standard. One convenience store creamer ball contains 2 grams of saturated fatty acids, and 9 balls a day will exceed the standard. Therefore, when choosing coffee drinks, it is recommended to try to drink "black coffee without sugar or creamer" to avoid consuming too many calories, which will ruin your weight loss plan.