Drinking coffee before exercise can help burn fat and lose weight? Nutritionist Liu Yili: Pay attention to 4 key points to avoid sequelae

For office workers, coffee is a must-have drink to refresh themselves; for athletes, it is a treasure that helps burn fat and lose weight! Recently, it has been widely rumored on the Internet that drinking coffee before exercise will help burn 15% more calories and speed up weight loss. Is this approach really suitable for everyone? Nutritionist Liu Yili from Taiwan Adventist Hospital said that moderate caffeine intake before exercise does promote calorie burning, but it should be reminded that when using this method, you should remember four key points, such as not drinking on an empty stomach and not drinking in excess, for better protection!

Drinking coffee before exercise can help you lose weight

Nutritionist Liu Yili from Taiwan Adventist Hospital said that the idea that drinking coffee before exercise can help burn 15% more calories, which is circulating on the Internet, mainly comes from a study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

The study found that athletes who took caffeine before exercise burned an average of 15% more calories after three hours of exercise than those who took a placebo. The caffeine content in this experiment is about 4.5 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. Taking a woman weighing 68 kg as an example, the caffeine is about 300 mg, which is about the amount in a 12-ounce (355-ml) cup of coffee.

Coffee weight loss method breaks the plateau

Nutritionist Liu Yili said that although moderate caffeine intake about 30 minutes before exercise through the method mentioned in the above study does help to increase the body's metabolic rate, accelerate calorie burning, and reduce weight.

Moderate caffeine intake about 30 minutes before exercise can indeed help increase the body's metabolic rate, accelerate calorie burning, and reduce weight.

But it should be noted that coffee has diuretic effects, accelerates vasodilation, and stimulates the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, not every exercise or every person is suitable for using this method to lose weight. To avoid using the wrong method, which may cause physical burden instead of weight loss. Nutritionist Liu Yili specifically pointed out the following 4 key points to remind everyone to pay attention:

Because coffee has diuretic effects, accelerates vasodilation, and stimulates the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, not every exercise or every person is suitable for using this method to lose weight.

4 points to pay attention to when drinking coffee

Key point 1: Don’t overdo it

Although moderate caffeine intake does help to refresh the brain, long-term excessive intake may lead to nervous tension, difficulty falling asleep, accelerated heartbeat, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, headache, dizziness and other problems, and even caffeine dependence.

To avoid the above situation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recommends that daily caffeine intake for adults should be limited to 300 mg. Therefore, if someone who wants to lose weight wants to try this method, they should be careful about the total amount of caffeine they consume each day and avoid excessive amounts.

Point 2: Not suitable for patients with high blood pressure or heart disease

In addition, patients with hypertension, heart disease, and cardiovascular disease may suffer from problems such as palpitations, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing if they perform the exercise arbitrarily because their cardiovascular system is relatively fragile. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink coffee before exercise to lose weight.

Key point 3: Proper hydration

Nutritionist Liu Yili pointed out that since coffee has a diuretic effect, if you drink coffee before exercise and do not replenish water appropriately during exercise, your body will lose a large amount of water and may be at risk of dehydration. You must be careful! In addition, drinking coffee can easily make people want to go to the toilet, thus interrupting exercise. Therefore, it is recommended that people who exercise for a long time, including long-distance running, long-distance swimming, mountain biking, etc., should avoid trying it.

Point 4: Do not drink on an empty stomach

In addition, since caffeine can easily stimulate gastric acid secretion, it is best not to drink coffee on an empty stomach. If you want to lose weight by drinking coffee before exercise, you should eat a light meal rich in carbohydrates one hour before exercise. For example, a small piece of sweet potato, a banana, or a small piece of toast are all good choices. It can not only support the energy needed for exercise, but also avoid post-exercise discomfort caused by low blood sugar.