No, Caffeine Doesn't Help You Lose Weight

[phands]

https://www.livescience.com/63102-caffeine-doesnt-help-weight-loss.html

Science disproves yet another specious claim about diet...

Some diet supplements that contain caffeine claim that the compound helps reduce appetite. Other research has suggested that caffeine could speed up metabolism.
It looks like those claims don't live up to the hype: According to a new study published today (July 19) in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, caffeine doesn't have an effect on weight loss.

 

[skepticalbip]

I have reached the point that I pay no attention to studies on nutrition. People get all worked up over some new study and take it to heart then, two weeks later, a new study is released that found the opposite. It looks like the whole field has become little more than an excuse to publish papers, write books, and make a good living by writing "hand waving" claims that attempt to make personal opinion sound "scientific". My philosophy on diet for at least the last twenty years has been, "If I am hungry, there is food available, the food is good then I eat it and stop when the hunger is gone.". It seems to work for me because my weight has remained at 145 +/- 5 pounds (up a little in winter and down a little in summer) for more than the last thirty years now.

 

[rousseau]

I have reached the point that I pay no attention to studies on nutrition. People get all worked up over some new study and take it to heart then, two weeks later, a new study is released that found the opposite. It looks like the whole field has become little more than an excuse to publish papers, write books, and make a good living by writing "hand waving" claims that attempt to make personal opinion sound "scientific". My philosophy on diet for at least the last twenty years has been, "If I am hungry, there is food available, the food is good then I eat it and stop when the hunger is gone.". It seems to work for me because my weight has remained at 145 +/- 5 pounds (up a little in winter and down a little in summer) for more than the last thirty years now.

I generally agree, although I think nutrition science has added value to our knowledge about diet. But what you want to do is read reputable sources and direct papers and not blogs and journalistic websites.

The most important take-home would probably be simply to follow the recommended food intake guideline. For a lot of people doing so sounds insane because they can't do without their Mickey D's or triple chocolate ice cream, but if you want to be healthy that's the way to do it.

 

[rousseau]

As for caffeine and it's effect on weight. Na, all it is is a stimulant, shouldn't have any impact on food intake or exercise.

 

[phands]

I have reached the point that I pay no attention to studies on nutrition. People get all worked up over some new study and take it to heart then, two weeks later, a new study is released that found the opposite. It looks like the whole field has become little more than an excuse to publish papers, write books, and make a good living by writing "hand waving" claims that attempt to make personal opinion sound "scientific". My philosophy on diet for at least the last twenty years has been, "If I am hungry, there is food available, the food is good then I eat it and stop when the hunger is gone.". It seems to work for me because my weight has remained at 145 +/- 5 pounds (up a little in winter and down a little in summer) for more than the last thirty years now.

I agree completely. And my weight has been the same as yours since about 1974. The number of quack supplements and remedies has gone up astronomically, though, and almost none of them have any basis in science or real research. Sadly. some of them are downright dangerous, like miracle cures for Diabetes. There's a horrifying right-wing junk-rag called Newsmax . which I monitor as a "know your enemy" thing, and they throw up dangerous quackery several times a week.

 

[untermensche]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm surprised--I would have thought the stimulant effect would increase your metabolism a bit. I would expect it to be small, though.

 

[rousseau]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

Exercise is usually followed by an increase in calorie intake. It generally only results in significant weight loss when you're really working hard (like your job is intensely physical). The other sure-fire way to weight loss is starvation, which is the real trick to some of these new diets.

 

[PyramidHead]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

Exercise is usually followed by an increase in calorie intake. It generally only results in significant weight loss when you're really working hard (like your job is intensely physical). The other sure-fire way to weight loss is starvation, which is the real trick to some of these new diets.

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

 

[fast]

I went on a diet one time, but it wasn't enough food, so I went on two.

 

[rousseau]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

Exercise is usually followed by an increase in calorie intake. It generally only results in significant weight loss when you're really working hard (like your job is intensely physical). The other sure-fire way to weight loss is starvation, which is the real trick to some of these new diets.

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

These days I hear it said pretty often that the brunt of our health can be attributed to diet. Which makes sense because we're literally eating all day, every day of our lives. So the difference between say, a glass of water or a Coke every day can be huge. Whereas with exercise, at most you're doing cardio a few times a week and burning a couple hundred calories per session.

The other thing is that people look at exercise as this torture we have to go through because we're supposed to, rather than just a normal, and enjoyable part of life that boosts our mental health. It doesn't have to mean sprinting for 30 minutes, it can be as simple as hand washing your dishes, or taking a walk around your block. Literally any movement at all is better than less movement. But because we've somehow tied the purpose of exercise to weight-loss, people either have a gym membership or do fuck all.

 

[Bronzeage]

I drink on average about a gallon of coffee a day, with no exaggeration. If there were some weight loss effect, I would have ceased to exist, a long time ago.

Weight loss is a pretty simple equation of input and exertion of energy. It's the chemistry that gets complicated. The human body is built to survive in times of shortage, so we tend to eat as much as can, when it's available. It's very difficult to overcome this genetic programming, which was laid down when over eating was not a practical reality.

I remember a conversation among naked men in a locker room. Two runners were discussing their body fat percentage and how they kept it to a minimum. I turned to the naked man beside me and said, 'You know, in evolutionary terms, you and I are in much better physical condition than either of them."

"How is that," he asked.

"We've made it through the winter with our precious fat reserves intact," I replied.

Weight loss in a time of plenty is a psychological game. One must convince one's body there is a shortage of food. Stimulants such as caffeine help us play this game. Good shoes don't make you run faster, but if they give you then confidence to slam your foot down on the pavement a little harder, you will run faster. Whatever works is what you use.

It doesn't really matter if someone comes out with a study that says shoes don't help.

 

[rousseau]

I read a book called 'Brain Rules' a few months ago that put it well. It said exercise is not just important to normal functioning, but an intrinsic part of it. In speaking of evolution, it mentioned that in our early days we would have been moving almost all day, every day. And so the body, including the brain, is meant to function properly assuming that we're moving, a lot.

And so these days with many people in office jobs getting insufficient exercise.. there is a corresponding increase in anxiety/depression/obesity, yadda yadda. We no longer have or need the avenues for proper exercise.

 

[repoman]

I think that (speaking as an absolute hypocrite on this) keeping away from any high and sharp glycemic loads and also stuff that makes too much insulin (dairy protein) will let your body be in a place with both low-ish blood sugar and low-ish insulin. Then your body can in a relaxed manner mount up the fat burning ketogenic system. I should do some more reading on how to get glucagon (which is not glycogen) levels up.


Stay the hell away from artificial sweeteners. The way they fuck with us is subtle, (do a reputable journal search on it - lots of articles) but highly complicated. I would not wait until all the facts are in about artificial sweeteners before I almost totally eliminated them. Get into the other parts of the flavor spectrum than sweet.

 

[untermensche]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

Exercise is usually followed by an increase in calorie intake. It generally only results in significant weight loss when you're really working hard (like your job is intensely physical). The other sure-fire way to weight loss is starvation, which is the real trick to some of these new diets.

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

Exercise is the most efficient and healthiest adjunct to weight loss.

Trying to lose weight with just calorie reduction is harmful and usually counter productive.

 

[skepticalbip]

A person could use caffeine to enhance weight loss.

If they use the stimulant effect to do more exercise and do not eat more.

Exercise is usually followed by an increase in calorie intake. It generally only results in significant weight loss when you're really working hard (like your job is intensely physical). The other sure-fire way to weight loss is starvation, which is the real trick to some of these new diets.

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

Not really. Exercise does much more than burn calories while exercising. It changes one's metabolism. It increases bone density. It tones and builds muscle. If taken to the extreme like marathon runners then someone could consume several times the normal calorie intake and not gain weight.

 

[rousseau]

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

Not really. Exercise does much more than burn calories while exercising. It changes one's metabolism. It increases bone density. It tones and builds muscle. If taken to the extreme like marathon runners then someone could consume several times the normal calorie intake and not gain weight.

That goes hand in hand with what I was saying. A marathon runner would be a prime example of when exercise does work for weight loss, but most people who are exercising for weight loss aren't marathon runners.

Exercise is good for you for a number of reasons, some you mention, others mental, but if you try to lose weight via exercise and don't change your diet whatsoever, chances are it's not going to work. So in a case like drinking caffeine, there might be a subtle change in physical activity, but it's definitely not going to impact your weight unless you're consciously making a host of other changes.

Really and truly, the healthiest, and most sustainable way to 'lose weight' is to not diet or 'exercise' (in terms of small spurts of going to the gym) at all. It's to make slow and gradual changes to your lifestyle, including diet and exercise so you're living in a healthy manner, every day of your life. Eat right, make exercise a part of your normal routine, and over time you'll slim down, have more energy, and feel better.

 

[untermensche]

This is so true. A lot of people I know go to exercise as a first option for weight loss, when it's really kind of a bad way to go about it. Exercise just makes you really hungry and makes you feel like you deserve a reward for doing hard work, so it's stupidly easy to cancel out hours of exercise.

Not really. Exercise does much more than burn calories while exercising. It changes one's metabolism. It increases bone density. It tones and builds muscle. If taken to the extreme like marathon runners then someone could consume several times the normal calorie intake and not gain weight.

That goes hand in hand with what I was saying. A marathon runner would be a prime example of when exercise does work for weight loss, but most people who are exercising for weight loss aren't marathon runners.

Exercise is good for you for a number of reasons, some you mention, others mental, but if you try to lose weight via exercise and don't change your diet whatsoever, chances are it's not going to work. So in a case like drinking caffeine, there might be a subtle change in physical activity, but it's definitely not going to impact your weight unless you're consciously making a host of other changes.

Really and truly, the healthiest, and most sustainable way to 'lose weight' is to not diet or 'exercise' (in terms of small spurts of going to the gym) at all. It's to make slow and gradual changes to your lifestyle, including diet and exercise so you're living in a healthy manner, every day of your life. Eat right, make exercise a part of your normal routine, and over time you'll slim down, have more energy, and feel better.

The question is can caffeine enhance weight loss.

The answer is definitely yes.

 

[rousseau]

That goes hand in hand with what I was saying. A marathon runner would be a prime example of when exercise does work for weight loss, but most people who are exercising for weight loss aren't marathon runners.

Exercise is good for you for a number of reasons, some you mention, others mental, but if you try to lose weight via exercise and don't change your diet whatsoever, chances are it's not going to work. So in a case like drinking caffeine, there might be a subtle change in physical activity, but it's definitely not going to impact your weight unless you're consciously making a host of other changes.

Really and truly, the healthiest, and most sustainable way to 'lose weight' is to not diet or 'exercise' (in terms of small spurts of going to the gym) at all. It's to make slow and gradual changes to your lifestyle, including diet and exercise so you're living in a healthy manner, every day of your life. Eat right, make exercise a part of your normal routine, and over time you'll slim down, have more energy, and feel better.

The question is can caffeine enhance weight loss.

The answer is definitely yes.

Do you ever just agree with people?

 

[untermensche]

That goes hand in hand with what I was saying. A marathon runner would be a prime example of when exercise does work for weight loss, but most people who are exercising for weight loss aren't marathon runners.

Exercise is good for you for a number of reasons, some you mention, others mental, but if you try to lose weight via exercise and don't change your diet whatsoever, chances are it's not going to work. So in a case like drinking caffeine, there might be a subtle change in physical activity, but it's definitely not going to impact your weight unless you're consciously making a host of other changes.

Really and truly, the healthiest, and most sustainable way to 'lose weight' is to not diet or 'exercise' (in terms of small spurts of going to the gym) at all. It's to make slow and gradual changes to your lifestyle, including diet and exercise so you're living in a healthy manner, every day of your life. Eat right, make exercise a part of your normal routine, and over time you'll slim down, have more energy, and feel better.

The question is can caffeine enhance weight loss.

The answer is definitely yes.

Do you ever just agree with people?

Do you?