Espresso, the concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing pressurized hot water through finely-ground coffee beans in an espresso machine, has become a daily ritual for millions. Beyond its energizing kick, many wonder if espresso can play a role in weight management. This article explores the potential connection between espresso consumption and weight loss, examining the evidence and separating fact from fiction.
The Potential Benefits of Espresso for Weight Loss
Espresso, in its purest form, is a low-calorie beverage that may offer some advantages for those seeking to manage their weight. Plain espresso has no added sugar or fat, allowing individuals to enjoy its strong flavor without unnecessary calories.
Caffeine and Metabolism
Caffeine, a stimulant present in espresso, is known to increase energy levels and potentially aid in fat burning. Upon consumption, caffeine enters the bloodstream and travels to the brain, blocking adenosine, a chemical that promotes feelings of tiredness. Simultaneously, caffeine triggers the release of energizing chemicals.
Research suggests that caffeine can temporarily increase the basal metabolic rate (BMR), the rate at which the body burns calories at rest, by 3-11% for a few hours after consumption. Regular coffee drinkers may experience a smaller but more consistent increase in daily calorie burn.
Fat Oxidation and Exercise Performance
Caffeine may contribute to fat burning by increasing fat oxidation, the process by which the body breaks down fat for energy. This effect appears to be more pronounced during exercise. Furthermore, caffeine can improve exercise performance, enabling individuals to work out for longer durations and potentially burn more fat.
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Appetite Suppression
Espresso may help reduce feelings of hunger, potentially making dieting easier. While some individuals report feeling less hungry after consuming espresso, others do not experience any noticeable difference.
Espresso can influence hormones related to hunger and satiety:
- Ghrelin: The hormone that stimulates hunger.
- Peptide YY: The hormone that promotes feelings of fullness.
- Leptin: The hormone that signals the brain when enough food has been consumed.
However, the hormone changes induced by espresso are typically small and short-lived, suggesting that espresso's impact on appetite is limited.
How Espresso Consumption Affects Weight Loss
The way espresso is consumed significantly impacts its potential for weight loss.
- Plain Espresso: Offers minimal calories.
- Espresso with Sugar: Adds extra calories.
- Espresso with Milk: Beverages like lattes and cappuccinos contain significantly more calories.
While plain espresso has very few calories and might help speed up metabolism, milk, sugar, or sweet syrups add calories that can negate these benefits. While milk provides protein and calcium, it also contributes fat and calories. Sugar and flavored syrups add calories without providing essential nutrients.
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To achieve weight loss, it's necessary to burn more calories than consumed, creating a calorie deficit. Plain espresso or Americano (espresso mixed with hot water) can easily fit into a low-calorie diet.
Potential Downsides of Espresso Consumption
While espresso can be beneficial, excessive consumption may lead to adverse effects. Most healthy adults can safely consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine daily, equivalent to about 4 or 5 cups of regular coffee. However, caffeine sensitivity varies among individuals. It is important to account for caffeine from other sources, such as tea, chocolate, and some sodas. Monitoring how espresso affects you personally is crucial for maximizing its benefits while minimizing potential side effects.
Maximizing the Benefits of Espresso for Weight Loss
To leverage espresso for weight loss, consider these strategies:
- Drink it plain: Opt for espresso without added sugar or lots of milk.
- Use sugar-free sweeteners: If desired, use a sugar-free sweetener instead of sugar.
- Limit milk: If adding milk, use a small amount of low-fat or plant-based milk.
- Timing:
- Have espresso with breakfast.
- Drink espresso about 30 minutes before exercising.
- Avoid drinking espresso late in the day.
- Explore low-calorie options: Try an Americano for a tasty, low-calorie alternative.
- Add flavor: Enhance the taste with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
- Enjoy it cold: On warm days, try cold espresso over ice.
Beyond Espresso: Sustainable Weight Loss Strategies
Espresso can be a helpful tool, but it's not a magic bullet for weight loss. Sustainable weight loss requires a holistic approach encompassing various lifestyle factors.
1. Prioritize Health and Happiness
Never compromise your health or happiness by following a diet or exercise program that makes you feel bad about yourself. An extremely restrictive diet that causes you to become overly preoccupied with food is a sign that the plan is not right for you and your needs. If a new trainer or workout class makes you feel uncomfortable or bad about yourself, find a different activity that you enjoy and have fun doing.
Read also: Espresso for Weight Loss: Does it Work?
2. Focus on Overall Health
Improving your overall health - not just losing weight - can be the best goal to set. Think about how improving your nutrition, increasing your activity, and managing your body weight during your 30s benefit your future health.
3. Respect Your Body
Learning to respect your body at any weight fosters self-acceptance and successful weight management. Research shows that self-criticism may undermine or even counteract attempts at weight management and weight loss. Working with an experienced therapist may help if you’re learning to manage self-acceptance and how to show your body kindness.
4. Embrace Non-Linear Progress
Plateaus and fluctuations are part of losing weight. Weight loss is complicated. It involves compensatory changes in the body that slow weight loss over time and encourage weight regain. Slowly increasing your calorie intake may counteract some of the natural metabolic changes that occur during weight loss and make keeping weight off difficult.
5. Reject the 'All or Nothing' Mentality
Setting weight loss goals you can reach without engaging in unsustainable, restrictive diets and extreme workout regimens is essential. The best overall goal to consider is improving your health. You can work with a qualified healthcare professional, such as a registered dietitian, to develop realistic and health-supportive weight loss and nutrition goals specific to your body and health needs.
6. Load Up on Produce
Research shows that increasing your fruit and vegetable intake promotes weight loss and may help maintain a moderate body weight. Produce improves diet quality, decreases disease risk, and promotes healthy weight loss.
7. Say No to Most Diets
Dieting and restrained eating do not work for long-term weight maintenance. Some of the most frequently reported strategies people use for weight loss, per an assessment of global weight control registries, do not involve heavily reorganizing your dietary plan. Instead, they focus on:
- Having nutritious foods available at home
- A regular breakfast intake
- Increasing vegetable consumption
- Decreasing sugary and fatty foods
- Limiting certain foods
- Reducing fat in meals
- Staying physically active
All foods should fit into a balanced, sustainable eating pattern that you can follow long term as part of an enjoyable lifestyle. You should not feel like you need to “cheat” when following your dietary plan.
8. Stay Hydrated
A small 2019 study involving people 18 to 39 years old in Spain found that higher fluid intake was associated with healthier body composition, including a lower body fat percentage and smaller waist circumference. Try setting goals with your water intake over the day. For example, you could start by making it a goal to drink one glass of water when you wake up in the morning.
9. Cut Back on Added Sugar
Try reducing your intake of these foods over time and using sweeteners less often or in smaller amounts.
10. Choose Sustainable Over Speedy
Studies have shown that crash or “yo-yo” dieting leads to weight gain and compensatory changes that may make future weight loss and weight maintenance more difficult. They can negatively affect your energy levels, performance, and overall health. A small calorie deficit will result in slower weight loss, but it’ll decrease the chances of weight regain and ensure your body gets the nutrients it needs.
11. Reduce Intake of Highly Processed Foods
Try to replace ultra-processed foods, such as fast food, packaged snack products, and soda, with something else just 1 day out of the week. For example, you could replace soda with a seltzer. Once this feels comfortable, you can increase the number of times you make this substitution.
12. Choose Filling, Nutrient-Dense Foods
Protein is the most filling macronutrient. Adding protein-rich ingredients to meals and snacks can increase feelings of satiety and satisfaction, research reports. Some foods high in protein include eggs, nuts, fish, chicken, and unsweetened yogurt.
13. Do Not Underestimate Daily Activity
If you’re averaging around 1,000 steps per day, try to increase your count to 2,500 steps most days of the week. This is about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). Once you consistently reach that goal, add 1,000 steps per week or so until you’re comfortably walking a few miles per day.
14. Prioritize Sleep
There are several things you can do to improve your sleep, such as:
- Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day
- Avoiding caffeine in the afternoon and evening
- Refraining from electronic device use at least 30 minutes before bedtime
- Keeping your room dark, quiet, and at a cool temperature
- Avoiding large meals and alcohol before bedtime
- Exercising regularly and maintaining a balanced diet
15. Step Outside
A 2020 study suggests that spending more time outside is associated with higher activity levels and less time sitting, which may help you lose weight. It may also help reduce your chronic disease risk and stress levels, according to a 2021 review. Get outside daily for a walk to enjoy fresh air.
16. Participate in Joyful Movement
Muscle mass naturally declines with age, starting in your 30s. One way to build and maintain muscle mass and metabolism is to get regular exercise. Instead of jumping into an exercise routine based on the number of calories it burns, take the time to narrow down activities you truly find enjoyable and can imagine doing for life. Some activities to consider include Zumba, hiking, biking, walking, Pilates, swimming, and dancing.
17. Learn to Love Cooking
Another 2020 study that analyzed data from people 20 years old and older found that those who prepared home-cooked meals at least seven times per week had a higher healthy eating index score than those who cooked only zero to two times per week. This does not mean you have to cook every meal at home or that the meals need to be complex. You could use meal planning apps or meal prep recipes. Try to increase the number of meals you prepare every week if you’re currently cooking only one or two meals a week.
Enzyme Coffee: An Alternative?
Enzyme coffee, a blend of powdered coffee, green coffee bean extract, green tea, chromium, yerba mate, and guarana, is sometimes marketed as a weight loss aid. Proponents claim that the blend contains digestive enzymes that help break down fat, boost metabolism, and suppress appetite. However, dietitians are less convinced, citing limited scientific evidence to support these claims.
While regular coffee is known to increase metabolism, which may help to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, the weight loss claims surrounding enzyme coffee are largely attributed to its high caffeine content. While caffeine may promote weight loss, relying solely on enzyme coffee is not a sustainable or healthy approach.
Potential Side Effects of Enzyme Coffee
Enzyme coffee is very high in caffeine, so anyone that is sensitive to caffeine may experience several side effects, including:
- Jitters or restlessness
- Nervousness
- Insomnia
- Gastrointestinal distress (like diarrhea)
- Headaches
Alternative Weight Loss Drinks
There is no quick sip that can make you shed pounds. While enzyme coffee might not be a magical solution for weight loss, there are some weight loss drinks you can add to a healthy diet to get you closer to your goals. Water is an ideal beverage to add in weight loss, as it has zero calories and may aid in satiety. Higher protein drinks and shakes with 30 g of protein can aid with building muscle when combined with strength training. Green and black tea may improve metabolism which could support weight loss.