Coffee = weight gain?

greenlemonjen

Hi all,
I gained about 45 lbs due to a pregnancy, medication and extreme stress. I have struggled big time to take any of it off and am investigating what may be holding me back. During the two years I gained I also became a daily coffee drinker (probably 2 cups a day, always black). I've always been sensitive to caffeine, but truly love drinking coffee so I just drink it in smaller amounts. Just today it occurred to me that daily caffeine may be holding back my weight loss efforts. Anyone see a change when they left caffeine behind? Thanks!

Katmary71

I've lost weight both with and without caffeine, though I log my coffee cream. Coffee is under 10 calories a cup so it shouldn't be a problem unless you're drinking it like water and even then, it comes down to calories. I drink coffee before working out and it helps me last longer.

Keep_on_cardio

Drinking it black, two cups a day doesn’t sound like the culprit of weight gain. I’d pay more attention to what you’re eating throughout the day and how much exercise.

Redordeadhead

Nope, black coffee is virtually calorie free so beyond a potential very small amount of water weight, it's not likely to be the problem.

Try tracking your food on here for a few weeks to see how many calories you are consuming.

Cahgetsfit

no. and don't people even take caffeine pills and stuff to lose weight??? (well it's those fad things anyway, I"m sure i've seen in advertised as a fat loss miracle pill).

Quasita

Coffee traditionally has the opposite effect if taken black. It makes people go to the bathroom, both #1 and #2, which is oftentimes a reason why people incorporate it into their health and wellness plans.

Caffeine pills are used to eliminate water weight. However, I suppose it's possible that if you're dehydrated, drinking coffee could make it worse since it works like a diuretic. The only thing about THAT is that the amount of caffeine in coffee is not generally considered enough to be medically impacting when it comes to being excessively dehydrated...

I'm with everyone else in the sense that I would be paying attention to what you were eating. Do you habitually have a snack with your coffee? Once upon a time, they did a study that concluded that coffee caused cancer... and then another group of researchers, being skeptical, looked into the study more closely and discovered that the cancer patients were actually people that typically smoked a cigarette with their coffee. Point being, it wasn't the coffee causing the problem, it was the item being consumed alongside the coffee. Same thing could happen with snacks.

There's also the simple fact that pregnancy changes the body's hormones and metabolic set up. You naturally gain weight during that time. You might have to change your typical efforts because of that. The gain is caused by you eating in a way that is not beneficial to those changes... so you'll have to figure out how things need to adjust.

Same goes with medications. Medications don't directly cause weight gain, unless it's water retention, but coffee and other diuretics would be helping that, not acting to make it worse. When medications are "causing weight gain" it's often due to reduce impulse control, increased hunger hormones, or other items that cause a person to want to eat more or to move less (like being extremely lethargic).

Lastly, you mentioned thinking extreme stress caused weight gain. Again, not a direct cause of weight gain. People generally fall into two categories when it comes to stress... Either being a stress eater, or losing all appetite and not eating at all. If you're a stress eater, you can easily gain weight without recognizing the issue, but it's caused by the eating, not the stress itself.

Anyway, I would ask, why are you looking at things like coffee when you have 3 recognized causative roots? I would recommend working on stress reduction and management, and it might be worth it to discuss medication adjustments if you really feel that they are impacting. Get a blood work up to see what your metabolic panel looks like.
Looking at coffee is, effectively, a deflection and choice to look outside the obvious culprits. If you find appropriate solutions and management for the root causes, the side effects (the weight gain) will begin to resolve on its own.

PAV8888

It ain't the black coffee.

ETA: as per post below, I define black coffee as black drip coffee with nothing in it.

For some strange reason instant coffee actually has more calories for a tasty cup, so in the quantities I drink it could climb to as much as 100 Cal on a really bad day (with lots of decaf in the evening). Obviously anything with calories added to the coffee or consumed as a result or in tandem with the coffee could influence weight if it ends up adding calories!

autumnblade75

Well, I tend to define black coffee as not having a lightener, but it doesn't describe anything about the sweetener - before we're so dismissive: are you drinking this black coffee with an excess of sugar? And it's not because I like to demonize the sweet stuff, either - but that's a source of calories that may be enough to influence weight.

If black coffee means you add absolutely nothing to your beans and water, then it's not the culprit.

Whitezombiegirl

Im sensitive to caffine. It makes me hungry and tired and makes me retain water.

I switched to a pure chickory drink and while t doesn't taste like barrista coffee it tastes likes instant coffee to me. Plus its really cheap.

WandRsmom

I drink 1-3 cups of black ( no sweetener of any kind or milk etc) a day and always have. It helps keep me regular , haha and it has virtually zero Cal's.

I won't be giving it up any time soon. I agree with others, food intake is far more likely to be the culprit than coffee.

Panini911

the coffee alone isn't the cause. what you put in it could be but you can make that fit in your day. I never stopped drinking coffee but log the milk i put in them to account for the calories.

greenlemonjen

Thanks, everyone. I am obviously tracking my food/exercise and am having no sugar in my coffee. I’ve also discussed my meds with my doctor. I ran into a few studies about excessive caffeine being a metabolic disruptor and raising blood sugar and cortisol for some people—I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

kimny72

greenlemonjen wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I am obviously tracking my food/exercise and am having no sugar in my coffee. I’ve also discussed my meds with my doctor. I ran into a few studies about excessive caffeine being a metabolic disruptor and raising blood sugar and cortisol for some people—I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

Even if that is true, it would be a subtle affect on your calories burned or appetite. It would not be keeping you from losing 45 lbs. You didn't ask for advice, so please feel free to ignore this, but evaluating your logging accuracy and calorie goal is most likely where you need to start. It was for me the reason I couldn't lose 20 lbs for years. Hope you find the right path soon :drinker:

slbbw

When I was drinking coffee at 1 cup a day black I noticed an increase in belly fat specifically, where my fat gain previously was more uniform. I was also in a high stress environment at the time. I tend to lose weight faster when I eliminate regular coffee. Tea has not had the same effect. I am aware it may be placebo, but in my n of 1 it seems there may be some sensitivity to cortisol response. There is no harm in doing a experiment and switching to an equivalent caffeine volume of tea for a month while maintaining all other things constant, or trying cutting it out for a month and see how you feel. But unless you keep everything the same it will be hard to determine the contributing cause.

I love coffee but I feel better drinking tea and keeping my coffee to 1-2 cups a month

kshama2001

greenlemonjen wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I am obviously tracking my food/exercise and am having no sugar in my coffee. I’ve also discussed my meds with my doctor. I ran into a few studies about excessive caffeine being a metabolic disruptor and raising blood sugar and cortisol for some people—I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Muscleflex79

greenlemonjen wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I am obviously tracking my food/exercise and am having no sugar in my coffee. I’ve also discussed my meds with my doctor. I ran into a few studies about excessive caffeine being a metabolic disruptor and raising blood sugar and cortisol for some people—I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

are you weighing everything you eat though?? that is much more likely to be the problem here than black coffee.

jdsass82

Coffee can have a lot of caffeine, which stimulates appetite for some people. That could be the reason.

Justin_7272

greenlemonjen wrote: »

I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

Some of the confusion lies within your question. Black coffee (and caffeine in general) will not directly scientifically increase or decrease your weight due to its very low caloric content. Will it stimulate you and cause you to feel satiated, and thus eat less? That's going to vary largely from person to person. Personally, I may have coffee from time to time, which can help reduce my hunger. I know some people can't get up and running in the morning without it, while other people swear it off all together. So to answer your question, some may use it as a tool, others a crutch, and some not at all.

texasredreb

I drink 2-3 cups of coffee daily with pre-sweetened cream. I log both. I've lost 27lbs since 3/11. It's not the coffee. Unless you are drinking a very light roast (blonde) and/or filling your coffee basket full, you are likely not getting that much caffeine.

cwolfman13

greenlemonjen wrote: »

Hi all,
I gained about 45 lbs due to a pregnancy, medication and extreme stress. I have struggled big time to take any of it off and am investigating what may be holding me back. During the two years I gained I also became a daily coffee drinker (probably 2 cups a day, always black). I've always been sensitive to caffeine, but truly love drinking coffee so I just drink it in smaller amounts. Just today it occurred to me that daily caffeine may be holding back my weight loss efforts. Anyone see a change when they left caffeine behind? Thanks!

If anything, caffeine is a stimulant and would slightly increase your metabolism, not the other way around. Black coffee and caffeine are not hindering your weight loss. Caffeine is often the key ingredient in weight loss supplements.

Redordeadhead

Muscleflex79 wrote: »

greenlemonjen wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I am obviously tracking my food/exercise and am having no sugar in my coffee. I’ve also discussed my meds with my doctor. I ran into a few studies about excessive caffeine being a metabolic disruptor and raising blood sugar and cortisol for some people—I was curious if anyone had noticed a difference in their weight loss on or off caffeine.

are you weighing everything you eat though?? that is much more likely to be the problem here than black coffee.

This, along with tracking everything (no unlogged cheat days, missed weekends, untracked fruit/veg/condiments/drinks) and choosing accurate database entries.