caffeine

NovemberJune

Hi I have some questions about caffeine.

I am a diet coke drinker, and while I don't have anything against diet coke, I was trying to cut back for a few reasons (save money and plastic, cut back on trips to the toilet (I drink a lot of water too btw), not freeze (I have to have it with ice)) but I really feel like I *need* something to keep me awake at my desk all day so I decided to try caffeine pills. I figured a 100 mg dose would be about what I get per day from soda (I'd guess I drink about 30 oz per day which is close to 100 mg of caffeine)

I started taking 100 mg caffeine pills about an hour before my workout and my heart rate is UP THERE. maybe 10-15 bpm higher on average during my entire workout, lifting or cardio. My heart rate gets pretty high anyway--180s for really high intensity...For moderate cardio that I can keep going for a good amount of time it will stay in the 160s (at least I think that's high-ish I'm 30). So with the pill it will stay in the 170s for moderate intensity cardio

I usually have my soda after my workout so I tried to experiment and have soda before my workout (without the caffeine pill) and it didn't have the same effect. HR back to normal non-caffeinated levels lol. It's been 4 or 5 times with the caffeine pill and always the same. I tried the soda thing twice.

So why would the caffeine pill increase my HR but caffeinated soda wouldn't? Dr google tells me the effect should be the same.

Anyone have any good info or guesses? I assume a lot of people have a lot of caffeine before their workouts so I was pretty surprised. I feel like I should throw them away now but it seems so strange to keep on getting the same caffeine with soda... :ohwell:

Kinda curious to try some coffee and see what happens :laugh:

SideSteel

Are you drinking about 30oz of the soda when you're doing this comparison?

Are you drinking it around the same time as you would have taken the pill?

I'm assuming it takes you a while to drink 30oz of pepsi and you're not chugging it. I would imagine that this could be a potential difference in that the dose is spread over a longer period, but I could be totally making that up.

NovemberJune

Yea I drank about 30 oz (2 tall glasses full) about an hour before going to the gym twice to compare, but you're right that the pill definitely goes down faster lol.

I saw one thing, and of course I don't have the link now, that said that soda will absorb quicker than a pill so that kind of confused me even more. You'd think I'd be all hyped up after the soda if that were the case.

Thanks for your input. It really must be some wonky absorption thing I'm guessing ?

ETA ... and I had to run to the bathroom in the middle of my workout after 30 oz of soda Maybe I just piss it all out

jacksonpt

I have only personal experience to offer, so take it for what it's worth.

Caffeinated soda has no impact on me. No feeling of boost or energy, doesn't keep me up at night, etc. Neither does coffee. Caffeinated gels/gus/blocks seem to have an impact when I run, but hard to say for sure as I haven't done any intentional testing of gus w/ caffeine vs gus without. 5-hr energy and the like really winds me up - energy, elevated HR, everything short of making me feel really jittery/shaky.

In theory, all contain about the same amount of caffeine - 15-25mg. Coffee is the slowest to consume, since it's hot. Soda varies, gels/gus and 5hr energy are all essentially shots.

I should also ad that gus/gels are almost always consumed when I'm "running on empty"... so I'm betting I'm more sensitive to any calorie/stimulant at that point.

.

NovemberJune

I have only personal experience to offer, so take it for what it's worth.

Caffeinated soda has no impact on me. No feeling of boost or energy, doesn't keep me up at night, etc. Neither does coffee. Caffeinated gels/gus/blocks seem to have an impact when I run, but hard to say for sure as I haven't done any intentional testing of gus w/ caffeine vs gus without. 5-hr energy and the like really winds me up - energy, elevated HR, everything short of making me feel really jittery/shaky.

Thanks Jackson. That's really interesting. At least it's not just me.... hmmm

SideSteel

Yea I drank about 30 oz (2 tall glasses full) about an hour before going to the gym twice to compare, but you're right that the pill definitely goes down faster lol.

I saw one thing, and of course I don't have the link now, that said that soda will absorb quicker than a pill so that kind of confused me even more. You'd think I'd be all hyped up after the soda if that were the case.

Thanks for your input. It really must be some wonky absorption thing I'm guessing ?

ETA ... and I had to run to the bathroom in the middle of my workout after 30 oz of soda Maybe I just piss it all out

Also curious (and once again this question could be irrelevant) if your hydration levels are the same in both conditions. Are you drinking about 30oz of water with your caffeine pill?

I'm wondering if that would have any role in clearance rate. Could be totally irrelevant as I've not studied this.

verdemujer

Veeeryyy interesting. I did something once as a young adult, not knowing a thing about caffeine at the time that as caused me to never take them or any of the energy like drinks ever again. I'm not a pop drinker by nature so my caffeine comes from things like chocolate and tea and the odd coffee. I had stayed up all night and had to pull a double work shift in two different stores so about half way through the day, I took a couple of no-doze. Later - I was wired!!!! My friends, never having seen this in me before, were very concerned. So, when I finally lay down to sleep, a friend stayed with me. He said every muscle in my body moved or spasmed about every minute or so for the whole night. Needless to say - he didn't have any sleep all night. I had vibrant dreams. I've never taken anything like that again. I think I'm probably very senstive to it. I do know that most diet pills have caffeine in them in various amounts as it is said to boost the metabolism. I know that this season's Biggest Loser show, Jillian's team was penalized at one weigh in because she had them all take a caffiene supplement during the prior time period. They never explained why that was a bad thing though and I think, since they have so many docs with that show, they should have. I do know that another side bar of caffeine is that it eases muscle pain. If I'm extremely sore and tired, before my karate class, will now drink a Starbucks Via Refresher sometimes which seems to ease the pain and get me through the classes better. They don't list the caffeine content though. I don't have a heart rate monitor so now you have me curious.

NovemberJune

Hmmm I'm trying to think back now. It probably varied too much. I didn't control my experiment very well!

Like today, I took a caffeine pill but I drank less water than I usually do and compared to how much water I probably had on the other caffeine pill days. And I probably did drink less water on the soda days. I might have had another glass of water instead of soda. But I do eat a lot of ice with my soda so who knows.

Also add in there breakfast and hot cocoa for every day. Different foods but probably the same macros and calories-wise.

NovemberJune

Veeeryyy interesting. I did something once as a young adult, not knowing a thing about caffeine at the time that as caused me to never take them or any of the energy like drinks ever again. I'm not a pop drinker by nature so my caffeine comes from things like chocolate and tea and the odd coffee. I had stayed up all night and had to pull a double work shift in two different stores so about half way through the day, I took a couple of no-doze. Later - I was wired!!!! My friends, never having seen this in me before, were very concerned. So, when I finally lay down to sleep, a friend stayed with me. He said every muscle in my body moved or spasmed about every minute or so for the whole night. Needless to say - he didn't have any sleep all night. I had vibrant dreams. I've never taken anything like that again. I think I'm probably very senstive to it. I do know that most diet pills have caffeine in them in various amounts as it is said to boost the metabolism. I know that this season's Biggest Loser show, Jillian's team was penalized at one weigh in because she had them all take a caffiene supplement during the prior time period. They never explained why that was a bad thing though and I think, since they have so many docs with that show, they should have. I do know that another side bar of caffeine is that it eases muscle pain. If I'm extremely sore and tired, before my karate class, will now drink a Starbucks Via Refresher sometimes which seems to ease the pain and get me through the classes better. They don't list the caffeine content though. I don't have a heart rate monitor so now you have me curious.

Ooooh that's scary!

I may not have noticed without my HRM, but then after seeing the numbers, I did start to *feel* it but of course that could have been mental.

I remember reading that even some OTC meds (like midol) have caffeine in them.

I wonder if I'm extra sensitive to caffeine too but then what Jackson said about him being affecting by caffeine in gels and stuff but not beverages makes me think maybe not. Or we all 3 are.

Thanks all

jacksonpt

Yea I drank about 30 oz (2 tall glasses full) about an hour before going to the gym twice to compare, but you're right that the pill definitely goes down faster lol.

I saw one thing, and of course I don't have the link now, that said that soda will absorb quicker than a pill so that kind of confused me even more. You'd think I'd be all hyped up after the soda if that were the case.

Thanks for your input. It really must be some wonky absorption thing I'm guessing ?

ETA ... and I had to run to the bathroom in the middle of my workout after 30 oz of soda Maybe I just piss it all out

Also curious (and once again this question could be irrelevant) if your hydration levels are the same in both conditions. Are you drinking about 30oz of water with your caffeine pill?

I'm wondering if that would have any role in clearance rate. Could be totally irrelevant as I've not studied this.

Maybe I didn't read her post closely enough, but what about food intake? Wouldn't caffeine drank on a full stomach be absorbed more slowly than on an empty stomach?

June... any variations there? Soda on a full stomach but pills on an empty stomach?

NovemberJune

Yea I drank about 30 oz (2 tall glasses full) about an hour before going to the gym twice to compare, but you're right that the pill definitely goes down faster lol.

I saw one thing, and of course I don't have the link now, that said that soda will absorb quicker than a pill so that kind of confused me even more. You'd think I'd be all hyped up after the soda if that were the case.

Thanks for your input. It really must be some wonky absorption thing I'm guessing ?

ETA ... and I had to run to the bathroom in the middle of my workout after 30 oz of soda Maybe I just piss it all out

Also curious (and once again this question could be irrelevant) if your hydration levels are the same in both conditions. Are you drinking about 30oz of water with your caffeine pill?

I'm wondering if that would have any role in clearance rate. Could be totally irrelevant as I've not studied this.

Maybe I didn't read her post closely enough, but what about food intake? Wouldn't caffeine drank on a full stomach be absorbed more slowly than on an empty stomach?

June... any variations there? Soda on a full stomach but pills on an empty stomach?

Food is almost always the same for calories and macros. I have hot cocoa around 9:00 every day then breakfast around 10:00, which is different stuff but close to the same for calories and macros every day. I go to the gym around 11:30 every day. So I *think* food would be pretty similar for pill vs soda