Coffee = weight gain?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.