Are coffee and tea great weight loss tools that have been hiding in plain sight? Can they actually help you lose weight and reduce your pants size?

First off, let’s establish something: coffee and tea are not miracle substances that can magically make those love handles disappear. So why are we talking about them in relation to weight loss and embarrassing waist sizes?

Here’s the secret.

Drinking Coffee, And Weight Loss

You probably know already about the other health benefits of coffee. A steaming morning cuppa offers you antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and type-2 diabetes-beating abilities. It can even help coffee lovers beat diseases like Parkinson’s.

While weight loss involves exercise and a careful diet, coffee can play a role as well.

Its main role is to curb your appetite. Weight loss is, for the most part, a calorie counting game. A cup of plain coffee is literally 2 calories, and no fat. With a piping hot cup before a meal, you can help yourself postpone a meal, or eat less during the meal. There’s a lot of noise about coffee being a diuretic, but coffee with water means that you won’t get dehydrated. You can simply curb your appetite and watch that waistline.

An added bonus is the mood boost coffee offers.

Note: Always exercise caution when using coffee for weight loss. No more than 400mg per day, especially considering you’re using it for health! That’s four cups of coffee, or two high energy drinks. And obviously, sugar is a big no-no!

On The Other Hand… Tea

Tea contains chemicals that discourage your gut from absorbing fat in food, and reducing cholesterol levels. Both these functions help keep those pesky inches off your waistline.

Compounds like theaflavins and thearubigins, also present in tea, have been proven to combat obesity. A warning though: these two chemicals, also called polyphenols, are less effective when you take your tea with milk.

Black tea is what the doctor ordered, then. Or, you could go one better and drink green tea. Often touted as ‘the healthiest beverage on the planet’, green tea can do wonders for your weight loss. It also offers considerable health boosts: it can increase your metabolic rate, increase insulin production and even spur fat oxidation. As little as two and a half cups a day can give you these benefits.

Of course, tea and coffee can’t help you shed those kilos and fit into smaller pants by themselves. You’ll have to use them to supplement a careful dietary plan and exercise routine. They help by boosting the effects of a proper diet-and-exercise routine.

References:

http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Weight-with-Coffee

http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coffee-increase-metabolism