Caffeine on the HCG Diet

Caffeine is healthy and it can help you lose weight. Yes! You heard it right, caffeine can help you lose weight in addition to the HCG hormone you inject intramuscularly each day. From “Pounds and Inches”, you are only allowed to drink coffee and tea while on the HCG Diet. Why Coffee? It’s because of the caffeine in it!

Caffeine on Coffee During the HCG diet

Coffee is the main source of caffeine worldwide and its safety has been established by several coffee studies. Caffeine is a natural stimulant also found in tea, cola and other products. It’s commonly used to improve mental alertness by stimulating the brain and the central nervous system. Caffeine helps control the appetite but what makes it good during the HCG Diet is that it can increase your metabolic rate.

The caffeine in the coffee you drink mobilizes the fat from the fat tissue and speeds up your metabolism. It does this by stimulating your nervous system so it can send a direct message to your fat cells leading to the breakdown of the fat. This helps the HCG on your system to promote faster weight loss. The high metabolic rate speeds up the fat-burning process during your diet.

Coffee contains very little calories. A cup of black coffee gives you only 2 calories so you can have as much coffee as you want or as your body can take. Coffee does not violate the HCG protocol. In fact, it’s one of the unlimited drinks that you can drink during the HCG Diet.  However, just like other beverages, too much coffee with caffeine (you can have a coffee without the caffeine in it, I am talking about decaffeinated coffee) can lead to something else. Consuming too much caffeine may give you the caffeine jitters. It can make you irritable and may even trigger anxiety. So, you must consume caffeine moderately besides there’s no evidence that increased consumption results in permanent or significant weight loss.

Further studies also have concluded that caffeine can prevent weight gain or slightly boost weight loss that’s why it’s a stable ingredient in many weight loss or fat-burning pills and supplements. It’s the darling of all intermittent fasters who drink coffee for breakfast.

Benefits of Caffeine

Aside from helping you lose more weight caffeine has tons of other benefits too.

1. Increases fat-burning activity during exercise

Consuming at least 3 mg of caffeine per body kg can shift calorie burn towards fat burn. Caffeine will not cause you to burn a lot of calories during exercise but it will shift your calorie burn to use more fat. Instead of the usual carbohydrate, your body will burn stored fats. This sounds even better when you are on the 500 calorie diet. You’re on a low carb so your body will have to use the stored fat as a source of energy instead of carbs

• Caffeine may help prevent weight gain after losing them.

The caffeine in coffee or supplements will not cause you to lose weight without any diet or exercise changes but caffeine can help you prevent regaining your weight after losing them.

• Caffeine helps you eat less

We all know that over time, we tend to get tolerant to the effects of caffeine so the likelihood of losing more weight using caffeine may stop. However, there is still a possibility for caffeine to blunt appetite and this can help you eat less. The appetite suppressant effect depends on your weight. There is a stronger effect for those who were obese than those who are at a healthy weight. It has an appetite reducing effect particularly to men which makes them likely to eat lesser at a meal following caffeine consumption.

• Promotes faster weight lose

Caffeine increases your metabolic rate by 3- 11%. For leaner people their metabolic rate increases by 29% and only 10% in obese. Over time, you become tolerant to its effects. If you’re using caffeine for the sake of weight loss it’s best to cycle your coffee drinking habit. A cycle of two weeks on, two weeks off is best.

• Reduces cravings for comfort foods

Caffeine is a stimulant that makes you feel good thus improving your overall mood. Considering that low mood is a major cause of cravings, caffeine can help reduce cravings by reducing their desire for comfort foods. So, instead of reaching out for that comfort donut in the box, why not grab a cup of coffee and enjoy your moment.

• Reduces headache

Caffeine is a mild pain reliever that helps relieve headaches when on and off the HCG Diet. Caffeine helps constrict the blood vessels in the brain when pain comes. It helps boost common headache remedies such as ibuprofen, aspirin or paracetamol by 40%.

• Reduce the risk for diabetes type 2

Caffeine contains antioxidants called polyphenols that help improve insulin sensitivity thus reducing the risk for diabetes type 2. It also contains the mineral chromium and magnesium that have been linked with a lower rate of diabetes. Consuming at least three cups of coffee with caffeine a day can decrease the risk of having diabetes by 11%.

• Caffeine keeps you alert

Caffeine tricks your brain to help you combat drowsiness. It temporarily blocks chemical adenosine to prevent fatigue.