With many supplements on the shelves of your local supplement store promising results when it comes to weight loss it’s alarming to note actually how few of them work.
Does Drinking Green Tea For Weight Loss Work?
Green tea is one of the few supplements that actually has studies to prove it does work. This NO BS supplement along with its rock bottom price (green tea extract) make it very attractive during a cutting phase and drinking green tea for weight loss has quickly become one of my few staple routines while I’m cutting down for a photoshoot (for reference I stack green tea with caffeine and dandelion root extract, but more on that later).
Green tea extract (derived from the leaves of green tea) and weight loss has been the subject of many studies, all of which suggest that green tea extract indeed does work due to the content of catchecins, which are responsible for many of the health benefits we experience from tea. An increase in exercise-induced fat loss (studies referenced below) is also one of the benefits of green tea extract.
One of the biggest benefits I personally find when supplementing with green tea extract (or drinking several cups of green tea) is appetite suppression - if you're looking to fast through the morning or suppress your appetite in general to prevent going over your daily caloric intake or binge eating I highly recommend you supplement with green tea.
What Does Science Say About Drinking Green Tea For Weight Loss?
A couple of particularly interesting and relevant studies performed include:
Green tea extract and overall fat loss
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20372175
Green tea extract and exercise-induced fat loss
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/3/778.abstract
Unlike acai berry and many other fad fat loss supplements green tea extract is basic, has stood the test of time and as above, has the proof to go with it.
Stacking Green Tea And Caffeine
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20372175
As the above studies states, green tea extract and caffeine are mutually beneficial. Caffeine is known to increase catecholamine levels; green tea extract aids by extending the period of time they stay in the blood, resulting in the best bang for your buck when it comes to supplementing for weight loss.
Caffeine can be consumed in pill form or via black coffee. One important point to remember (and practice!) when it comes to caffeine is that in order to maintain it’s effectiveness and prevent you from building up a tolerance you NEED to cycle your caffeine dosage.
For example:
1 week on, 1 week off.
2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
Your usage and non-usage periods should be roughly equal to allow your body time to reset your stimulant tolerance, from my experience I can tell you that taking a day off caffeine usage here and there is not enough for your body to reset your tolerance, you need to take a proper break (unfortunately!).
SJ’s Stack Vs. Conventional Weight Loss Supplements
Today, weight loss pills account for a large portion of the $61 billion weight loss industry. No wonder there’s thousands of different brands, pills and marketing campaigns in full force at any one point in time. It’s a lucrative market, preying on the gullible and unaware, convincing them to fork over (quite often) in excess of $100 for a bottle of pills that will do little more than act as a placebo in their weight loss journey. The only thing these pill peddlers will make lighter is your wallet.
The traditional ‘fat burner’ supplements you pick up online or over the counter at your local supplement store are a scam. Allow me to explain the deception and trickery these supplement giants are getting away with:
- Supplement companies ‘pad’ out their products with additional ingredients and compounds that little-to-no scientific proof that they actually do anything, just to make it look like you’re getting more bang for your buck as the ingredients list is long
- Disguising run of the mill ingredients as new ‘wizz bang’ compounds by referring to them by their chemical names (e.g., 1,3,7-trimethlxanthine is another name for caffeine)
- Placing a ‘proprietary blend’ on their formulas, in short meaning they do not have to disclose the dosage of each product contained within their fat burning supplement (this is used to under-dose the main ingredients without us knowing)
- Including a huge dose of caffeine in their fat burning supplement, which is extremely cheap, with little-to-no correctly-dosed other ingredients
The few proven ingredients in these supplements are 99% of the time a combination of green tea extract and caffeine (usually quite a large dosage of caffeine).
Pick up your ingredients below in supplement form or pick up some tea bags and get started drinking green tea for weight loss!
Now, go get started with your own budget fat burning stack that’ll actually give you results, not just empty promises and a lighter wallet.