Things that have helped me lose weight and keep it off: Coffee!
I LOVE Coffee. It's smell, it's taste, it's warmth in the winter and the cooling effect of an iced coffee in the summer. Not to mention its seemingly magical powers to get me moving in the morning and keep me motivated in the afternoon. But also, Coffee has been a great tool for weight loss for me through the years and has helped me keep it off! Of course, I eat tons of Carrots and Zucchini and Fish and Nuts, and I exercise a couple times a week, so it is no magic pill (literally, stay away from the anxiety and jitters inducing caffeine diet pills!) BUT, drinking a cup or two of (caffeinated!) coffee a day can help be part of healthy weight loss plan; it has been for me! So here goes:
5 ways that Coffee has helped me lose weight and keep it off!
1. Suppresses appetite: yup, makes me feel full longer. I know this is true because on the rare occurrence that I skip my morning coffee I find myself ravenous for lunch by 10:30am, even though I have eaten the exact same breakfast as usual. This never happens on mornings I eat that same exact breakfast with a cup of coffee. This also happens in the afternoon when I miss my 2nd and final cup of coffee for the day.
2. Speeds up metabolism so you are actually burning more calories without doing anything except drinking a coffee; this is a great freebie!
3. Provides extra energy to get moving and keep moving, thus burning more calories and building more muscle mass, which incidentally also burns more calories: win-win!
4. Boosts calorie burn and endurance during exercise; think harder, faster, longer.
5. Replaces other higher calorie drinks. The trick here is to drink it black, which has virtually no calories! Years ago I was a 'light and sweet' girl, but realized I'd be better off without the milk and sugar. I eliminated milk first and drank coffee with sugar for another year or so, but ultimately got rid of that too by slowly decreasing the amount of sugar I used week by week. I save any 'liquid calories' for wine, the rest of the day is Coffee and Water; it works!
There are loads of other benefits to drinking coffee in moderation (it's packed with antioxidants and can help with memory and sharper thinking for example), so sit back and enjoy knowing you are doing something good for your mind and body!
