Effects of Green Tea on Weight Loss

Green tea offers many health advantages due to its high antioxidant content. Among these benefits, green tea has shown great potential in assisting with weight loss. It aids weight loss by increasing calorie expenditure, increasing stomach fat loss and elevating resting metabolic rate. Since caffeine free green tea isn't a stimulant, it makes a great complement to fat burners and dieting to increase weight loss.

Types

• Green tea is beneficial for weight loss in several forms. You can brew and drink green tea from tea leaves or prepackaged tea bags. You can take green tea extract in caplet or capsule form. If you choose to drink the green tea you'll have to drink six to eight glasses a day to get the same weight loss benefits as a serving of green tea extract. You can take a combination of supplements and brewed tea as well.

Function

• Just drinking green tea or taking the extract as a supplement burns roughly 70 calories a day. This is in addition to the other weight loss benefits. Green tea acts as a mild appetite suppressant, which aids in weight loss by reducing the number of calories you consume.
  Green tea has thermogenic properties, which increases your basal metabolic rate (BMR), also known as your resting metabolic rate. When you increase your BMR it means that your body uses more calories just to exist the way it is. For example, if your BMR is 1,500 calories, with green tea supplementation it would be approximately 1,545 to 1,560. This is in addition to the 70 calories mentioned before.
  Green tea also helps regulate blood glucose levels, which keeps your energy steady and helps use carbohydrates for fuel rather than storing them for fat.

More Endurance

• In addition to the effects on your metabolism, green tea has been shown to increase endurance during exercise. This will help you work out longer and more intensely, burning more calories per work out. Adding exercise to your weight loss plan will greatly increase your weight loss. Green tea has also been linked to a lowered incidence of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Misconceptions

• Green tea alone is not going to produce noticeable weight loss. You must net a total loss of 3,500 calories per week to lose 1 lb. of weight. The increased caloric expenditure of green tea supplementation is roughly 115 to 130 extra calories a day, so it would take about 1 month to see 1 lb. of weight loss. However, that is 1 lb. of weight that you wouldn't have to work very hard to achieve. Green tea's biggest benefits are seen when used in conjunction with exercise and diet.

Warning

• If you are sensitive to caffeine you should only drink caffeine free green tea or take caffeine free supplements. You still get all of the benefits of green tea.
  Consult your physician before starting a diet or exercise plan, and let her know what supplements you are taking.