How to Use Green Tea for Weight Loss

Studies have shown that drinking green tea or adding green tea extract to your diet can promote more weight loss than can exercise and attention to your calories alone The catechins in green tea not only promote weight loss, but also serve as antioxidants, helping to maintain your overall health. Though drinking green tea isn't a magical recipe for weight loss and good health, it can help support your overall exercise and weight loss plan.

Instructions

• 1

  Create an overall exercise and weight loss plan for yourself. Green tea will only help you burn off an extra 50 to 80 calories a day, so you need to eat sensibly and exercise to actually get weight loss results.

• 2

  Purchase bulk green tea from a specialty tea shop or a natural foods store to ensure that it is fresh. Fresh green tea retains more of its antioxidant properties and taste than does stale green tea, and bulk tea allows you to more easily brew the tea to your exact liking.

• 3

  Drink a small pot of green tea in the morning. Green tea contains caffeine, so it can replace your morning coffee, although it has only about half the caffeine as coffee.

• 4

  Brew and ice green tea for a refreshing beverage to drink throughout the day, especially when you feel hungry. Often, it's easy to mistake a feeling of thirst for a feeling of hunger, and green tea can satisfy your craving for a flavor as well as your craving for liquid.

• 5

  Supplement your green tea weight loss program with green tea extract. Look for supplements that have a high level of the catechin called epogallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is thought to best promote weight loss.