I am a little lost when it comes to Caffine

[atmasters]

I have stoped drinking coffie but I still drink green tea. It says 0 cal and 0 carbs it is from Tetly but so many people are getting away from caffine all together. When I read the book it says that you should try to avoid caffine because it can up your blood presure. But can it realy stop weight loss. I have done great and still drink my green tea but is it that much of a problam that I should think twice about drinking green tea with caffine. I do not think i could get going in the mornning with out it :lol: Or is it just that it is just one more heathy thing to do??

[cs_carver]

Sounds like you're doing ok and I wouldn't worry. I drink coffee in the morning and that's just the way it's going to be. If it slows my weight loss, well, I'll deal with it. Portion control is a much bigger issue for me.

If you get to where you're stalling and unhappy with rate of loss and you're pretty sure you're not suffering from carb creep or portion creep, then maybe look at the coffee. But reasonable amounts aren't the problem, and you know (or can find out) if you're having BP problems. People drinking caffeine ALL DAY long may see a change.

[kebaldwin]

It is my understanding that the problem with caffeine is that it can crash your blood sugar level -- which makes you hungry and crave food.

The problem with high carb diets is that your blood sugar is going up and down. The low carb diet, chromium, and a few other things help to keep your blood sugar more level.

Note that I normally do not suggest you do things on an empty stomach or go without eating -- but to test the effect of something on your blood sugar levels -- an empty stomach is usually the best way to test.

To try it out yourself, on a morning before you have to rush out the door, do not eat, and only drink water -- and then see how many minutes/hours before you get hungry. Do this several times and average the times.

Then on other days, do not eat, but drink a lot of caffeine and see how long it takes before you are hungry. Again do it several times.

My bet is that on mornings where you drink caffeine you will get hungrier, faster, because it causes your blood sugar to crash -- which makes you hungry.

So what do you do? Simply drink your caffeine along with your low carb meals. It is less likely to change your blood sugar than if you drink caffeine between meals, or even worse, on an empty stomach (like I suggest you do as a test).

Try these out -- we're all different!

BTW -- beautiful Husky. I have a red/brown one.

[ginyer]

Hi,
I have not given up my diet coke, and I do drink several of them a day. So far I am losing well, but if I stall, it is something that I will start reducing to see if it helps. I probably wouldn't have even tried this plan if someone hadn't told me that they still drank their coffee and lost. I'm not saying it has no effect and I guess I really wouldn't know unless I gave it up, but as long as I'm losing, it will be the last thing I give up. My theory is that if you are still able to stay to your plan and target numbers of carbs, calories or both or whatever you're counting, it shouldn't matter...other than the typical health reasons for giving up caffeine. If it is hard to stick to the numbers you need, then it would definitely be something to rethink.

[atmasters]

Thanks I am losing so I am going to keep it up. Like I said I like the Green tea in the morning so I will just do it intill I hit a stall then maybe that will be some thing I cut out

[kebaldwin]

Are you just going by weight loss?

At some point (unless you are doing heavy aerobic and little strength training) you are going to start building muscle while you are losing fat. So your weight will not change -- even though you are losing fat and building muscle.

For example, I have not lost any weight in almost two years. But in November I had to go buy my 3rd or 4th belt. My body fat is finally getting low enough to start seeing the muscles that I have been building.

BTW, congrats on your excellent success so far!

[urgo]

I've stalled and one of the things I've not given up is my caffeine. If blood sugar fluctuates, but no food intake happens, does the actual coffee quantity bumps up the carb count?

I remained unconvinced but I've cut down from 5 to 1 cup daily

[Bakerchic]

I think the coffee thing is low-carb hysteria. Some studies said it was beneficial to diabetics because of the magnesium (something Americans don't get enough of) content (I think this was only when the coffee was organic or unfiltered or something) and it actually stabalized blood sugar. I read the article somewhere on the net. As for coffee, it always controlled my appetite, I know when I was anorexic, I drank a ton of it (not that it says anything). I just cut down because of heart palpitations from like two pots a day to one cup. The rest of the time, I drink tea like Green Tea or Chai Tea, I think it has more antioxidants than coffee anyway. Caffeine always seemed to kickstart my weightloss, and i have yet to know anyone close to me who was hindered by it.

[kebaldwin]

Caffeine can be a good thing -- as long as you don't let it crash your blood sugar. If it doesn't crash your blood sugar (and you go on wild eating binges) then you should be moving and exercising a lot more -- plus getting more done each day.

You have to manage it.

[urgo]

Thanks for the advice/tip :-)