What is Caffeine??

Caffeine is a natural substance that occurs in many many plants. Some of these plants include coffee beans, tea leaves, and kola nuts.

Caffeine is a stimulant. Well what is a stimulant, sounds scary!? A stimulant is anything that increases the activity of your central nervous system without you physically doing anything. This includes your brain, heart, and body.

Caffeine works mostly with 2 receptors in the brain. The A1 receptor which promotes sleepiness when activated, caffeine blocks it and makes you feel less tired and more alert. And the A2a which helps increase dopamine levels and causes stimulating and mood-enhancing effects.

Well that doesn’t sound too bad but do I need it?

Benefits of Caffeine

1. Enhances Cognitive Behaviors- Caffeine can increase your mood and focus by increasing adrenaline and dopamine! This can help you perform better than normal at work, at home, or during exercise.
2. Increase Exercise Strength- A normal dosage of caffeine can increase your strength temporarily. This is why caffeine can be found in most pre-workout supplements. This could be due to the way that caffeine increases heart-rate which can increase the exchange of de-oxygenated blood for oxygenated blood allowing us to recover faster during each repetition. Partner that with its effect on the nervous system and wallah! You’re now “temporarily” stronger
3. Helps Burns Calories from Fat- Since Caffeine is a stimulant and “increases” many things, it is easy to understand that it can increase the rate at which we “burn calories” and those calories come mostly from fat. The first way that caffeine burns calories from fat is by causing us to heat up. This “thermogenic effect” increases heat production and causes us to sweat. Sweating is the result of caloric breakdown aka “burning calories”. The second way is by increasing chemicals that are associated with lower triglyceride levels. This happens by causing the triglycerides to release their fatty acids more easily for the body to use them as fuel.

Side Effect of Caffeine

1. Increased Heart Rate- As all stimulants, presenting tachycardic symptoms (heart rate over 100) is very common. The normal resting heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute. Most of the time lower is better. So having a resting heart rate of above 100 could present some big problems if not careful.
2. Caffeine Tolerance- As you continue to take caffeine (daily), you will not see the same “wowing” effects as you once did. This will trigger you to need more and more caffeine to feel the same effects. With the daily allowance of caffeine being at 400mg per day, multiple energy drinks, large cups of coffee or tea could put you above that threshold.
3. Working Memory Loss– This can be best compared to ADD/ADHD. Forgetting what you were currently doing and getting distracted by other things. This could be due to “over-stimulation” of the brain causing you to be scatter brained.

Should I Take Caffeine?

This answer is 100% up to you. But you have to consider the pros AND cons. You also have to take your current health into consideration. Do you have heart, blood pressure, cognitive issues? Then caffeine may not be for you. Are you groggy, slow to “wake up” or exhausted when you have more to do? Then maybe it could be for you.

My best advice is to start with the lowest dose possible to achieve the greatest results needed. More is not always better. Once you feel or know that your caffeine uptake is reaching the max level, take a few weeks off to desensitize yourself. Then restart with the lowest dose possible again.

Do not take caffeine thinking that it is going to cause you to lose weight.

Lastly, only take caffeine if and when you need it. A lot of times caffeine becomes part of our routine. It’s just something we do. Every morning or every time we workout. But we might not need it. You might feel fine in the morning and have plenty of energy, or you might feel fine before your workout. Don’t use it, if it’s not needed.

Resources:

https://examine.com/nutrition/science-behind-caffeine/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691517301709?via%3Dihub#sec3

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-006-0341-3

The body has to learn to adjust. What to hold onto and what to get rid of. What to do with the new foods, vitamins, and minerals we’re giving it. Give it time.

Our recommendation is to not worry about the results for at least 3 months. But instead worry about your nutritional choices, your activity level, and your overall happiness with the process.

Trust the process.. We always hear this but what does it mean??

1. Don’t worry about the scale.
2. Not losing any weight or the same weight each week doesn’t mean you’re at a plateau
3. Expecting results too fast. Less than 3 months is too fast.
4. Stick to your plan and be driven by the new lifestyle, not the results. The results WILL be there.

So, what do we do if we feel like progress isn’t going according to plan?

1. Are we drinking enough water?? At least 3 liters a day plus 1 liter for every hour you’re outside OR active
2. Take away your cheat day? Most nutrition programs give you 0 days off. I give you 1 a week. Take 1 or 2 away each month.
3. Cut out alcohol
4. SLEEP more/better!

Give these things a try, don’t be mad about 1 week that doesn’t go your way. Don’t be driven by results, that’s how you end up quitting and going back into your old unhealthy lifestyle.

                Well none of that is true unfortunately. You do have a metabolism! Your metabolism is the sum of all the daily processes that your body does. Let’s look at a few examples.

1. Blinking your eyes
2. Thinking
3. Maintaining your hair, skin, and nail health
4. Using the restroom
5. Your heart beat

Should I continue??? Your metabolism makes up EVERYTHING you do. The simple act of being alive burns more calories than you think. For instance

• A 5’10”, 30yo, 200lb Male = about 2000 calories
• A 5’5”, 30yo, 150lb Female = about 1500 calories

And these numbers increase and decrease the older, heavier, taller/shorter you get. BUT NOT BY MUCH. Did you know for every 10 years you get older; your metabolism only slows down about 50 calories per day? That is only 8-10 almonds!! That’s nothing.

Did you also know that the heavier you are the MORE calories you burn throughout the day! That’s right, if you have weight to lose enjoy your food while it lasts because as your weight decreases so does the number of calories you need each day.

Next, we have to take into account our life! What do we do all day? What do we do for work? Are we chasing kids around all day? Do we walk the dog? Is it a long walk into the office where we work? These things are NEAT. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – Burning calories but not exercising!!

All of these things burn additional calories than the ones we previously discussed. Have a more active life, eat more food!! It’s the greatest and it’s EASY!

Next, we can discuss exercise. Exercise is tricky, just because you workout longer doesn’t necessarily mean you’re burning more calories than you would in a shorter exercise bout. Intensity is the name of the game here. Want to burn more calories? Exercise harder, as long as you can.

Now, don’t think you have to kill yourself during each exercise session, but also don’t use your 30-minute walk as an excuse to eat an entire large pizza!

Lastly, FOODDDD!!! Yum! Did you know that the simple act of digestion, chewing, and absorbing nutrients all burn calories!! This is called Thermic Effect of Food! And there’s a scale! More complex foods BURN more calories while digesting them than simple ones! Eat more complex foods (sound familiar?) Here’s the order in which foods burn the most calories to digest and utilize:

1. Food proteins (Animal Products)
2. Vegetables and fibrous foods
3. Complex carbs (beans, grains, starches)
4. Simple Carbs (fruits, sugars)
5. Fats (nuts, avocados, oils)

Now most foods belong in multiple categories, unlike candy (which is all sugar), things like beans are a mixture of carbs, fiber, and protein! Aka more complex!

So, as you can tell there are MANY things that affect how many calories an adult should be eating. And therefore, you should realize that there is no “One size fits all” diet. The nutrition plan you follow should encompass all of these things and set you up for success long-term. Not leaving you hungry all the time, not leaving you tired, not make you sick or too full. But just right, and enjoyable. That way you can maintain your nutrition habits long-term!