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Drinking Green Tea for Weight Loss

You may already know that green tea is packed full of antioxidants and offers a list of health benefits, but did you know that one of the benefits can help you lose weight?

Green tea contains a high amount of catechins, which are high in antioxidants and alone have many health benefits, but studies have also found that catechins may help lower over-all body fat percentage, and help burn off that stubborn belly fat you have been trying to lose, resulting in a more slimmer, confident, and healthier you.

Studies have shown that drinking green tea daily can help you lose an extra 70-100 calories a day, which may sound like a small amount, but when coupled with a healthy nutritious diet and regular exercise, then it will make a huge impact over long term goals.

Successful weight loss is a marathon, not a race. Any weight loss program that requires you to change your routine for a temporary length of time, and does teach you how to change your lifestyle, will not give you the long term effects you are searching for. For once the diet/routine ends, 80% of the time individuals find themselves gaining back the weight (sometimes more weight) than they had just previously lost.

Best Green Tea for Weight Loss

Green tea can be enjoyed in a few different ways to suit your taste and lifestyle demands. All methods contain the same benefits, so which method is considered best, ultimately boils down to you and what your preferences are. Below is a the top three ways to add green tea into your daily lifestyle.

1. Traditional Green Tea

Naturally, there is the traditional way that dates back thousands of centuries, and that is enjoying a cup of freshly brewed tea, either hot or as an iced tea. One easy way to ensure that you are still able to drink your brewed tea on busy days, is to brew a half gallon to gallon worth of green tea, and keep it stored within the refrigerator. You can not only enjoy it as iced tea, but it makes a great base for smoothies as well.

2. Green Tea Capsules

Green tea capsules are much more concentrated than a single cup of green tea, which makes them an ideal choice for adding into a daily vitamin regimen (especially if you are not partial to drinking a couple cups of green tea each day).

Green tea capsules can be found in either caffeinated, or decaffeinated forms. Which form is better, depends entirely on your goal, and the time of day you plan to take the capsules.

Decaffeinated capsules will still have small traces of caffeine, but it’s not enough to disrupt sleep if taken later in the day.

Caffeinated capsules, are recommended to take as part of a morning, or early afternoon routine, in order to give the caffeine content plenty of time to burn off, so that it does not inhibit falling asleep in the evening time.

3. Matcha Green Tea Powder

Green tea can also be consumed in a powder form, which many may know as Matcha powder. Matcha is created by taking only the leaves of a green tea plant, drying them, then grinding the leaves into a fine powder.

Matcha powder has a much more rich, buttery flavor than traditional green tea, making it a great addition to any morning, or pre-workout smoothie.

Green Tea Smoothies

Smoothies are an excellent way to incorporate green tea into a daily regimen, while also getting a full serving or two of your daily fruit and vegetable intake.

There are a couple different ways to add green tea to a smoothie. The first; would be to brew a cup of green tea and use it as your liquid base for either a fruit, or healthy green smoothie.

The second way; would be to use a green tea or matcha green tea powder to power up your smoothie. Personally, I prefer using the powder form, because it is a little more concentrated, and the flavor is more buttery and easier to blend into smoothies, without being as strong and really standing out, like its tea brewed relative.

Green Tea Caffeine Content

Research has shown that the caffeine content in green tea, both stimulates brain function, and gives the body an energy boost.

The energy boost can greatly impact the metabolism, because on average, the more energy we have, the more active we are, the more active we are, the more calories we are burning, and the more calories burned, the more we are increasing our metabolic rate, thus leading to gradual long term weight loss goals.

You do not however need to worry about ever getting the jitters from drinking green tea, as you would from drinking coffee. For the caffein content in 1 cup of green tea, is approximately a third of the equivalent amount of caffeine found in an 8 oz cup of coffee.

Best Time to Drink Green Tea for Weight Loss

Due to the caffeine content of green tea, it is recommended to make it a daily habit to drink your brewed tea either in the morning, or afternoon (the same as you would drink your coffee), when an energy boost is most needed, and to avoid the possibility of keeping you awake at night.

Same goes for taking caffeinated green tea capsules, or adding matcha tea powder to your beverages, for nothing is worse than lying in bed physically exhausted, but unable to fall asleep because your mind is wide awake.

My most favorite time to drink green tea is before a workout, to give me that little extra energy boost to help me power through more exercise reps.

Decaffeinated Green Tea Benefits

Decaffeinated green tea is a great option if you are still wanting to get in your daily green tea consumption, but your schedule did not allow you to squeeze it in earlier in the day.

The process involved with removing the caffeine from the tea, sadly does reduce the amount of antioxidant flavanol levels, but does not completely remove them, so you are still getting a healthy dose of antioxidants with every cup.

Keep in mind, that decaffeinated green tea still has small traces of caffeine within the tea, so use caution when drinking it just before bed. For even though it is small traces, it may be just enough to keep you from falling into a deep sleep if your body is sensitive to drinking caffeine.

Bonus Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

The added bonuses of drinking green tea, is that the antioxidant catechin rich compounds of the tea, can help reduce fine lines and wrinkles, as well as prevent the possible formation of tumors or developing other chronic illnesses.

Our bodies are exposed to free radicals every day through certain foods we may eat, city water we may drink, pollution, our work environment, etc. Free radicals cause oxidative stress within our body, where if action is not taken to counter act the oxidative stress, then the cell damage can quickly get out of control, leading to premature aging, possible formation of tumors (that can later turn into cancer), and potentially many other chronic illnesses that could otherwise be prevented.

Antioxidants play a huge role in reducing oxidative stress by fighting off free radicals that are trying to attack healthy cells within the body.

Another added bonus of drinking green tea, is that it contains L-theanine, which is an amino acid that researchers have found to help reduce stress. It works by relaxing the mind, without inducing any drowsiness, which makes you more content, yet still fully alert.

Will Green Tea Help Your Weight Loss Goals?

The answer is yes, but only if you are consistent with consuming it daily. Like any good habit, consistency is key to achieving success. You was to aim for drinking at least 1 to 3 cups daily in order reap the benefits green tea possess.

As mentioned above, if you incorporate green tea into a healthy clean eating lifestyle, with regular exercising, then you will begin to notice a significant difference in your BMI (a measure of body fat mass, gaged by height and weight of an individual), resulting in a more slimmer, and healthier you.

Even if weight loss is not exactly your goal, you can still reap the benefits of feeling more alert, yet relaxed at the same time, while taking action to fight off free radicals, which helps prevent the possibility of developing chronic illnesses later on in life.

Drinking green tea daily will also help prevent the development of fine lines and wrinkles, giving you a more youthful glow and appearance.

Whatever your goal may be, one thing is for certain, and that is that green tea can benefit everyone, at any age in their life.