Caffeine

[D Yizz]

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

So whats your take on it? How many of you fit guys drink coffee? I usually drink 4 cups a day (2 when I get up, and 2 more during the morning) or tea. I ask because I'm trying to figure out what along with sugars I'm going to cut out of my diet this January to trim up for the summer. Will cutting caffeine help or does it not really matter?
Rob, I am a pretty heavy coffee drinker. Right now I tend to drink 2-4 cups a day. Coffee alone has almost no sugar/carb content.If you cant stand black coffee, try to sub the creams with skim or part skim milk, and you have reduced the fat content considerably. Regarding sugar, I drink the morning coffees with brown sugar and the afternoon one (3-4 PM) with Splenda. BTW, I can have a strong coffee just before bed and I still sleep like Paul Williams did on Saturday night.

 

[Unbreakable]

Originally Posted by D Yizz

Rob, I am a pretty heavy coffee drinker. Right now I tend to drink 2-4 cups a day. Coffee alone has almost no sugar/carb content.If you cant stand black coffee, try to sub the creams with skim or part skim milk, and you have reduced the fat content considerably. Regarding sugar, I drink the morning coffees with brown sugar and the afternoon one (3-4 PM) with Splenda.

BTW, I can have a strong coffee just before bed and I still sleep like Paul Williams did on Saturday night.

2-4 cups a day is considered a heavy coffee drinker? egads I dont know what i'm considered then....

 

[wmb]

a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee is not a lot... what is that less than 20 calories?

 

[pruppert]

Originally Posted by DaBatMan

I consider myself to be fairly fit... and I do drink lots of coffee. Black, no sugar/no cream. It's actually been said that's black coffee is healthy for you. Also, it's a natural diuretic so you will not typically gain weight drinking the stuff if you are fairly active.

From what i've read, unless you drink 4 or 5 (if not more) cups of coffee, it's not a diuretic. I think it depends on the frequency of your exposure to caffeine, if sparingly, it's a diuretic, if everyday not so much.

Agreed on coffee being healthy enough, as per this NYT article on caffeine: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/he...brod.html?_r=1

 

[DaBatMan]

Originally Posted by pruppert

From what i've read, unless you drink 4 or 5 (if not more) cups of coffee, it's not a diuretic. I think it depends on the frequency of your exposure to caffeine, if sparingly, it's a diuretic, if everyday not so much.

Agreed on coffee being healthy enough, as per this NYT article on caffeine: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/he...brod.html?_r=1

Yes... and I average between 4 to 6 cups of the stuff a day. I believe the OP said that he usually drinks 4 cups a day. I do know that I seem to be pretty regular when on the stuff. My GF admires me for this as she's only able to go every other day or so. I tell her to drink more coffee

 

[D Yizz]

Originally Posted by Unbreakable

2-4 cups a day is considered a heavy coffee drinker? egads I dont know what i'm considered then....

Have you ever drank puertorican coffee? I uses to drink about 6 when I was in lawschool.

 

[ALFAMALE]

about 4 cups a day.

 

[AndrewRogers]

Don't confuse diuretics with laxatives, guys. If your partner is only urinating once a day. SHE NEEDS TO SEE A DOCTOR.

Rob, I really don't think you will gain much by dropping coffee nor would you necessarily lose much by keeping it. If you enjoy it, keep at it. Doing a bit more exercise and maybe cutting down on things you don't need in other food, like spreads (butter, etc.) or not adding salt or sugar would probably help far more. I'm sure you can find something in what you eat that could be done away with but let you keep that coffee going. I'm hooked on the stuff myself, and I mean hooked. I drink probably about 4 cups of coffee a day, but maybe 10 cups of tea. I suffer from headaches if I go a day without the stuff, which probably makes me dependent.

 

[Mike.P]

Lol I drink coca cola and/or pepsi

but I never ever drink coffee because when I tried it, I ended up putting lots of sugar in it

 

[fredfred]

Cutting caffeine will not directly help you/hurt you from "trimming up" for summer.

- It will amp you up for a workout
- It will influence sleep (even if you say it doesn't)
- It can knock out good bacteria in your stomache which can be trouble in various gastro/intestinal ways. If you don't notice any, you're fine.

If in doubt, try 2 weeks without caffeine/coffee and see what it does to you.

But no, it does not have an impact on staying trim. That's after plenty of experimenting by me.

 

[virus646]

Originally Posted by fredfred

Cutting caffeine will not directly help you/hurt you from "trimming up" for summer.

- It will amp you up for a workout
- It will influence sleep (even if you say it doesn't)
- It can knock out good bacteria in your stomache which can be trouble in various gastro/intestinal ways. If you don't notice any, you're fine.

If in doubt, try 2 weeks without caffeine/coffee and see what it does to you.

But no, it does not have an impact on staying trim. That's after plenty of experimenting by me.

that's worthless to us though.

 

[not_a_virus.exe]

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

So whats your take on it? How many of you fit guys drink coffee? I usually drink 4 cups a day (2 when I get up, and 2 more during the morning) or tea. I ask because I'm trying to figure out what along with sugars I'm going to cut out of my diet this January to trim up for the summer. Will cutting caffeine help or does it not really matter?
some pros of caffeine: it can give you a temporary lift in energy. it can have a slight appetite suppressant effect. some cons of caffeine: too much caffeine can cause acid reflux for some people. if you're not getting acid reflux, then it's not an issue for you. some people also become dependent on caffeine and get withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking caffeine.

 

[arvidg]

I used to drink coffee. Probably around four cups a day.

And I got the worst headaches if for some reason I went without coffee for a day. Which happened.

So I reduced the dose to one or two cups, then eventually quit two years ago. After the withdrawal symptoms wore off, I've been fine, and my energy and concentration is a lot more even throughout the day.

I now drink one or two cups a year, one of those being an irish coffee.

 

[sho'nuff]

i dont drink too much coffee these days. however i do sometimes get a cup in the morning if it is sort of chilly.


when i need an extra boost for the night, i will go get a double or triple shot of espresso anywhere, i dont care, starbucks, perhaps. it will wire me enough to make me go late at night.

 

[Syd6p7]

I've just read that in a study of more than 58,000 health professionals who were followed for 12 years, both men and women who increased their caffeine consumption gained more weight than those who didn't.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5552790&page=1

Also, I think that if you're really tired, caffeine can help you keep from falling asleep, but it can't really restore your mental alertness.