For many years coffee drinking habit was considered bad and harmful. Recent studies and researches showed that drinking a cup or two of coffee per day  is not just good for health but can also help burn calories.

The main ingredient of coffee- caffeine is known to give energy and help to focus and concentrate. Having more energy will make you more capable to cope with your daily duties at work or around the house, and all that burns calories. I know it sounds strange, but it’s actually proved that during the regular day at the office a person makes more movements than during the 30 minutes aerobic workout. Caffeine will reenergize you and by just drinking one cup of coffee you may even feel capable to exercise after your busy day. Second caffeine characteristic is that is speeds up metabolism. Faster metabolism burns fat faster and more effective, not just while moving or exercising but also while resting and even sleeping.

However, there are many opinions that coffee doesn’t help but sabotage the weight loss process instead. According to these opinions coffee interrupts the calming effect and makes a person feel nervous. Feeling edgy and nervous can lead to a false feeling of hunger or produce other cravings like cravings for favorite sweets or snacks. Although coffee itself doesn’t contain a lot of calories, adding sugar, milk or cream, or having other types of coffee like latte or cappuccino can cause you to intake more calories without even noticing that.

Coffee is a natural diuretic, it makes the body lose water and when it comes to weight loss water is essential for fat burning processes in the body. When you are on a diet your food intake is reduced anyway, so you can’t risk to lose all those precious vitamins and minerals by drinking anything that will make you urinate so often. Another disadvantage of coffee is that it keeps you awake. Although having more wake time means having more time for work or exercise which will help you burn calories, it is proved that being awake more also brings the stronger and more frequent feeling of hunger.

The conclusion is that coffee is not a magic weight loss potion but it’s also not a poison and a no- no during the diet. You have to be careful with what you put in your coffee, thought. Just coffee without any added sugar or milk can wake you up and even help lose weight, but a caramel cappuccino with cream is definitely a diet breaker.