Maybe you saw it on a commercial on TV, or maybe in an ad on the internet. Perhaps one of your family members tried green tea as part of their weight loss diet and now swears to its efficacy. The fact of the matter is that green tea is probably one of the most unexpected “I can’t believe it actually works” drinks when it comes to actually helping you lose fat.
So what is so special about green tea that makes it so effective in helping your body lose more fat on a fat loss diet? We’re about to find out!
How Does Green Tea Help With Fat Loss?
Green tea contains a special nutrient called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). This special ingredient in all of the green tea products on the market. EGCG is a potent thermogenic.
Thermogenics are things that work to raise our metabolism. Whether you take a green tea pill or just drink it during a relaxing morning, it seems to raise our metabolism by an average of 3-4% on a daily basis.
Over a year? That can add up to a lot of calories saved and fat burned. Studies show that over a 12-15 week period of time, people who supplemented their weight loss diet with green tea found that they lost about 1.5kg, or close to 3.5 lbs of fat.
How Much Green Tea Should You Have?
Looking at the studies conducted on green tea, we can accurately say that 1-2 cups of green tea every day are enough to produce all the fat loss effects we need. That’s because one cup of green tea has about 125-150mg of EGCG.
So, when you take two cups, that’s going to add up to 250-300mg of EGCG in your diet, plenty for your body to use for boosting your metabolism and burning fat. Keep in mind that every cup of green tea tends to have about 50g of caffeine, which isn’t a whole lot, but if you’re sensitive to caffeine or you take it just before going to bed, you might be tossing and turning.
Can Caffeine and EGCG work together?
If you’re turned off by the fact that green tea has caffeine in it, don’t worry, there are decaf green tea products if you really want them. However, we believe that decaf green tea would most likely have reduced effects. That’s because caffeine and green tea work better synergistically.
This is truly a case of the effects being more than the sum of their parts. Caffeine and EGCG both work by enhancing our adrenaline. The adrenaline hormone spikes when we’re exercising, and green tea prevents that adrenaline from being broken down.
Also, when adrenaline binds to a receptor, it then signals messenger molecules to tell your cells to burn fat. Caffeine actually stops those messenger molecules from being broken down. That’s how green tea and caffeine work together to help you lose fat.
Recommendations for Taking Green Tea
We recommend taking green tea as a pre-workout supplement. However, it’s also a good option to take in the mornings even if you’re not exercising that day, as it can program your metabolism if you take it early in the morning.
Make sure that your EGCG intake doesn’t go above 150-250mg, as any more probably won’t add any benefits to your fat loss diet and the high caffeine dose could make you anxious.
We also recommend cycling with other thermogenics on a 2-3 days on and 1 day off basis, so that your body doesn’t get reduced effects from green tea due to getting used to its effects.
To sum up: yes, green tea is great in helping you lose fat, and we recommend drinking 1-2 cups a day, making sure you’re cycling your thermogenics so that your body doesn’t get used to green tea!
We hope this article helped address some of your questions about green tea. We’re looking forward to seeing you again in the next article.
