As I have gotten older, keeping my weight in check has gotten more and more difficult. Although I generally enjoy healthy organic food, my tastes to tend to run towards the gourmet. To make matters worse, my children are so busy I find that I am eating on the run all too often.
I hate feeling deprived when I am trying to drop weight and because of this, I am always looking for ways to make it easier. So, when I read that green tea could help you lose weight I decided to give it a try.
Is Green Tea Weight Loss Just a Myth?
Now, I am all for anything natural that can help me control my weight. But the truth is that I am pretty skeptical about anything having to do with weight loss. There is so much hype out there and it can be difficult to determine if it is for real or just another scam. Still, green tea taste good and is not all that expensive, so I decided it was worth a shot! So, I got online and placed an order for some Loose Leaf Green Tea .
Read on for my experience with green tea and weight loss!
My Story
When the green tea arrived, I initially tried to drink 4 or 5 cups of hot green tea a day. I found this a little hard to get down, so I brewed the tea normally and then turned it into iced tea. Since I normally drink iced tea all day long, simply switching to green tea was no big deal. It tasted great and the only change I noticed is that I seemed to have a little more energy. Nothing major mind you – just enough to help me work out a little harder and get a little more house work done. (Hubby was happy 
)
My results were subtle, but they were there. I didn’t have a serious diet plan, but I did make an effort to eat more healthy. I also started working out with the WiiFit at least three times a week. Over the course of the next two months, I dropped around 12 pounds. Because my weight had been steady for the prior two years, I was really excited! Obviously there was something to using green tea for weight loss.
The Science Behind Green Tea and Weight Loss
Once I had my own success, I was determined to figure out what it was about drinking green tea that helped me drop the pounds. I thought it was probably just the caffeine but this didn’t really make since since I drink plenty of coffee and that has never helped me shed weight. (Sadly…) So, off to Google to study green tea extract weight loss research.
As it turns out, it is the presence of Catechins in green tea are responsible for blocking fat absorption and buring calories This is the key to how green tea benefits weight loss.
Catechins account for 30% of green tea, and they have been clinically shown to help with weight loss. They decrease the absorption of fat and increase thermogensis. It is estimated that drinking green tea helps the average person burn about an additional 80 calories a day. (So, it wasn’t enough to account for all of my weight loss.)
I think while the extra 80 calories was great, I was also able to eat less while maintaining my energy levels. Still, 80 calories a day could account for an 8 pound difference over a years time. (I’ll take 8 pounds a year! It’s amazing to me that their aren’t more Green Tea Weight Loss programs out there!)
Green Tea Weight Loss: Can Green Tea Really Help You Lose “Inches a Week”?
If you are searching for green tea on the web, you may have read something that said that you could lose inches a week just by drinking green tea. I wish I could tell you that this was the case (I wish I could tell myself that this was the case!) but the truth is that it is not. Yes, green tea does help you lose weight more quickly, but it must be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and preferably exercise to see results.
The worse part about these sites that make ridiculous claims is that they lure you in and then offer you an inferior product. To see results, you need to make sure that you purchase your green tea from a reputable source. One of my favorites is the Emerald Spring Blend at Adagio Teas, which is a blend of three quality green teas. Try it today and have your own success with green tea weight loss!