Coffee effects/ questions

[Troy Kenshin]

before anyone jumps down my throat for asking this, its a serious concern of mine and id like help addressing this. I've been enjoying coffee for awhile as a daily ritual and recently i came across a article (whole 9 maybe?) about caffeines negative effects like making you irritated, anxiety, etc and have realized that i have a lot of those traits since i started drinking it and i really want to stop. however I've also heard coffee helps people lean out and has a thermogenic effect on the body which helps to burn fat. that being said i don't want to give up that effect. so my question is whether anyone can attest to this/ if anyone knows if muscular definition can be reduced by quitting caffeine and losing its thermgenic effect. please help me to the best of abilities and I'm sorry if this was asked elsewhere before.

-thank you, Troy

[Eric Montgomery]

Don't overthink things. Any thermogenic effect or benefit to muscular definition is going to be miniscule compared to the effects of what you're eating and how you're training. If I remember right you're about 5'10" and 150lbs so the last thing you need to be worrying about is what supplements will help you burn fat faster.

Caffeine has been proven as an ergogenic when taken before training. The downside comes in if you're drinking enough of it to make you jittery or on edge, or if it's giving you cortisol/adrenal issues or messing up your sleep. Only you can make that call since different amounts affect different people in different ways.

[Katherine Derbyshire]

How much coffee are you drinking, anyway?

A cup in the morning is pretty harmless. Two pots a day is probably not a great idea.

Katherine

[Donald Lee]

The more the better I say. You usually want to wind down the last 4 hours or so of your day, so your last dose of coffee should probably be no later than 7 hours prior to going to bed.

On days off, I'd try to stay away from it as much as possible though-like 1 cup in the morning. You need to allow your body to wind down some days.

Coffee does have a thermogenic and ergogenic effect; however, with long-term use, it's usually not as potent unless combined with another stimulant, such as ephedrine or yohimbine.

I'd preface the above that if you're in a constant sympathetic or parasympathetic state, you should stay away from stimulants until you get into a more balanced autonomic state.

[Troy Kenshin]

eric you mentioned adrenal fatigue/cortisol issues... i just looked it up and can't get solid info on it but some of the symptoms seems like things i might have. i.e.. legs feel like dead weight by end of day, low appetite etc. would just eating more fix this?

[Eric Montgomery]

Eating more will help fix the 5'10" 150lb problem but no, if you've got legit adrenal fatigue you're looking at several months of reducing stress, cutting back on training, fixing your sleep, and a bunch of other stuff to recover from it.

That being said simply feeling tired or having a lack of appetite doesn't necessarily mean you've got adrenal fatigue. It could be any number of things...such as a short period of overtraining and undereating and undersleeping.

I don't want to start a big debate about it, but I drink about 3-4 cups of coffee a day and have had nill effects. My blood pressure is good, I sleep when I am ready to go to bed (I stop drinking by 6pm) and have not had any issues otherwise. I think the adrenal fatigue from coffee is greatly overstated. If you are drinking enough coffee to make you jittery all day, then you are probably drinking too much. pread out over 4 or so hours, it is a great aide to getting work done and staying motivated. Focus on eating and sleeping enough and come back and tell us if you still feel beat.

[Mark E. Wallace]

Originally Posted by Donald Lee

The more the better I say.

The more what? Coffee? Are you advocating that more caffeine is always better?


- Mark

[Ben Kissam]

FWIW, I was a coffee drinker for years. I'm 19 now and have been drinking it pretty straight on since I was 14-15. A few months ago I started having heart pain and found out that they were PVC's. Basically one of my ventricles was contracting too quickly and the next time it would fill up with too much blood and cause pain. Doctor told me that it was a stress response and that too much coffee was a common cause of it. I have since had to stop drinking coffee completely.

Now I'm not saying it was the sole reason and I don't believe it was at all, but too much can cause problems. I have drank too much in the past and if I ever drink coffee again it will be in moderation. Since I quit coffee I do not get them very much anymore.

[Doug Blankenship]

It all depends on the person. Personally, I say drink up.