If you like green tea, you are likely one of 158 million other Americans that starts each day with a cup of it. It is estimated that over 80 billion cups are consumed in the country each year, mainly because tea enthusiasts enjoy the taste so much. But, do you know how to drink green tea for weight loss?

It turns out this unique leaf is good for more than boosting your caffeine levels each morning. There are many benefits of green tea, and enjoying a green tea diet or adding its extract to your health and beauty products can make a difference in your overall weight at the end of the day. If you are ready to learn more about the benefits of this prized drink, keep reading to learn how green tea helps weight loss.

What are the Health Benefits of Green Tea?

Not just flavored water, a green tea diet is full of health benefits. Steeping tea leaves in boiling water causes it to absorb their bioactive compounds. Rich in nutrients, green tea leaves contain anti-inflammatory and detoxifying compounds that help protect your body from the threat of free radicals.

However, the most profound benefit of green tea is the antioxidants (specifically catechins) it contains. EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) is the most common catechin in green tea, and it is renowned for boosting the metabolism. However, does green tea help you lose weight? Let’s look at the facts.

Does Green Tea Help Lose Weight?

Recently, green tea has gained widespread attention as a weight loss product. Green tea supplements were a $140 million industry in 2015 and globally, tea is the second most popular beverage around, second only to water.

Because each cup contains almost no calories, green tea can boost your metabolism and improve your body’s efficiency for burning energy. Research has suggested that the flavonoids it contains are responsible for increasing fat oxidation levels and improving insulin activity in your body. Some studies show that substituting tea for calorie-filled drinks can lead to about a pound of weight loss a week.

In fact, because green tea is a natural diuretic, it is an ideal treatment for combating fluid retention problems and overall tissue inflammation. For this reason, some estimates show that drinking green tea regularly can reduce body fat by up to 19 percent.

Even green tea’s caffeine level contributes to weight loss. Drinking green tea every day makes weight loss simple because the caffeine it contains acts as a stimulant that improves exercise performance and aids fat burning in the process. While each cup contains just a quarter of the caffeine of a cup of coffee, it is still enough to give you a boost. It does not take much to begin feeling the benefits, as most people start noticing results after about three cups a day.

Drinking green tea might also lead to better fat burning during exercise. One study found that men who took green tea extract before exercising burned 17 percent more fat the those who did not, and other research shows that green tea specifically helps your body burn more fat, which leads to a lower body weight in the long run.

While the actual amount of weight you can lose from green tea tends to be relatively modest, the weight that is lost tends to be belly fat. Subcutaneous (abdominal) fat tends to be the most dangerous, as it is strongly linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Because green tea specifically reduces your levels of this kind of fat, it is a beneficial drink even if you do not have significant weight loss goals.

How to Drink Green Tea for Weight Loss

Getting the benefits of green tea for weight loss comes down to understanding how you need to take it. The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends drinking 2 to 3 cups per day, as each cup contains about 200 milligrams of catechins.

However, drinking regular green tea might not be as beneficial for weight loss as taking green tea supplements. Most of the studies researching how green tea helps weight loss looked explicitly at green tea extract, which concentrates the benefits in a small serving size. While regular green tea will also help you maintain a healthy weight, the benefits will not be as impressive.

When it comes to enjoying green tea, how you brew it can make all the difference. Be careful not to overheat the water, as boiling will damage the catechins. For best results, bring water to a boil, but let it rest for ten minutes before pouring it over the tea. Then, pour it over the tea and let it brew for a minute before pulling out the leaves and serving them. Depending on your taste, this brew time can be made longer or shorter. Some types of green tea are better for weight loss than others. Matcha tends to be the most nutritious, as you dissolve and drink the tea leaves themselves, rather than just using them to infuse your water.

You can incorporate green tea into your diet at any time you would typically reach for a calorie-filled drink. Green tea makes a great substitute for sugary sodas and sweetened coffee drinks, and it only takes a few weeks for your taste buds to acclimate to the subtle natural sweetness it contains. In this way, you will make a difference for your weight loss routine by consuming fewer calories throughout the day, enjoy higher energy levels, and even boost your metabolism to burn the calories you do eat.  

Green Tea Suggestions

A hot cup of tea is only one way how to use green tea for weight loss. Below are some recipe suggestions to help you add more green tea to your daily diet.

Green Tea and Avocado Smoothie

Blending green tea and avocado makes for an excellent combination of protein, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. Just combine a tablespoon of green tea, half an avocado, one banana, and enough hot water for everything to blend well (about half a cup). Seep the green tea in the heated water for half an hour, and process everything together in the blender to create a subtly sweet breakfast smoothie. 

Green Tea with Lemon and Ginger

Like green tea, lemon and ginger can also promote fat loss, and adding them to your daily cup can enhance the natural benefits that green tea has. Simply heat water to a boil and seep green tea for a few minutes before pulling out the leaves. Squeeze in the juice from half a lemon and infuse the blend with a teaspoon of grated ginger. Let seep for fifteen minutes, and enjoy! 

Green Tea Baked Goods 

It is easier to bake with green tea than you might think. Matcha powder (finely ground tea leaves) tends to work best for recipes! Our Teami Matcha would be a perfect addition to brownies, cookies, or even pancakes!