Does drinking green tea really help?
 

I drink green tea, not to lose weight, but because I love it. But does it really help lose weight?

My mom drinks a ton, and she hasn't lost any weight. But I would imagine that drinking a lot of any non-caloric liquid suppresses appetite.

I think it can help aid in weight loss by the EGCG helping support metabolism.

In a study they found men who were EGCG (or green tea extract) and caffeine lost more weight that those given only caffeine as a supplement. Here's an article on it. There are supposed to be many reasons it's good for you. Anything with polyphenols and anti-oxidants always catches my eye...

http://chinesefood.about.com/library.../aa011400a.htm

Of course, there's no amount of green tea or it's extracts that can make the effort of weight loss lessen, just possibly make the loss effort more efficient.

I like green tea because of the anti-oxidants always makes me feel refreshed. I put sweet-n-low or honey in mine. If anything its better for you then soda even the diet kind.

I find it really helps with water retention... especially if I'm eating sushi; I don't get that sodium water gain. Play with it. A friend of mine swears it helps her metabolism... but the health benefits are awesome!

I'm not sure if it really helps with weightloss, but I've been drinking the Lipton purple acai and blueberry green tea for a while now and it's done wonders for my skin at least? haha

I can't really believe it does. I've drank at least a quart of unsweetened green tea per day for more than 10 years simply because I like it, and I was 265 lbs for most of that time.

Hi Kassie,

I just noticed that you started another thread asking if eating sweets occasionally will promote weight loss, and here you are wondering the same about green tea. Well, actually, if you ate sweets in major moderation and drank a quart or so of green tea a day, and in doing so, ate no more than 1500-1600 calories a day, faithfully without going over...with minimal excercise, yes you would lose weight. It's magic! :)

Seriously, I'm not trying to be snarky, but really the only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you need for basic function. Your body will then start burning excess fat as fuel. It really is a very simple concept.

Good luck.