Green tea is packed with nutrients and antioxidants that have beneficial effects on your health. Drinking green tea can even help you lose weight. Therefore, green tea and green tea extract are becoming increasingly popular as weight-loss supplements such as Tea Burn.

But how much green tea do you have to drink for that? And what else do you want to pay attention to? You will discover that in this article.

What is green tea?

There are many teas in the world, think of white tea, green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. But did you know that these teas are made from the same tea plant? It is the Camellia sinensis, a shrub native to Southeast Asia. In this article, we focus in particular on green tea. Green tea is one of the oldest teas and originated in China.

The way tea leaves are prepared and processed determines the type. To make green tea, the leaves are heated immediately after harvest to prevent oxidation. Black tea undergoes an additional step of complete oxidation. As a result, this results in black leaves and fewer bioactive substances than green tea.

While herbal tea and black is the most popular choice in the Western world, green tea is widely consumed in the East. The popularity of green tea has spread to Europe and is also increasingly being drunk here.

When we talk about green tea, it is useful to know that there are several types of green tea. The most popular green teas are sencha, genmaicha, and matcha.

Want to read more about the proven health benefits of green tea? Then read my extensive article about green tea.

In this article, I limit myself to the question of whether green tea helps with weight loss as a slimming tea. Watch the video below in which my colleague Janiek explains which type of tea is the healthiest:

Can you lose weight with green tea?

Today I’m going to explain exactly what green tea does for your fat burning.

Do you have questions such as:

• Does green tea help with weight loss?
• Which green tea is best for losing weight?
• How much green tea should I drink as a slimming tea?

Then sit down for it. Because I’m going to answer them one by one. Well, first, let’s see what science says about green tea and losing weight.

What you need to know is that green tea is the purest and most unprocessed form of tea. It is also one of the most researched teas in the world, which is beneficial to answer the above questions in this article.

5 ways green tea can help you lose weight

1. Green tea stimulates the metabolism

Green tea contains bioactive compounds that can help your body burn energy more efficiently. Bioactive compounds are chemical compounds such as caffeine and catechins that are found in small amounts in green tea but have significant biological and physiological effects.

Although black coffee contains 2 to 3 times more caffeine than green tea, the caffeine in green tea also has beneficial effects on fat burning. Green tea contains 24-48 mg of caffeine per 235 ml, depending on the type of tea and the strength with which it is brewed.

We know that caffeine has some influence on metabolism. It is therefore a popular ingredient in caffeine pills and weight loss supplements. Scientists have shown that caffeine can accelerate the rate at which the body burns calories (even at rest). Caffeine also helps to release stored fat from cells for energy.

Green tea is packed with catechins. These are antioxidants that contribute to the positive effects of green tea. The main catechin in green tea is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is especially effective in temporarily increasing metabolism. This is especially true when EGCG is combined with caffeine.

2. Green tea helps to burn more calories at rest

An advantage of green tea is that it makes free fatty acids from stored adipose tissue more easily available. This allows your body to burn more body fat even while sleeping.

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which your body burns calories at rest to keep fundamental bodily functions (such as breathing, circulation, etc.) going. Calculate BMR? In this article, you will find the most comprehensive BMR calculator that can be found on the internet.

In that respect, we can compare our bodies to a machine. Your body cells are constantly performing complex tasks to keep you healthy. To be able to perform these complex tasks, you do need fuel.

One study found a significant increase in energy expenditure in participants who used a supplement that contained both caffeine and EGCG. Interesting in this study is that the amount of EGCG does not play a role in the increased fat burning at rest.

In other words, even a small amount of EGCG in green tea can increase your basal metabolism.

Several studies suggest that green tea extract can help to increase calorie burn by 4% per day, especially when combined with a healthy diet.

This may not seem like much at first, but for an average man (with a BMR of 1500 calories per day) that still provides 60 extra calories per day. That’s 420 calories per week and almost 1700 calories in 4 weeks! This can make the difference between getting fatter and staying at a healthy weight on an annual basis.

3. Stimulates fat burning during exercise

Earlier I wrote that many weight loss supplements contain catechins and caffeine. I also told you that green tea can help to temporarily increase the metabolism in a resting state.

We also know that your body burns fat more effectively when you exert physical exertion. The use of green tea extract gives an even better effect! In the small-scale study, the male participants burned 17% more fat than the participants who did not take the extract.

The researchers also saw a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in healthy young men. Multiple studies show that green tea can help reduce body fat in the long term.

4. Green tea increases your stamina

Not only does green tea stimulate fat burning during exercise, but it can also help you exercise longer.

And what happens if you can exercise longer? Right! You burn more calories.

So why is this? Scientists suspect that you gain more endurance because of your muscles’ ability to use free fatty acids as fuel. EGCG in green tea plays an important role in this.

We also know that caffeine plays a role in increasing endurance. This has been confirmed by several studies. When caffeine consumes half an hour before you exercise, you may be able to exercise longer before you get tired. Also, your perception of pain decreases. Not bad, right?

5. Green tea helps you get rid of your belly

Do you want to lose more belly fat? Even then, green tea extract is your ally!

Excess belly fat (or visceral fat) is dangerous for your health. This belly fat can lead to dangerous health problems such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is, therefore, better to train away belly fat as soon as possible.

But in addition to exercise, consuming green tea extract can also make sense. Research has shown that much of the lost belly fat is particularly visceral fat.

In a study that lasted 12 weeks in overweight men, scientists saw beneficial effects on body composition. The group that drank catechins lost more weight than the control group. Although the decrease in waist circumference remained the same in both groups, the catechin group lost more total belly fat and subcutaneous belly fat after 12 weeks.

Another study looked at participants who already had a lot of visceral fat. In the group that drank catechins, the loss of visceral fat and body fat was generally greater.

In short, consuming green tea extract can significantly contribute to the reduction of visceral fat, which is seen as the most dangerous form of belly fat.

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How much green tea should I drink?

It may be clear that drinking green tea or taking green tea extract has beneficial effects on your health and body weight!

Now your big question is:

“How much green tea should I drink?”

Based on current research, we can conclude that 3-5 cups of green tea per day (720-1200 ml) is the optimal amount to benefit from the health benefits of green tea. I’m talking about green tea from ready-made tea bags.

Note: drink green tea preferably on an empty stomach! Drinking green tea or taking green tea extract supplements while eating can prevent beneficial catechins from being absorbed into the bloodstream.

If you want to get the most out of green tea, I can recommend you to take green tea extract. Green tea extract is a concentrated form of green tea. In this way, you will ultimately only have the active substances of the tea plant that are highly concentrated. These active substances in powder form are then extracted.

Now you should not think that drinking green tea is ‘worse’ than green tea extract. Both forms are a good source of antioxidants, only green tea extract pills are more concentrated than a regular cup of green tea. So you have to consume less of it to benefit from it.

It also appears that green tea in powder form is better absorbed by the body than drinking green tea.

Conclusion: does losing weight work with green tea?

Green tea is a tasty thirst quencher and a great addition to a healthy diet to control your weight.

Although it is not a panacea for weight loss, it can increase metabolism and boost fat burning, especially during exercise. Green tea extract as a supplement can also be very effective. If you have an unhealthy lifestyle, green tea will not make you miraculously slim.