Without the laxative effects of coffee, it’s more difficult to pass bowel every morning given how little I eat. It’s not a problem if I ate a lot the day before, but for someone who’s restricting their calorie intake, this could be an issue.
3. My Teeth Are Healthier and My Breath Fresher
This is an observation from my wife.
Coffee contains compounds called tannins which stick to the teeth and leave a yellow hue. It also has a strong odor that can stay in the mouth if not treated with odor-canceling foods such as parsley and apples.
4. My Mood Improved
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Anxiety, depression, and irritability.
These are the three things that I usually encountered when I couldn’t get a cup of coffee. Caffeine alters the brain chemistry so having too much of it can cause these three issues, among others.
When I stopped drinking coffee, my mood became much more even throughout the day, and I don’t think about when I’m going to get the next cup. Most importantly, I do not get upset or irritable anymore when I can’t get coffee.
5. My Workouts Were Affected
Coffee contains caffeine, which acts as a stimulant and provides a tremendous boost as a pre-workout.
It helps improve focus while working out, helps muscle activation, can aid in fat burning through lipolysis, aids in increasing your body temperature (therefore helps in burning more calories) and can also spare glycogen from being exhausted during the workout due to lipolysis, making this a huge boost for endurance training. It can also help reduce tiredness during workouts.
I used tea as my pre-workout drink and I immediately felt it didn’t have the same desired effects as coffee.
6. I Gained an Inch Around My Waist
You can either lose weight or gain weight depending on the type of coffee that you drink. If you’re the Starbucks kind of person, then you might lose weight when you quit coffee because of all the calories you will be avoiding. If you’re a black coffee drinker like me, then it’s possible to gain weight.
Eight months after quitting coffee, I noticed my work pants were getting tighter and it took more effort to put on my belt. When I measured my waistline, it was at 33 inches (a full inch over my normal waistline), and depending on when I did my measurement, sometimes I’d see my waistline up to 34 inches.
This was not a big difference and wasn’t noticeable physically. But my clothes certainly noticed the change.
Image for post
Left-Apr 2018 when I drank coffee whenever I wanted, Right-Nov 2019, around 10 months after I stopped drinking coffee
While green smoothies are an awesome hack to increase your energy in place of caffeine, it obviously has more calories than black coffee so I took it easy on the fruits and started measuring what I put in my smoothie to avoid putting on more weight.
Coffee was my go-to drink when I felt hungry. It helped me to fast longer because it helped curb appetite. Sometimes, when I felt hungry in the evenings, around 8 pm, I would drink coffee and the hunger vanished, and I avoided consuming calories late in the day.
It helped me stay in a caloric deficit in all those years because it helps curb appetite.
Ditching coffee meant I consumed more calories than when I was drinking coffee.
How Long Does Coffee Withdrawal Last?
Fortunately for me, I didn’t experience any of the caffeine withdrawal symptoms the day I stopped drinking coffee. I credit this to this awesome substitute called green smoothies. If you’re planning to ditch coffee, I suggest you have a good substitute for it so you don’t experience any withdrawal.
And speaking of quitting…
Is it bad to quit drinking coffee cold turkey?
It’s also possible that I didn’t experience any negative side effects because I quit drinking coffee gradually.
Some horror stories about people quitting cold turkey include:
Headache
Fatigue
Irritability
Difficulty in concentrating
Tremors
(pretty much like caffeine withdrawal)
However, some people say they didn’t get any negative effects despite quitting cold turkey. I’m not a doctor, but it looks like different bodies react differently to cutting caffeine from their diet.
Final Thoughts
Quitting caffeine benefits for me are as follows:
Better quality of sleep
Increased productivity
Better mood
Healthier teeth and fresher breath
Can take naps midday
Is it good to quit coffee? It depends on what your goals are.
Although I love my afternoon siesta, I can’t deny that drinking coffee has its benefits, as well (especially on my workout and my weight), which is why I decided to start drinking coffee again (I also didn’t want to miss out on all those antioxidants, as too).
However, there are plenty of conditions:
I only drink coffee in the morning so I won’t mess up my sleeping pattern
I only take one (heaping) scoop of coffee
I drink coffee before a workout (it’s an awesome pre-workout)
If I’m not working out and I want to drink coffee, I have to do something to exhaust all that mental stimulation like writing for two hours
I sort of have to earn my coffee
No exceptions.
My experiment showed that drinking coffee does have a positive impact on one’s weight. But I also learned that drinking too much coffee is not ideal and that it is important to find a healthy balance to get the most out of the benefits. Cycling your coffee habits helps too as it prevents the build-up of tolerance.
(Obviously, we’re all different and my body might react differently to intermittent fasting and coffee, or lack of it, like you).
If somebody asked me today, would I rather have a cup of coffee and all the benefits that come with it or have a good night’s sleep and no coffee at all?
My answer? I’d like to have them both, please. And yes, it’s possible as long as you find out what works for you.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
