I was just wondering after reading Berardi’s comments on caffeine if anyone has seen measurable results with their physique after dropping caffeine use
The main thing I’ve noticed is that I’m so stunningly addicted to coffee, I think I’m going to sue. I have withdrawl headaches after 5 days clean (with plenty of water). By the weekend, I’m ready to drink coffee again just to feel human.
Don’t give in to the caffeine. Sure, you are going to get headaches for a while. But these will go away and you will feel much better. I gave up caffeine cold turke a couple of months ago. Once the headaches went away (and they will), you will be glad you did.
Man, I forgot to reply to the first post. Anyways, I can’t say for sure if I got a change in my physique due to quitting caffeine. At the same time I quit caffeine, I also started lifting and taking Creatine.
I dropped coffee from my diet since March of this year after I found out that coffee contains and elevates estrogen levels, and have helped many of my clients drop the coffee as well, although not very easy, and have seen dramatic results in attidue and fat loss.Now my views are abit different.I dont think caffeine is causing this insulin resistance (it might) but something else in the coffee that might be doing it, like the pesticides and other junk they spray on coffee beans.So me and my clients either use caffeine pills or green tea as our source of caffeine, not coffee.Think about this, the coffee lines up are huge, at any given time in Toronto, I can walk into any coffee shop and wait in line for a few minutes, whereas a few years ago you were in and out,but these people put milk or cream in their drinks(great source of estrogen)and sugar,and maybe a bagel to go.Its no wonder everyone is getting obese.They say we crave food we’re allergic to,looks like a lot of people craving coffee these days. Maybe our food allergies are making us insulin resistant.
In the last month or so I’ve become voraciously consumed with learning more of the physiology behind the “nutrition” lies I’ve been raised on and have begun keeping a diet/exercise log and tracking progress. During that time I gave up cold turkey on a pot-a-day coffee/bagel habit (loaded with milk, sugar and cream cheese of course) after reading about the possibility of it being related to insulin resistance (and what insulin resistance even means). Seems that “healthy” breakfast may not be so healthy after all. While, like Chris, this isn’t the only thing I’ve changed in the last month and so cannot definitively say “giving up caffeine did X for me”, I have enjoyed a rather noticeable change for the better in my mood, energy level and physique. I figure if nothing else, giving up this habit has saved me around $70/mo which I can now spend on eating right/supp’s as well as being able to truly, and guiltlessly, enjoy the occasional latte.
Speaking of coffee shops - I’ve always found it to be stupid that people can buy a $3 coffee and then sit complaining about the economy.
I’m such a whimp-ass that I haven’t cut my precious coffee. Besides, it helps with my asthma. I’d rather drink a cup of coffee than take another pill. Anywhoos, WSTRAINER posed a interesting question. Something I think was just touched upon during one of the two previous caffeine threads.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but HELL NO! I ain’t kicking the coffee habit! I’ve been drinking it since I was ten years old. I’m 180 @ 7% BF.
I quit caffeine after I saw the study in John “Party Pooper” Berardi’s article. At the same time, I’ve gone on creatine and been bulking and watching my chest grow at the expense of my abs, so I can’t really tell. I do feel better, though, since switching to decaf coffee and green tea
I don’t think it’s really made a noticeable difference in my physique. I do know it’s a bitch to kick. I generally use 5 on, 2 off cycle with thermogenics, and when I used 20-25 mg. ephedrine and 200 mg. caffeine, I was a bear on the two off-days and wanted to do nothing but sleep. I gradually got off it and substituted a potent standardized green tea capsule (Enzymatic Therapy’s Green Tea Antioxidant…contained 250 mg. green tea with 15-25 mg. caffeine) with 20 mg. ephedrine and had no problems whatsoever on the off-days.
Yeah, I noticed before Berardi’s article on coffee that my fat loss wasn’t as much whenever I was drinking coffee.
As soon as I’d cut out the coffee, I started seeing better results. I still drink it every once in awhile, but if I want to wake up in the morning, I use MD6/Powerdrive.
While I’ve read the studies linking caffeine to insulin insensitivity, I’m not yet convinced that caffeine does in fact make your body less sensitive to insulin but rather that its effect on the adrenals and the subsequent release of epinephrine activates glycogenolysis causing an increase in plasma glucose levels. of course there might be other factors but I’m just trying to raise one of many possible alternate explanations. What I’m waiting for is studies that directly link caffeine intake with decreased muscle glucose uptake and decreased anabolic activity in muscle cells. In physiology it’s important to not overemphasize the imporance and reach of individual studies because the dynamic state of the body makes experimental data difficult to interpret alone, in particular when trying to define cause and effect.
I gave up smoking a year ago…I ain’t giving up caffeine. Sheesh. Sorry, that’s totally out of the question. I gained 17 pounds from quitting smoking, faster than I ever thought was humanly possible. I’ve lost 12 of it with ‘a little effort’. I’ll lose the other 5 with ‘a comfortable moderate effort’. I don’t think caffeine has helped or hindered one iota.