Drinking black tea or coffee before exercise, exercise causing menstrual cessation, sportswear, and precautions for exercise in the elderly.

2026-05-25

Can drinking black tea or coffee before exercise help with weight loss?

Drinking some black tea or coffee before exercising can enhance the weight loss effect.

As we all know, exercise is for burning fat.

When the human body exercises, it first consumes glycogen.

Subcutaneous fat, however, only begins to decrease gradually after glycogen is depleted.

Therefore, no matter how much exercise you do at one time, you won't lose fat unexpectedly all at once.

However, the situation is different if caffeine is ingested before exercise.

Because of the stimulating effect of caffeine on the brain, the order of glycogen and fat consumption in the body is reversed.

According to scientific analysis, tea contains protein, fat, more than ten kinds of vitamins, as well as nearly 400 other components such as tea polyphenols, caffeine, and polysaccharides, which have multiple health benefits including nutrition and physiological regulation.

The caffeine in tea has effects such as strengthening the heart and promoting diuresis, aiding digestion and relieving fatigue.

Tea polyphenols can enhance capillary activity, reduce capillary permeability, break down fat, and lower triglycerides and cholesterol.

An experiment by Professor Masanari Suzuki of the University of Tsukuba in Japan proved that if you exercise immediately after consuming caffeine, the energy comes first from the consumption of fat, while glycogen is stored in the liver.

In addition, Professor Keiji Yamaji of Toyama University conducted the following experiment: if you run after consuming caffeine, about 40% of the energy required for the race comes from fat burning, while in the absence of caffeine, about 20% of the total energy required comes from fat burning.

In short, fat is consumed before glycogen, which is of great significance in weight loss.

Why does exercise cause women to stop menstruating after losing weight?

Excessive exercise can lead to amenorrhea, but this is a temporary phenomenon.

Some foreign experts, through research on women participating in high-intensity training, have found the following main reasons:

① Excessive exercise leads to excessive consumption of body fat.

Too little body fat can lead to insufficient reserves of sterols, the raw materials for estrogen.

② Body fat is the best way to store energy. Too little body fat leads to a lack of energy reserves, resulting in a decrease in the secretion of gonadotropins by the pituitary gland.

③ High levels of physical activity can increase the levels of endorphins and catecholamines in the blood, leading to amenorrhea.

④ If protein or cholesterol intake is insufficient, this temporary exercise-induced amenorrhea is more likely to occur.

After changing your exercise plan, your period should return after a while. If your period is still irregular, you should see a gynecologist for a checkup.

What kind of clothes should you wear during your daily weight loss exercise?

Some people wear thick clothes and sweat a lot during exercise in order to speed up weight loss, thinking that this will make the weight loss more effective.

This is actually a misconception.

Because you sweat during exercise, although you lose weight, this is only a temporary loss of water.

After 24-36 hours, the body's water metabolism returns to normal, and the weight will then increase.

If you don't pay attention to this, you may cause trouble; sometimes dehydration, combined with stuffiness, can lead to unexpected dangers, such as fainting or even coma.

Therefore, when exercising, you should wear breathable, lightweight, and loose clothing to allow the heat generated during exercise to dissipate easily.

Of course, many TV commercials now advertise slimming workout clothes in order to achieve the goal of weight loss.

However, obese individuals should assess whether this condition is suitable for them; otherwise, it may have the opposite effect.

What should elderly obese individuals pay attention to when exercising to lose weight?

Before exercising, it is best to have a detailed physical examination by a doctor to check for any serious illnesses and to seek the doctor's advice.

If you are generally in good physical condition, you can also do some self-checks, such as squatting 10-20 times in a row or running in place for 15 seconds to see if you have symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest discomfort. If not, you can start exercising.

Generally, you should not exercise alone; you should have someone accompany you or an exercise partner who is familiar with your health condition.

One should always carry a first-aid kit or have first-aid medicines and a health record card on hand so that one can quickly understand the condition and administer medication in an emergency.

When exercising, you should follow the principle of gradual progression.

The amount of exercise should be determined based on one's physical condition and whether or not one has exercised before, as well as the intensity of that exercise.

Exercise should progress from slow to fast, from easy to difficult, and from simple to complex, with the duration gradually increasing.

Each exercise session should gradually transition from stillness to movement and from movement to stillness.

There should be warm-up exercises at the beginning and cool-down exercises before stopping.

It is important to choose appropriate sports.

Choose whole-body activities that involve all joints and muscle groups, and avoid strenuous activities that are too intense or too fast.

You can choose to do gymnastics, walk, jog, swim, practice Tai Chi, Qigong, Baduanjin, or exercise using natural factors such as sunlight, air, and water.

It's important to maintain an appropriate amount of exercise.