Can Coffee Make You Skinny?

By Trudi Purdy, wlr team

Have you noticed the influx of ads and posts on your social media for a miracle coffee that will you help you lose weight? Has it piqued your interest but you’re just not sure about it?

Me too!

Despite the sensible ‘WLR voice’ in my head, I decided to try the coffee that ‘could help me look visibly thinner in one week’.

Could a cup of skinny coffee really have you changing your profile pic for a new, slimmer version with no filter required?

Let’s find out.

What Can the Skinny Coffee Club (SCC) Do For You?

This wonder-coffee claims to be clinically proven to aid weight loss. Not only that, it claims to:

Increase energy levels
Reduce signs of ageing
Reduce bloating
Stop you feeling hungry
Improve your complexion
Burn fat
Boost antioxidants

The Skinny Coffee Club – “Our organic, fat-burning Skinny Coffee Club formula is an innovation in weight loss and is helping women all over the world look and feel their best!”

I know what you're thinking . . .

In the back of my mind, I knew it was highly unlikely that swapping one of my daily cups of the brown stuff for their version would help me lose weight. Those transformation pictures on the website were appealing to the vain and impatient part of my brain though. And were telling me another story!

The website claims the myriad of things their coffee can do for you are down to the special formula of ingredients that their ‘experts have worked tirelessly to provide in a cup of skinny coffee’.

Let’s investigate . . .

Sought After Ingredients in Skinny Coffee

What are these miracle ingredients and can they really help you lose weight by just drinking a cup of coffee?

Ground Green Coffee

This is the most important ingredient in the drink – after all, it is a cup of coffee!

It contains Chlorogenic Acid (CGA) which some studies have found can help control elevated blood sugar and bodyweight.

Green coffee is the humble coffee bean before it’s been roasted. It’s also known as raw coffee. The roasting process destroys a lot of the CGA in the bean.

This all sounds great for those wanting to lose weight, but don’t reach for that cup of Skinny Coffee just yet.

Let’s delve a little deeper . . .

It seems the amount of CGA needed to have an effect on bodyweight has yet to be decided. It ranges from 400mg to 1050mg depending on the study you read.

Unfortunately, although the SCC says there is 63mg of caffeine in each cup, the amount of green coffee extract is not confirmed.

One cup of Skinny Coffee a day is unlikely to have enough CGA to make a difference.

There have also only been a handful of studies into the effects so far. Interestingly though, the study that reported the best weight loss results received funding from a company who markets a green coffee antioxidant product. Make of that what you will.

What else is in it?

Spirulina – NASA actually used Spirulina as a dietary supplement for astronauts. It has been promoted as the ‘Food of the Future’ because it is rich in vitamins, particularly B12.

Although more research is needed to decide on the amounts needed to make it viable, there is some evidence that it can help to reduce LDL cholesterol and increase HDL.

It has good anti-inflammatory properties and is considered to be a good anti-oxidant.

This one sounds like an all-round good egg but not necessarily for those who are looking for quick weight loss as the Skinny Coffee Club would have us believe.

Green tea – This tea, made from Camellia sinensis leave, has long been hailed as a great addition to a healthy diet.

Many health experts suggest that 4 cups a day could help protect our bodies from the effects of free radicals which could lower our risk of many health problems including heart disease, cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and even cataracts.

However, whether or not it benefits weight loss needs a lot more investigation and the jury is still out. Some cynics think the weight loss benefits only really stem from swapping your normal cup of milky, sugary tea with the green version.

Garcinia Combogia – This is a fruit native to India and Southeast Asia that is used for flavouring food and its active ingredient is Hydroxycitric Acid.

Hailed as a ‘revolutionary fat buster’ in 2013 by a famous US TV Doctor, it was meant to block your body’s ability to make fat and curb your appetite. Hallelujah!

Unfortunately, said doctor has now been sued in a Class Action lawsuit.

Studies showed, when tested on rats, the active ingredient curbed their food intake and their bodyweight reduced. However, we’re not rats and the same results failed to materialise in human trials.

Maybe this ingredient is there for the taste?

Let’s give it a go!

I decided to give a 28 day trial a try (mainly because after a search on Google I found it half price and the ‘what if’ part of my brain was interested).

If you buy directly from the SCC the prices range from £24.95 for 28 days’ supply to £69.95 for 12 weeks’ supply. I ordered mine from Holland & Barrett for just over £12 and waited, with baited breath, for my prize to arrive.

I eagerly opened the box to find a tiny pouch of ground coffee in the bottom. No paperwork, instructions or information.

To my dismay, I needed a cafetiere to make it. I could have sworn I had one in the ‘don’t-need-it-but-let’s-not-throw-it-away-just-in-case cupboard’ after we bought a bean to cup coffee machine.

Luckily, there were basic instructions on how to make the coffee on the packet but not any indication as to when I should have my Skinny Coffee.

So, back to the website I went.

Everything I had read to this point indicated all I had to do to lose weight was to drink the stuff. In fact, on the home page of the website, one of the bullet points highlighted said ‘Works without Exercise’.

I should have known better . . .

I discovered with deeper investigation that there was actually an eating and exercise plan that I should have got with my order.

In the FAQs it says, ‘We have designed a flexible eating plan, designed especially to compliment the SCC weight loss program. This is delivered free to your email once you complete your checkout. It's simple and fun to follow and isn't based on severely restricting calories like other harmful diets.

The Skinny Coffee Club - "Although Skinny Coffee Club will work without diet and exercise we strongly recommend following our free programs to achieve maximum results and for an overall healthier lifestyle."

So I emailed the site to ask for the info which was duly sent to me.

As it had been indicated that weight loss with Skinny Coffee Club was as simple as drinking one cup of skinny coffee each morning, I decided to forgo the eating and exercise plan.

I walk an awful lot anyway. Having said that, I was interested to see how many calories and what the nutritional breakdown would be with their suggested food plan so I popped a day’s worth into my food diary. Here was the result:

WLR Food Diary Screenshot with Skinny Coffee Suggested Food Plan

As you can see, high in calories, high in fat, more protein than normal and very low in carbs

Foods SKC say to avoid

I decided to copy the following info directly from the eating plan I was sent:

Blacklist Foods

White carbs

Remember if it’s white then it ain’t right! You should avoid bread, rice (including brown), whole grains, cereal including steel-cut oats, potatoes, past, tortillas and breaded fried food. This includes chips, crisps or anything derived from potatoes, clear avoidances are cakes, cookies, pastries and crackers.

Don’t drink calories or alcohol

Do not waste your calorie intake on drinks. This ranges from beer and wine to milk, pure fruit juices and fizzy drinks. You may have diet fizzy drinks, however, make sure you limit them as the artificial sweeteners can have a dampening effect on weight loss and are highly addictive.

Fruit

Don’t eat fruit except for citrus fruits. Yes, we did just say that! Fruit is full of sugars and can be the enemy of weight loss. Other than lemons and limes, we recommend that you stay away from fruits for the duration of your program.

Stay away from dairy

Avoid cow’s milk, cheese or any other dairy except for grass fed butter. If you need to add milk to something opt for a healthier option such as unsweetened almond or coconut milk. This obviously includes chocolate as well (boooo).

Oils and deep frying

Don’t use vegetable oil or deep fry foods. Cooking in grass fed butter, olive oil or coconut oil is totally fine. If you have a deep fat fryer in your kitchen then we recommend that you remove it to avoid temptation. The more you cook the food the less nutrients it has, so, we recommend cooking your food as little as possible for it to be healthily consumed.

Foods you can eat according to SKC copied directly from their eating plan

Protein

Consume as much protein as you like. This includes things like:

Eggs
Beef
Fish
Pork
Chicken
Lamb
Beef

We recommend that you eat fish at least three times a week!

Vegetables

Vegetables are your friend they are a healthy, nutritious way to fill your plate and make you feel full. Things like:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Other cruciferous vegetables
Sauerkraut
Kale
Asparagus
Peas
Green beans

There is no limit to how many of these vegetables you can eat. Although, not classed as vegetables these are a-ok as well:

Tomatoes
Olives
Peppers
Avocados
Healthy fats
Olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil and grass fed butter are perfectly fine to consume and cook with.
Legumes

Eat as many legumes as you like, such as:

Lentils
Black beans
Pinto beans
Red beans
Soy beans

Other

Use cinnamon with as many meals as possible to enhance the weight loss and detoxing properties of your skinny coffee club program. Make sure that you eat your first meal within one hour of waking and wait no more than 4 hours and a half between meals. Finally, don’t eat within 3 hours before going to bed.

Note: if you have to drink alcohol limit yourself to one glass of red wine a day.

Want to know my verdict?

The coffee tasted okay, if a little weaker than my normal cup, which I did really miss first thing in the morning. The instructions say to have the coffee 30 minutes before breakfast and they suggest having it black, which I did.

If you want milk and sugar, it’s okay to use coconut milk and Stevia as a sweetener.

Unfortunately, I can’t change my FB profile pic just yet.

There has been no change in my weight or my wrinkles and I haven’t felt any more motivated or energised than before.

I still want a nana nap at 2pm every day and haven’t felt any less hungry than normal.

I am more than a little disappointed that I don’t look like a 20 year old model after drinking the coffee for 4 weeks but, maybe, my expectations were a little high?

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