More than energy boosting

[Speeddemon]

I've got a question that's been bugging me for a while. Does caffeine in diet pills cause appetite suppression or does it only boost energy? I know that there isn't any proof that it can control hunger, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in a study that it's possible. Have I been misinformed?

[Bethie]

Caffeine actually does shrink the appetite in a lot of people. It really does. It doesn't work for everyone but it works for a lot of people. It's the stimulation because it triggers the part of the brain that is responsible for "fight or flight". When that part of your brain is going, you're not getting hunger signals. You're getting "do something!" signals. Your body is all revved up. So it shrinks the appetite, gives you more energy and burns through more calories and body fat.

[Speeddemon]

Hmm that's interesting. Thanks for answering that Bethie. That makes a lot of sense. I guess if your brain is thinking about other stuff it's definitely not going to be thinking about hunger. Do you find that it actually has an appetite suppression effect on you? Personally, I think I'm actually going to do a little science experiment to see what effects it has on my appetite. I already know that it definitely boosts me energy-wise and if I have too much I get jittery haha.

[Bethie]

That's exactly how I understand it Speeddemon. I do find that it has an effect on me. I find it works best if I wait a half hour after getting up before taking a diet pill and then I wait another half hour after that to actually eat. I don't think everybody else has that kind of time in the morning but it works ok with my schedule and that's how it has the biggest effect on me for shrinking my appetite. I find that I don't need to eat as much but I also find that I don't crave sugary breakfast foods anymore, either. I used to love pop tarts in the morning but when I have enough caffeine, it seems to stop me from wanting somethign that sugary. I still like grains in the morning but not the extreme sugar.

[Speeddemon]

What?!? You mean you've given up on pop tarts!!! LOL! That's actually really great that you crave less sugar with the caffeine though Bethie. I'm interested to see if the pills have that kind of an effect on me. Cause, in terms of drinking caffeine in coffee, I find all I do is crave something sweet. Nothing goes better with coffee than a cookie, donut, cake....or a pop tart

[Bethie]

LOL don't worry Speeddemon, I'm not giving up on pop tarts entirely. I just don't eat them for breakfast anymore. Turthfully, I'm really proud of the fact that I crave sugar less and I do try to keep the extras out of my diet as much as I can. But still it's good to hav ea treat now and again. I tend to just let myself have the cake or donut or whatever on saturdays without guilt. I don't mean i eat a whole cake. but I'll have a piece if that's what will make me happy. It makes it worthwhile to be "good" the rest of the week

[Speeddemon]

I am glad that that's working out for your Bethie. I can believe that you'd crave sugar less only because I went through something similar with salt. I cut back on my sodium (took MSG right out of my diet) and found that I consume less salt now and it's not only easier but I don't want it. I can actually find some things too salty now that I never noticed before. It's weird because the stuff I now find too salty once used to taste awesome, now when I eat the stuff I feel like I'm just eating a handful of salt and it's a real turnoff! I'm glad you've found a system that works for you. I'm still battling my sugar demons. I'm find it a lot harder to give it up than salt. Sugar always tastes so good haha!

[Bethie]

YES! I did that a few years back with salt. Now the stuff I used to love that were salty actually taste salty. Isn't that weird? But I find sugar hard to cut back on than salt. I guess I just prefer sugary things...I have a confession. I ate a half a small cheesecake tonight IT was a really small cake but I ate half!

[Speeddemon]

YES! I did that a few years back with salt. Now the stuff I used to love that were salty actually taste salty. Isn't that weird? But I find sugar hard to cut back on than salt. I guess I just prefer sugary things...I have a confession. I ate a half a small cheesecake tonight IT was a really small cake but I ate half!

I've always considered myself more of a salt lover than a sugar lover, but I think the reason it's harder to give up the extra sugar is that while some stuff is just tooooo sweet, so it's easy to ignore it, other stuff is just as sweet but because it's combined with fat and other awesome tastes, it's harder to give them up because when you eat it you don't feel like you're eating a straight bowl of sugar (even though you actually are, whereas with salt the taste of it is so overpowering to everything else that you do actually feel like you're eating a bowl of salt haha. I hope I got my point across there...geeze even I'm feeling confused about what i just wrote haha.

As for your eating a half a cheesecake I've got two things to say about that: 1 - I entirely understand. 2 - I think I like you more LOL

[brightstar]

Would you like me more if I ate half a cheesecake, Speeddemon, or do I have to be more unique and actually successfully avoid sugar and salt? I think I'd have a hard time with both of those things, to be honest.

[Speeddemon]

Would you like me more if I ate half a cheesecake, Speeddemon, or do I have to be more unique and actually successfully avoid sugar and salt? I think I'd have a hard time with both of those things, to be honest.

You mean you've never tried eating half a cheescake before brightstar? Oh, that's something that you definitely need to try. While I do agree with you that it is not easy to avoid salt and sugar...you might find that you'll have no problem eating the cheescake. In fact the problem isn't so much eating half...but stopping at half hahaha!

[Bethie]

You mean you've never tried eating half a cheescake before brightstar? Oh, that's something that you definitely need to try. While I do agree with you that it is not easy to avoid salt and sugar...you might find that you'll have no problem eating the cheescake. In fact the problem isn't so much eating half...but stopping at half hahaha!

LOL you're so great for my confidence Speeddemon. I actaully have another cheesecake in my freezer right now. If I manage to eat half of it in one sitting, I will definitely take a pic and post it here haha. I think if I ever ate half of one, though, I really wouldn't have problems stopping at half. I'd be so sick! That's a really rich kind of dessert. Maybe that's the trick. Eat it until I'm sick of it and then I won't crave it!

[Speeddemon]

LOL you're so great for my confidence Speeddemon. I actaully have another cheesecake in my freezer right now. If I manage to eat half of it in one sitting, I will definitely take a pic and post it here haha. I think if I ever ate half of one, though, I really wouldn't have problems stopping at half. I'd be so sick! That's a really rich kind of dessert. Maybe that's the trick. Eat it until I'm sick of it and then I won't crave it!

HAHAHA! Now that's the kind of weight loss strategy I can jump on board with Bethie. Eat until you want to chuck and you definitely won't crave that "bad for you" food for a looooong time. I've actually effectively done that with Chinese takeout. I ate a bunch of it two months ago and I gotta say I haven't craved it since lol.

[Bethie]

HAHAHA! Now that's the kind of weight loss strategy I can jump on board with Bethie. Eat until you want to chuck and you definitely won't crave that "bad for you" food for a looooong time. I've actually effectively done that with Chinese takeout. I ate a bunch of it two months ago and I gotta say I haven't craved it since lol.

It's so funny you should say that! I'm off Chinese take-out, too. I'd been eating it a lot because there's this place near me with cheap lunch menus so I just got lazy and kept ordering. Now even the smell of it makes me want to yack. So I guess that's a good diet program. Make yourself sick from all your favorite junk and soon you won't want it anymore haha. Cucumbers and carrots anyone?