What do you drink before you exercise? If you’re looking to burn fat when you’re working out, drinking one type of drink beforehand could help to maximise your weight loss. 

A growing body of evidence suggests that drinking green tea before a workout could potentially help you to burn more fat by boosting your metabolism.

Recent studies conducted by the University of Maryland Medical Center have suggested that drinking green tea could help to speed up your metabolism, boosting the rate at which your body burns fat when exercising. Further to this, researchers at Penn State University have also found that a combination of green tea and regular exercise boosted fat-burning in mice.

So, what is it about green tea that could boost your metabolism? Scientists think it might be down to the combination of high concentrations of natural caffeine and antioxidant catechins that are found in green tea. Caffeine is a stimulant and also boosts a process known as thermogenesis— the generation of heat in your body. Catechins are thought to oxidise fat cells in the body. The combination of the two in green tea is thought to give you a stimulating kick in your workout, whilst boosting the rate at which your body burns fat.

Whilst specific evidence irrefutably proving this claim is still forthcoming, the initial results look promising and do seem to suggest that green tea could have some impact on weight loss. Even if it doesn’t, switching the calorie and sweetener-laden sugary drinks for a more natural alternative like green tea will definitely prove a healthier choice when it comes to losing weight.