Does coffee make you store fat around your midsection?

Someone told me today that they read that coffee makes you hold fat cells around your midsection.  I have never heard this before and am wondering if anyone else has ever heard of this.  I drink about three - four cups a day and have done so for many years.  Black no cream no sugar.  I do tend to store fat in my midsection and it is the last place I lose it.  I am 5' 3.5" and even when I was 112 lbs I still had extra fat in my midsection but looked emaciated everywhere else.  I wonder if there is any connection.

Coffee? God, I hope not.

One thing that does make you retain fat in your midsection is stress - specifically, elevated cortisol levels resulting from stress.

Do you also have a small "hump" on the back of your neck, or a bloated face? That can be associated with high cortisol as well.

You might be just built thick around the middle, like me. Slender arms and legs, short waist...

geez, i hope not, too.  if it does, i'm about to get comfortable with my belly, because i'm not quitting coffee.

Yikes!  I never heard that, but I'm in trouble if it does--I gave up the sugar and only use skim milk, but I don't know if I can skip my morning mug of coffee altogether!!  Eeek!

I might be stressed, trustwomen, I don't know.  I don't have a hump neck or bloated face though.

 I do have a short waist and thin legs but a larger chest and arms.

maybe it's just the way you're built.

Don't worry too much about it. We all have our good points and our bad points, appearance-wise: no matter what our size and shape.  As a teenager, at  5'8" and 140, I didn't have a defined waist.

It's not the end of the world.

I hate coffee so I don't have this problem, lol.  Maybe cut down to 2 cups a day?  4 seems a lot to me

Trustwomen, you were on the right track about the cortisol.  I just read that coffee raises cortisol levels which makes you retain fat around the midsection. It's not the caffeine though it is some organic acid in coffee that makes cortisol levels skyrocket.  Below I attached the article if anyone wants to take a look.

It might just be my body shape but it is worth a try.  I am sadly switching to tea.

FindArticles - Look-good, feel better foods: smooth wrinkles, burn fat and shed stress by eating right to fight inflammation - Longevity
Men's Fitness, Sept, 2003, by Myatt Murphy

Original Post by elizaannfred:

It might just be my body shape but it is worth a try.  I am sadly switching to tea.

FindArticles - Look-good, feel better foods: smooth wrinkles, burn fat and shed stress by eating right to fight inflammation - Longevity
Men's Fitness, Sept, 2003, by Myatt Murphy

Wow, I love my morning coffee, but if this is true....  I'm going to try the switch too and see if anything changes!  I bet I'll miss my coffee, but this will give me a chance to try all those different kinds of tea! I like to drink tea in the evenings but it's hard to find all the different flavors in decaf, now I won't need to worry about that!! 

^where is the part in the article about coffee? I didn't see it?

Anyway, I have about 1/2 to a full pot a day. I know it's unhealthy to drink that much (I'm a toddler mommy, I must have coffee!), but my abs are ripped. For me even huge quantities doesn't make a difference in my abdominal section.

 

OP when you were 112 did you do abdominal exercises?

Carleyrapp,

The part about the coffee is the last two paragraphs on the 1st page and the first paragraph on the second page.

Maybe you are less effected by cortisol which is why your abs are ripped or it is just your genetics.

When I was 112 lbs I did an obscene amount of ab exercises.  My abs were ripped under a stubborn layer of fat.  Every other part of me was skinny.  It might just be my genetics but I am trying the tea thing.  

 

Mine must go to my ass

the article is interesting and the science sounds valid, but since it's about men, i'm going to choose to believe it's not relevant to me.  especially because i currently have two pounds of my beloved Kicking Horse organic coffee in the freezer.  now, if someone finds a study that shows the same results in women, send it to me in about...six weeks.

Oh wow... I'm new to this site and reading through the forum, and I think this is the only post that has actually scared me.. lol!

 

I work 3rd shift, and it would take alot to give up my daily pot of coffee

 Keep us posted on how the cutting out coffee goes

no. excess calories do.

The only thing really proven to make you store fat around your midsection is genetics. Sadly, if your whole family is apple-shaped, you probably will be too.

Best thing to do is take great care of your health and be the best you that you can be. I will never have an hourglass shape, so I'm striving to be a healthy and toned waistless person. lol

I am really wondering if this is true now...I drink anywhere from 2 to 4 pots a day depending on the mood I am in!  This could be killing me & I dont even know it!!  I am also a diabetic...no, this is not good!

I will look for more studies, pgeorgian, but I doubt it effects men and not women.    

Peacelovehominy, obviously excess calories make you gain weight but having high cortisol levels may play a factor on where you store it. 

 

I honestly don't believe coffee keeps your belly fat. Think about how many people who drink coffee are belly fat free. I'm sick of reading about studies and stuff like that to be honest. One says this makes you fat, the other says that makes you fat. While I feel odd saying this cause I'm having problems of my own, deep down I really do believe that if you moderate you'll be fine. Enjoy your coffee.

you know what makes you fat?

eating lots of fat

eating lots of calories

end of story.

Meh, don't believe it.