Welcome to my science based guide that will tell you everything you need to know about drinking oolong tea for weight loss.
Read this guide all the way through and you'll not only discover three different ways in which oolong tea can speed up fat burn, you'll also see how much weight it can actually help you lose.
Once you're done with this guide, you'll be able to make an informed decision about whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on oolong tea.
Before we get started, here's a short overview of everything that's covered in this guide:
The 3 major benefits of drinking oolong tea for weight loss
Before we get to how much weight it can actually help you lose, I'll show you the science on how exactly oolong tea works for weight loss.
Luckily for us, science has already discovered tree different ways in which oolong tea can help you get rid of that stubborn body fat.
(You need to understand these three ways before you can make a smart decision on whether or not you should start drinking oolong tea for weight loss.)
Let's dive right in.
Oolong tea has been scientifically proven to speed up fat burn
The first substance in oolong tea, that's been scientifically proven to speed up fat burn, is caffeine.
I can't go into all the details on caffeine here, but the two most important ways in which caffeine can boost your weight loss results are:
Caffeine increases your calorie burn rate and speeds up the release of calories from your body fat reserves[1].
(But if you want to find out more about how many calories caffeine can help you burn, where else you can get caffeine from, how much you need to take...you can read my complete guide to boosting your weight loss results with caffeine.)
A lot of people choose to stay away from oolong tea simply because there's caffeine in it. And it's only fair for me to say that caffeine actually isn't completely without risks (so look into those before you decide to start drinking oolong tea).
On to the next weight loss benefit of oolong tea.
Another little known weight loss benefit of oolong tea
According to science[2], some other substances in oolong tea called "polyphenols" can also speed up weight loss.
The study has proven that both the polyphenols and caffeine in oolong tea work together to boost the number of calories burned by 10%.
Burning off 10% more calories just by drinking oolong tea sure looks awesome on paper, though you should know one thing:
The scientists measured this calorie burning boost for two hours after the people in the study drank down oolong tea.
In other words, we know this calorie-burning effect of oolong tea sticks around for at least two hours, but we have no way of knowing when it actually wears off.
Oolong tea blocks the absorption of fat-calories
The third way in which oolong tea can help you lose weight is by blocking the absorption of the fat-calories you eat.
In other words, if you're eating a high fat diet, oolong tea could actually be perfect for you.
Because not only will oolong tea speed up your metabolism, it will also prevent some of those fat-calories from "sticking" to your body.
One study[3] looked at two groups of people, who all ate a high-fat diet.
One group of people drank oolong tea with their meals, while the other group didn't.
The group that drank oolong tea ended up absorbing less fat (and cholesterol!) from their meals than the group that didn't drink oolong tea.
So, if you really can't avoid high fat meals, then at least consider drinking oolong tea with those meals.
If you do this, then at least some of those fattening calories will simply pass through your body (instead of ending up in your body fat reserves).
Oolong tea can help you laser-target that stubborn body fat
When it comes to weight loss, the total number of pounds (or kilograms) you manage to lose, isn't the only thing that matters.
Because, instead of actually getting rid of that ugly body fat, you could only be losing water weight (or worse, your muscle mass).
That being said, here's a study[4] that proved oolong tea can help you better target your own body fat reserves.
In other words, oolong tea can help you release 12% more calories from your body fat reserves.
Which brings us right to the next important question...
How many calories does oolong tea burn per day?
If you're wondering how many calories does oolong tea burn per day, then you'll be glad to know that the same study[4] can give us a pretty precise answer:
Oolong tea increased the calorie burn rate of the people in the study by 3% throughout the day. In other words, oolong tea burns around 70 calories per day.
If you think that's not a whole lot of calories, then you should know that 70 calories a day means you'll lose (or keep off) 7.3 pounds (3.3 kilograms) of pure body fat in one year.
If you ask me, that's a pretty easy win, considering you don't need to do anything else beyond drinking tea.
What kind of weight loss results can you expect from oolong tea?
In total, all of these weight loss benefits of oolong tea have been scientifically proven[5] to help people lose at least 2 pounds (1 kilogram) of weight after 6 weeks.
The good news is, over 60% of people in that study lost more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram) of weight.
Some of them actually lost almost 7 pounds (3 kilograms) of weight over 6 weeks of drinking oolong tea.
On top of losing a few pounds of body fat, oolong tea significantly reduced the blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels (both of these are a good thing) of people in the study.
I have done a lot of research on weight loss supplements over the past couple of years.
So believe me when I tell you that most weight loss supplements don't even come close to working as well for weight loss as oolong tea does.
Just one more thing before I wrap this whole thing up.
Does green tea work better than oolong tea?
Just like with oolong tea, science has discovered quite a few benefits of drinking green tea for weight loss.
And while oolong tea comes pretty close, green tea packs just a slightly more powerful weight loss punch than oolong tea.
(If you want to find out more about the benefits of drinking green tea for weight loss, how many calories it can help you burn, and how much weight it can ultimately help you lose, you can read my science based guide to boosting weight loss with green tea.)
But all in all, the differences between oolong tea and green tea aren't all that great, so just pick whichever tea you prefer.
Time to wrap things up.
Summary (actionable takeaways)
While oolong tea definitely isn't the magic weight loss pill we'd all like to get our hands on, the weight loss results it can deliver definitely aren't something to frown upon.
Like I said, it is pretty rare to come across a weight loss supplement that has actually been proven to work by modern science. And oolong tea really seems to be one of the easiest wins out there.
(Especially since it doesn't involve slaving away at the gym OR denying yourself some of your favorite foods).
As long as you take it for what it is (and don't expect a weight loss miracle overnight), oolong tea can help you out.
References
Written by Rok Sprogar, CNC, WLS
Rok Sprogar is a NASM Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC) and a NASM Certified Weight Loss Specialist (NASM-WLS) who has been contributing highly actionable and science-based content to Leanhigh.