'I'm a doctor - drink your coffee at a specific time to boost fat burning and burn more calories'

Dr Liu (Healthy Immune Doc on YouTube) told viewers how coffee can provide a helping hand for those who want to "burn fat". One of her top tips was to drink a cup before exercise.

She said: "For over a century, it's been known that caffeine boosts metabolism, causing a thermogenic [heat-producing] effect.

"Unlike tea, one cup of coffee has 100mg of caffeine, which is also a weight loss drug and performance enhancer.

"So if you're looking for something to motivate you to exercise, you may want to consider timing your cup of coffee before you exercise."

The doctor explained that athletes "perform so much better" after caffeine, so much so that the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) has a limit on it.

She continued: "Runners just run faster, cyclists pedal harder and weightlifters can squat more weight if they drink coffee.

"Now of course, if you exercise more, you will burn more calories and increase your muscle mass to reduce blood sugar spikes."

But while exercise is beneficial for weight loss and overall health, Dr Liu revealed that working out is not completely necessary for burning fat.

Indeed, she said: "It's a fallacy to believe that you have to exercise to lose weight. Exercise, of course, is always better for health when you do it properly, but you can lose plenty of weight without exercising."

The doctor also told slimmers that coffee has weight loss benefits whether you're working out or not.

She said: "With just two cups of coffee a day, you can increase your metabolic rate by 10 per cent."

While Dr Liu stressed the benefits of drinking coffee before a workout, she also named the specific times to avoid it. She advised coffee drinkers to avoid it for the first hour after waking up, as well as too close to bedtime.

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The experts at Cleveland Clinic said: "Coffee first thing in the morning increases cortisol levels, potentially making you feel more wired.

"Coffee at night may (or may not, depending on your genes and metabolism) affect your slumber."

Therefore, a mid to late morning cuppa could help you reap the most coffee benefits, or at 2pm for an energy boost.

In other weight loss news, a fitness trainer revealed that she torched my belly fat by stopping eating at a specific time every day.