I'm doing well with P90 and the diet (Formula based). I don't drink or smoke...my only vice is coffee.

I was wondering if it is acceptable to have a couple of cups of coffee (no cream or sugar) everyday?

I see it's on Tier 2 of Michi's Ladder so it shouldn't be a problem but I've read some negative things about coffee consuption (and I know Tony H doesn't particularly like it).

Thanks Fitness Advisors,

MW

2 cups? No problem! Steve's a big coffee achiever, so maybe he'll add to this.

Many people slam caffeine and with good reason. It does have health implications for SOME people. For others, it seems to be no problem whatsoever. If you like coffee, it's certainly not bad for your TRAINING program. Might be bad for other things, but athletics and weight loss are not on that list.

One thing that is consistant is that coffee is a diuretic and will dehydrate you. When drinking coffee you need to over hydrate somewhat. Also, it's highly acidic which will affect your body's ph levels. Therefore, your diet should adjust slightly to make up for this. One of the reasons that calcium supplementation is popular is that coffee, alcohol, meat, and processed foods are all acidic, so it's very common for people to have imbabalanced ph levels. Eating extra high ph foods will offset this. Here's a list that will help you:

http://www.permacult.com.au/probiotics/acid-alkaline-food.html

But for sheer performance, coffee is an ergogenic and banned by the IOC. Here's an old post for you about coffee vs. tea.

Coffee isn't really bad for you in an athletic/dieting sense. It's addicting, highly acidic, and can cause you to be jittery and not sleep well(and can be lethal if you drink more than 200 cups in a row) but that's about it. I wouldn't woryy about this at all, unless it's somehow upsetting your lifestyle. Here is a coffee vs tea post from long ago:

(1) Why is tea ok to get a ripped physique but black coffee wouldn't be?

This is not necessarily true. Many coffee drinkers are ripped and coffee doesn't really affect you, fat wise. Both coffee and tea contain caffeine. Studies are showing that caffeine can help you sustain aerobic activity, which can burn fat. It is a performance enhancer and is banned by the International Olympic Committee. Caffeine also has its unpleasant side. It is addictive and you will get headaches if you stop drinking it. It can make you jittery and interfere with sleep. Sleep is when your body recovers and gets stronger, so this is important.

So you may have heard this already. Coffee is not bad, provided that you can control yourself on it. Keep in mind that when you reduce your calories and up your exercise it becomes harder to sleep because your body has more energy. Add coffee to this mix and it can become even worse. If you don't sleep than you will counteract all that work you've been doing.

Now, why tea? First off, tea has around half the caffeine as coffee and seems slightly less addictive, though it is addictive. Other than caffeine, tea--both black and green--have proven to have some other benefits. Recent studies have shown that whether tea is processed as a green, an oolong, or a black, they contain polyphenols. Polyphenols supposedly contain anti-carcinogenic and other anti-disease elements that help sustain or even improve one's health. Tea also has antioxidant properties that have not been attributed to coffee. Antioxidants reduce the damaging effect of free radicals in the body that affect aging cells. Heart disease, cancer and other diseases are, in part, affected by free radicals.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Coffee is good. Tea is better.