Be Aware of Liquid Calories

A lot of people who want to lose weight do not realize the sabotaging effect of liquid calories. Liquid calories are calorie filled drinks that we may unknowingly be taking that quickly lead to excess daily calorie consumption. Examples of these drinks include your lattes, colas, fruit juices and alcoholic beverages.

Liquid Calories

Any drink that has carbohydrates, fat, protein or alcohol are liquid calories. Most people do not typically take a lot of liquid protein unless it comes in the form of protein shakes.

Most of the beverages that we drink on a daily basis contain some amount of calories. Even your daily coffee would have some amount of milk and sugar which adds up to calories.

Calories in Your Everyday Beverages

Here are the calories of typical beverages that you may be used to drinking;

• Tall Starbucks Caffe Latte with whole milk : 181 calories
• Tall Starbucks Caffe Latte with Non-fat milk : 126 calories
• Tall Starbucks Caffe Mocha without whipped cream : 240 calories
• 1 Glass of Pepsi Natural : 100 calories
• 1 Glass of Typical Apple Juice : 117 calories
• 1 Glass of Typical Orange Juice : 112 calories
• 1 can of regular beer : 153 calories
• 1 glass of wine : 85 calories

The challenge with liquid calories is that these drinks can be digested very quickly. Because these are digested rapidly, they do not fill you up. You can still consume your regular solid meals. That is why liquid calories are added calories that you could do without.

Healthy Beverages

Perhaps the most damaging are those beverages that are considered healthy. People avoid colas and go for an apple juice instead. As you can see from the list above, an apple juice has slightly more calories that a Pepsi Natural. While the apple juice may contain much more nutrients than a Pepsi, the quick digesting juice does not help much with weight loss. You would be better off eating the fruit instead. Fruits should be eaten whole. The fiber contained in fruit has a host of health enhancing benefits.

Milk Containing Beverages Cause Weight Gain

Anyone who is serious about losing weight should cut milk consumption to a minimum. Someone trying to lose weight should avoid fresh milk all together since it has high levels of saturated fat.

Most people do not realize that even low-fat milk has lots of calories. These calories come from the lactose contained in milk. Lactose is a form of carbohydrate that will cause an insulin spike.

Insulin is a hormone that is released by the body to drive simple sugars into your cells. An insulin spike causes excess insulin to linger around even after all the sugars have been absorbed by the cells. Insulin is a hormone that promotes fat storage. In the presence of insulin, the body is inclined to store fat instead of burning it. As such, circulating insulin in the body makes weight loss more difficult. High insulin levels are also damaging to health.

Alcoholic Beverages

Alcoholic beverages are the most damaging. These not only contain lots of calories but also halt fat burning and disrupt the body’s hormonal system. Alcohol has been shown to suppress testosterone in men. In both sexes, it causes the elevation of cortisol. All these conditions sabotage one’s weight loss efforts.

Chew Your Calories

If you are serious about losing weight, increase your awareness of liquid calories. Look at the beverages that you are already consuming.  Limit the amount of calorie filled beverages that you are consuming. If you cannot chew your calories, avoid it all together.

Be aware of the milk and milk filled beverages that you consume. Reduce these to a minimum until you achieve your desired body. Do not be too concerned about not getting enough calcium. Take a calcium supplement instead. These are cheap and can be a temporary solution. Those who fear that not drinking milk will make their bones weaker, should look at Jack Lalanne. He does not consume dairy and at 95 is one of the fittest seniors alive.

Weight Loss is all about having an increased awareness about your eating habits. Everyone enjoys a caffe latte or an orange juice now and then. Just be aware of the calories it contain. Try to decrease the consumption of liquid calories until you have achieved your body goals.

Recommended reading;

1. Alcohol’s Effects on Weight Loss – Part 1
2. Alcohol’s Effects on Weight Loss – Part 2
3. Alcohol’s Effect on Testosterone and How it Affects Fat Loss

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