Why You Need To Limit Your Liquid Calories

Liquid calories are another huge stumbling block for people trying to lose weight. Many people pay lots of attention to the foods they are eating and make a huge effort to change their eating habits but don’t focus on what they’re drinking. However, many beverages contain over 1,000 calories a glass and if you’re drinking these beverages without realizing how many calories they contain, you could be unwittingly sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

In addition to this, the calories in beverages are often ‘empty calories’ which contain no vitamins or minerals. This means they don’t do anything to stimulate your body’s natural fat burning processes and are very likely to get stored as body fat.

High Calorie Beverages To Avoid

1. Alcohol

Alcohol itself is a relatively concentrated source of calories and contains 7 calories per gram. However, most alcoholic beverages are also loaded with sugar which adds plenty of extra calories to the mix.

Many standard alcoholic drinks contain between 250 calories and 300 calories per glass. Cocktails contain even more calories due to their high sugar content, with the average cocktail containing over 500 calories per glass.

This means drinking just one standard alcoholic beverage per night can add between 1,750 and 2,100 calories to your weekly intake – the equivalent of 0.5lbs – 0.6lbs of body fat. Drinking a cocktail per night is even worse for weight loss and adds over 3,500 calories to your weekly consumption – the equivalent of 1lb of body fat.

2. Energy Drinks

Many people who drink energy drinks don’t even realize how unhealthy they are. In fact, a lot of people drink them for a pre-workout energy boost. However, at between 250 calories and 300 calories per serving, energy drinks are something you need to avoid if you want to lose weight. Consuming a single energy drink each day adds between 1,750 and 2,100 extra calories to your week. This converts to between 0.5lbs and 0.6lbs of extra body fat.

In addition to this, energy drinks contain extremely high levels of caffeine. Studies have shown that when consumed in moderation caffeine can boost your metabolism and support your weight loss efforts. However, when you consume the amount of caffeine found in energy drinks, it can cause dehydration and affect your sleep quality. This then has a negative effect on your body’s natural fat burning processes and inhibits your weight loss efforts.

3. Flavored Waters

Flavored waters taste light and refreshing and are believed by many people to be a healthy, low calorie alternative to water. However, many flavored waters contain over 30g of sugar in a 20 oz. bottle. While this is less sugar than most other drinks on this list, a 20 oz. bottle of flavored water still packs 150 calories. If you drink a bottle of flavored water daily, this adds up to 1,050 calories or 0.3lbs of excess body fat per week.

4. Fruit Juice

Like flavored waters, many people wrongly believe that fruit juice is a low calorie beverage. While there are certainly higher calorie drinks on this list, at over 100 calories per cup, fruit juice is something you should be drinking in moderation if you want to lose weight.

5. Hot Drinks

Hot drinks are a double edged sword. In their natural state, coffee and tea contain zero calories and multiple nutrients that help increase the rate at which your body burns fat. However, most people add generous amounts of cream, sugar and other high calorie ingredients to their hot drinks. As a result, these potentially slimming hot beverages often transforms into the exact opposite. For example, some of the items on the Starbucks menu containing over 600 calories per cup which will put a huge dent in your fat loss efforts.

6. Milk Shakes

Milk shakes are thick, creamy and tasty. Unfortunately, they’re also filled with low quality calories which are likely to increase your body fat levels. A standard milk shake contains 350 calories per 10 oz. serving. However, many milk shakes are topped with chocolate sauce, fruit syrup or other high calorie ingredients which often take the total calorie count to 500 calories or more.

7. Soda

When trying to lose weight, many people struggle to kick their daily soda habit. However, with a 20 oz. glass of soda packing 222 calories, it’s a habit that can potentially derail your weight loss efforts.

How To Reduce Your Liquid Calorie Consumption

The best way to reduce your liquid calorie consumption is to implement the same process that you used to cut back on processed foods. To begin, start by identifying and writing down all the liquid calories you consume in an average week.

After you’ve written down all your liquid calorie sources, you then need to calculate roughly what percentage of the beverages you drink contain liquid calories. Since liquid calories aren’t very filling and don’t act as a replacement for meals, you want to ensure that 90% of the fluids you drink are very low in calories or contain zero calories and then have a 10% allowance for liquid calories. If your current liquid calorie intake is greater than this, start substituting some of your current calorie packed beverages for healthy, zero or low calorie alternatives (I’ll be listing lots of low calorie and zero calorie beverages later in this report).

Once you’ve determined which beverages you need to substitute out of your diet, start tackling them one at a time. for finding the Best Weight loss pills make sure you know about the risks associated to it. The dosage for each product is defined in product details. For example, if you drink lots of soda and smoothies and need to reduce your intake, start by focusing on just the soda. Keep gradually reducing your soda intake until you no longer crave it and it’s no longer part of your diet. Then move onto smoothies and apply the same process until you’ve created a permanent change in your diet.

Doing this will allow long term habits to form and ensure that once you’ve eliminated a high calorie beverage from your diet, you won’t go back to it. This makes achieving your weight loss goals much easier as your mindset changes in line with your positive nutritional choices.