Drink your way slim

When it comes to counting calories we get fixated with the food we consume and the number of calories within each meal. While we of course need to know this in order to control our calorie intake we often forget about the missed calories, the calories we consume in our drinks. Overlooking these can in many cases push the daily calorie intake above the recommended daily allowance of 2000 for women and 2500 for men.

Whether it’s the coffee that kick starts you in the morning or the hot chocolate before bedtime it’s important to remember these hidden calories, 2 large latte’s have a greater calorific value than a healthy lunch. Other drinks while seen as healthy also contain a high calorie levels, a 330ml bottle of Orange Juice contains on average 142 calories and a sports drink up to 150 calories, both more than half the calorific value of a Mars Bar.

Moderation as always in the key when it comes to tea, coffee, carbonated or fruit drinks, if you’re increasing your exercise levels you want to see some improvements and it could be something as simple as swapping a fruit juice for water that see you reach your weight loss target. Water not only contains no calories but also helps to keep the body hydrated, promotes weight loss by reducing hunger and regulates the body temperature meaning you feel more energetic while you’re exercising.

One of the easiest ways to see where improvements can be made is to keep a diary of the drinks you are consuming within a week; this can be used to identify drinks that can be replaced with lower calorie alternatives. A good example of the calories you can save by swapping your drinks is if you replaced a lunch time Large Skinny Latte from your favourite coffee shop with a glass of water, over five days you could reduce your calorie intake by up to 900 calories, almost half the daily recommended intake for a woman for one day.