Is Your Weight Loss Effort Being Sabotaged By What’s In Your Glass?

Frustrated by your weight loss efforts? Or maybe you’ve reached a plateau? When trying to lose weight we tend to pay better attention to what we eat. But have you thought about what you drink? The Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina examined dietary records of U.S. adults and found a startling trend. In 1965 only 11.9 percent of calories came from beverages but by 2002 that went up to 21 percent. That’s a lot of opportunity for weight gain!

Liquid calories are the worst calories we can put into our bodies if we’re trying to lose fat because they add up so quickly without suppressing hunger. And these calories often come in the form of sugar.

Did you know a Grande size caramel macchiato at Starbuck’s has 270 calories? Numbers don’t mean much without a point of comparison, so here it is: that’s more calories than a McDonald’s small order of French fries! A peppermint white chocolate mocha with whipped cream has 560 calories; a McDonald’s Big Mac has 540. That’s a Big Mac in a cup! No wonder we’re not losing weight.

What else are you drinking in the course of the day? Soda, possibly? Likely; Americans consume tons of the stuff. But you drink diet, right? That’s different. Think again. Here’s a couple of startling statistics. Research in the medical journal Circulation shows that people who drink more than one soda a day, whether diet or regular, increase their risk for metabolic syndrome, which doubles risk for heart disease and diabetes, by almost 50 percent. The University Of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, found that for every diet soda you drink a day, you increase your risk of gaining weight by 41 percent. Pretty startling statistics, aren’t they?

Diet soda has no calories, so how can it contribute to weight gain? There are theories. Dr. Johnny Bowden feels that a sweet taste creates a conditioned response in the brain, causing the body to release insulin, the fat-storing hormone. Diet drinks cause other harm to our bodies. The aspartame used as a sweetener causes the body to become more acidic, which causes calcium to be released from the bones. This is especially bad for women, who are more prone to osteoporosis.

There are so many high calorie drinks on the market now: energy drinks, sports drinks, sweetened teas. If we aren’t careful, we can easily sabotage our weight loss goals. The fact is eliminating those liquid calories can create fast and permanent weight loss. Take a closer look at your beverage choices. Avoid anything sweetened and skip the sports drinks unless you are exercising more than 90 minutes. Plain water is still the best way to hydrate the body. Applying these tips just might be a simple way to make a difference on the scale.