If you’re struggling to lose weight despite feeling that you eat really healthily, then you may well find this insightful; "liquid calories" could be your stumbling block. If you want to lose weight, then it’s crucial that you become more mindful about what you’re drinking.
However, the difficulty we’re faced with is that liquid calories are also "hidden calories," meaning that most people are completely unaware how many calories they’re consuming through their drinks. You see, an interesting thing about liquid calories is that they don’t appear to register with the brain in the same way calories from food do (Vartanian LR. 2007). In other words, drinks provide a sneaky way to consume extra energy and to pack on a few extra pounds (DiMeglio DP, Mattes RD. 2000).
I guess this is the reason doctors prescribe high-calorie drinks to both the elderly and those who are suffering from certain eating disorders, to help promote weight gain.
The average adult consumes a little over 500 calories per day from beverages alone, (Drewnowski A. 2013), with drinks being the largest source of added sugars in our diet (Huth PJ, Fulgoni VL, Keast DR et al 2013).
For example, a Starbucks Spiced Pumpkin Latte has recently gone on sale, personally I’m not fan, but I know a lot of you are and they’re all the rage around this time of year however, at whopping 380 calories and 50g sugar it literally takes the place of a small meal… and that’s for a medium cup!
If you stop to think about that for a second… 380 calories; for what’s essentially a fancy coffee, you’ll begin to realise how mad and easy it is to drink away your calories. I actually spoke to the Daily Mail about hidden calories in coffee-shop drinks a couple of years ago.
To put this figure into perspective, doctors, nutritionists and even our personal training team will likely recommend close to a 500-calorie deficit to help kick start weight loss. If you keep an eye on what you’re drinking, losing weight will often be as easy as a walk in the park, and even that’ll help too!
This is just one instance where liquid calories can slip under the radar.
The term liquid calories can umbrella a whole array of foods/beverages that you probably wouldn’t otherwise consider thinking twice about consuming, but all add up:
• cooking oils – average of 120 calories per serving
• fruit juices – average of 100 calories per 200ml
• milk – average of 50 calories per 50ml
• protein shakes – average of 200 calories per shake
• flavoured water – average of 50 calories per 500ml
• fizzy, sugary drinks – average of 150ml per can
• energy drinks – average of 100 calories per can
• pouring cream – average of 70 calories per 15ml – I’ll admit, I used to be a sucker for adding pouring cream to my coffee, but when I actually stopped to check how many calories I was drinking, which was in excess of 220Kcals from cream alone, I quickly stopped and started taking it black, or adding a dash of single cream.
Oh, and let us not forget alcohol. Yes sorry, it too falls under the liquid calorie umbrella, with an average glass of wine providing around 125Kcals – not too bad you say?… Sure, but let’s not kid ourselves as when do we ever have just the one glass…? More like half the bottle, which comes in at around 325 calories!
As you can see, the calories we consume in the form of liquids really can add up, and can begin to limit to your ability to lose weight.
Luckily, liquid calories are as easy to reduce as they are to consume. By being more aware of what you’re drinking and more importantly, how many calories you may just be pouring down your throat, it becomes easier to identify any extra calories you may be consuming.