Consume 20% Less Calories Without Eating Less

Author: Tommy Leung | 09/10/2008 | Diet, Fat Loss

I never noticed what was so strange about ordering a clearly fattening food–like McDonald’s–with a Diet Coke. Some people find it contradictory or ironic or something. I’m not sure. My reasoning is always the same. Why would I want to consume a beverage loaded with empty sugar calories when I already lost one battle by giving into my urge for greasy fast food? The only logical answer is that I don’t want to. Why add to the damage when I can avoid it?

On average, 20% of our daily calorie consumption comes from liquids. That means we can reduce our caloric intake by 20% without feeling any less full. Beverages don’t make us feel full so we aren’t going to eat 150 less calories if we have a drink that has 150 calories. A person who consumes 2000 calories a day would save a whole pound in calories in 10 days. You can lose 3 pounds a month without eating any less food or doing any more work other than drinking more water and other low calorie drinks.

Water is important. It certainly doesn’t taste as good as soda, energy drinks, juice, or any other sweetened beverage. Most of our body is made up of water so there is really no reason to be frugal with it. Muscles are made up of 80% water. Start reducing your excess liquid calories by replacing soda consumption with H2O.

You can also choose the diet variety of many soda’s if you can’t avoid drinking it for whatever reason–maybe you just have an urge. It is probably a good rule of thumb to stay away from all sodas but, if you are going to drink it you might as well save yourself the calories–drink diet.

Coffee and tea are both low calorie drinks if you don’t add anything to them. Black coffee and regular tea have almost 0 calories. Most of us don’t drink our coffee black or our tea without sugar or something else to make it taste better. I’m not really a tea drinker so I don’t even know what to add to it besides sugar so I just do nothing to it when I do drink it.

I’m a big fan of coffee for many reasons that I’ve alluded to before. When I go to Starbucks, I will add the non-fat or low-fat milk plus one packet of Splenda. It helps retain the flavor of the coffee without turning the drink into liquid candy. There are other coffee places that make the coffee for you–like Dunkin’ Donuts–in which case I still order it the same way. Most places will make it if you ask.

I also happen to consume energy drinks–my second favorite caffeine source. I generally look for the sugar free versions. RedBull, RockStar, Monster, and the rest of them all offer sugar free or low carb varieties. They generally contain anywhere from 5 - 10 calories per serving. Compared to the regular sugar-loaded versions, it is a big savings.

My biggest consumption of empty liquid calories comes from alcohol–it’s probably the same for you. For the most part, I don’t think too much about calories when I’m drinking. I don’t drink all the time but, I do consume a fairly large amount of it if I planned to be drinking. If I am doing the right things the rest of the time, the extra calories from alcohol from partying isn’t going to kill me. The last thing I want to worry about is calories when I’m out having a good time–what a buzz kill.

Alcoholic calories have this special property of being unstorable. Your body cannot store calories from alcohol so it has to use it first before it can burn anything else for energy. So when you are at the bar, club, lounge, or whatever and you are drinking, do something more than just sit or stand around–maybe dance?. You might as well burn the calories on the spot–it’s basically asking for it.

For those who have a couple of drinks a day, studies have shown that it helps prevent heart disease but, you probably shouldn’t overdo it.

The next time you have a craving for fast food–maybe delicious White Castle?–order a diet soda with it. There is nothing at odds about limiting the damage of the “treat”. Consume more water throughout the day to keep your body and muscles hydrated. Avoid as much sugary beverages as you can and you’ll be dropping pounds faster than ever.

By Tommy Leung