#LIBFitness guest expert Anthony Bevilacqua explains the diabolical tendencies of a beverage many of us consume 3 times per day (but who’s counting?) Read on coffee lovers..
I have uncovered a silent but deadly killer of most peoples diets. In fact, you might be consuming it every single day.
Coffee.
Now before your head spins off and you come after me with a weapon…hear me out…its not the coffee itself. In fact, coffee possesses a ton of great benefits for overall health.
I was having a phone consultation with one of my clients yesterday (I now offer phone consultations find out more here) and we were trying to uncover why he was not dropping anymore fat. He is at a “sticking point” right now, so we are really trying to narrow it down. I asked him if he was following what I had given him to the “T” and he said yes. Ok, so I know he was eating healthy, so I told him to list a typical day of eating and drinking. My client replied, “Well I usually get up and have a cup of decaf coffee with some creamer and 3-4 packets of sugar.”
BOOM. I proceeded to ask him how many times a day he has coffee…”3-4 decaf cups a day”. ”Are you having creamer and sugar in each one”…”Of course”. Let’s do the math:
1 packet of sugar is 20 calories and 5g of carbohydrates
13ml of creamer is 1.5 fat, 5g of carbs and 30 calories
But hes using lets say average of 3 packets of sugar and for argument sake 1 serving of creamer
Sugar: 60 Calories, 15g of carbs
Creamer: 30 calories: 1.5 fat, 5 carbs
Total: 90 calories, 1.5g of fat, 20g of carbs, 3 times to 4 times per day.
If he drank 4 cups per day :360 calories, 6g fat, 80g carbs
If he did this 5 days per week: 1,800 calories, 30g of fat, 400g of carbs
Just a reminder there is 3,500 calories in one pound of fat.
That’s a lot of wasted calories for me! I am not saying you should give up your coffee and by all means, if you want to fit sugar and creamer into your daily calories, be my guest. Just remember that sugar and milk are not FREE foods! They contain calories and I always say: The challenge is Calories in v. Calories out.
What did my client decide to do? Instead of delving further into “diet sabotage”, he agreed to drink coffee black and save those unwanted calories. For those who can’t tolerate black coffee, reduce the sugar serving to a single packet – or Splenda with skim milk.
Let go of the excess sweet stuff and what do we have? BOOM! Another happy customer.
