A lot of people drink more soft drinks than water. That means they are getting a lot of calories but not much nutrition. Drinking calorie-loaded beverages is one sure recipe for gaining weight. Switch to water – it is the slender person’s drink of choice.
What are you drinking? Sometimes it’s eye-popping to find out. Listed on the next page are some popular beverages. How many of each do you drink on a typical day? Then, for each type beverage, multiply the number consumed by the number of calories. Write this in the Total Calories column. When you’re done, add all the totals to get your grand total.
It takes 3,500 excess calories to make a pound of fat. Assuming you eat enough to maintain your weight, how many days would it take you to drink on an extra pound? You can calculate this by dividing 3,500 by the number of calories you get from beverages each day. For example, if you drank a beer and two coffees, the calculation would be:
Total calories for a beer and two coffees = 300
Therefore, 3,500 / 300 = 11.6 days
In other words, it would take just under 12 days to add an extra pound of fat. At that rate you could gain 30 pounds a year just from what you drink! Now it’s your turn. Take your Grand Total from the previous exercise and divide it into 3,500 to see how long it takes you to drink an extra pound’s worth of calories. Fill in the blanks below:
Number of days to drink 3,500 calories 3,500 / calories you drink _______ = ______ days
If you are serious about controlling your weight, it would be wise to eliminate those sneaky liquid calories. Stop the sodas, lose the liquor, and shelve the shakes. Water is what your body needs and craves.
Cut calories by drinking more water and fewer high-calories beverages. If you don’t like the taste of tap water, add a twist of lemon or buy bottled water. The more water you drink, the less likely you are to reach for other beverages. That alone will cut the calories and help stabilize your weight.
