Coffee

Does coffee have calories or not? I read some places that it does and then hear that it does not. I love coffee and have been logging up to 100 cals a day for it because I drink quite a bit. I use very little non dairy creamer and spenda. Does anyone out there not log coffee?

Maryann, I always log my coffee if I add anything to it. Those calories can really add up. I used to use 2 sugars and 2 cream. Now I am down to 2 cream and splenda. I am off refined sugar for 40 days. Today is day 4 and it is not as bad as I thought but my coffee isnt as enjoyable:(

Black coffee= Minimal Calories

Stuff you get at starbucks, triple tall carmal mocha latte with whipped cream = substantial calories

Moral of the story, coffee has virtually no calories itself, but when you add stuff to it, it can have quite a bit

 People who dilute their black coffee goodness with cream and sugar and other nasty additives have it coming anyway :-P

Melkor!!  I put a bit of skim milk and one splenda...  Sorry!  I am trying to get down to black, but ugh I am having a time of it.  I started with half and half and lots of sugar... actually I really started with starbucks mocha frapachino calorie extravaganza, so I am doing pretty well..

I log coffee... Because I do put skim in it. 

 Heh, it's all good as long as you count it - and my brother claims I've burnt out my taste buds with years of heavy coffee drinking, so I suppose there's something to be said for a few additives :-P

the creamer is probably more calories than the coffee, so you might want to just log that... plain black coffee is about 5~10cals/cup (depends on how concentrated or how large your cup is). (:

yeah, I do not log coffee because the calories are negligible. But I do log whatever creamer I put in there - usually soy milk and splenda.

I don't log in coffee either. I love coffee but I do and always have drank it black.

The milk fat in creamer cuts the acid in the coffee, so it's actually better for you. I use 1/2 serving of half and half. It's fewer cals than a full serving of the fake stuff and it does the job much better.

 

So it sounds like if I want to drink it black I do not really need to log it. I can do that. :) It's worth not having to log it and being able to drink what I want. Which amounts to six to eight cups a day.

Thanks for all the replies.

Original Post by mkculs:

The milk fat in creamer cuts the acid in the coffee, so it's actually better for you. 

Edgar Cayce said that the proteins in milk combine with the acids to produce an indigestible sludge, so that one should always drink coffee black.  However, cream is better than milk because it has less protein.  Of course, the "creamers" are toxic... 

I did not know the creamers were toxic. But I am switching to black anyway.

lol these days everything is considered "toxic" ... I say, if you like to put cream or milk in your coffee go right ahead... just make sure you leave a little room for it in your calorie log. Whenever I have coffee ( with Vanilla Coffee-mate and splenda) I make sure I take it into account... However, I rarely ever hav coffee because it makes me shaky and I feel like I'm having a tiny heart attack . But now I'm craving coffee so I may get some from Dunkin Donuts tomorrow  (gotta love their Vanilla iced coffee)!!!!! Bring on the shakiness and heart attack

I wonder what's different about the acid in the coffee and the acid in your stomach?

 Oh, yes - your stomach is far, far more acidic than the coffee. I dunno what coffee's supposed to do to milk that your stomach doesn't...

I tried recently to go black because the amount of flavored coffeemate I was using was costing me about 100 cals/cup. This is what I have discovered: I can drink it black if I am desperate for the caffeine, but what I prefer to do now is use a flavored coffee (right now I'm drinking folgers caramel bliss) and add about a tablespoon of sugar to approximately 20 ounces of coffee. Only about 45 calories. In just an 8 ounce cup, I use a teaspoon of sugar - 15 cals. Not too bad!

Yeah, melkor, I've wondered the same thing. I hear people say oh, acidic things are bad, etc. I'd be more worried if you were drinking something that was too basic, I feel that would mess your stomach up more by neutralizing the acid that's supposed to be there. I would like to know the reasoning behind that

Back in college I had my first taste of Coffee from Tim Hortons and was addicted right away...bad side I was ususally getting 2-3 extra large 3x3's.

When I started my lifestyle change - I switched to Black Coffee overnight.  I loved it.  It made my face cringe at first - kinda like how you bite into a lemon - but drinking it now for about 2-3 years I love it.

Since then I have been a sort of coffee conessieur - trying different brands from different countries - always drinking it black.  I can now see the difference between different beans/flavours by tasting it black.

I despise adding anything to my coffee because of that fact alone - and now that I love Black Coffee - it only benefits my calorie counting lifestyle!

Take my cheese, bread, chocolate...whatever you need to do. But try to take away my half and half and you will lose a hand.

Quite simply, 1/2 and 1/2 is the ONLY food stuff I refuse to make modification on. I will use low fat if I can find it (huzzah to Land O Lakes for making it) or even better, sweetened low fat (which I found exactly once and can't remember where, dangit)....but otherwise it's plain 1/2 for flavored coffee (note: if you like cold coffee--I don't call mine iced cos I just stick it in the fridge---it seems that cold often brings out the flavor and kills the need for sugar) OR flavored 1/2 and 1/2 to erase the need for sugar. 45 calories and couple of grams of fat be damned.

I simply bust out the tablespoon measure, make sure I get an exact serving, and log it.

Life is too short for pretend sweeteners and fat free half and half. Or Skim Milk, which I feel to be an abomination to the magic that is coffee ;).

 

10 points to anyone who started singing G Love after the stick it in the fridge sentence.  I know I just doomed myself to having it in my head on repeat all day.

Original Post by melkor:

 People who dilute their black coffee goodness with cream and sugar and other nasty additives have it coming anyway :-P

Ahahaha, this made me so happy. [grin] "Black coffee goodness" indeed. :D

One thing that no one has addressed is the fact that caffeine dehydrates you. Melkor, if you drink 6 to 8 cups per day, make sure you also increase your water intake. Your weight loss will be affected if you are dehydrated. This is for real, it happened to me.

I had another negative side effect of excessive coffee consumption...I was drinking a pot per day which averaged out to be about 8 cups per day.  I developed breast tenderness. I don't mean mild tenderness, I had to bind them with an ace bandage, as well as give up my coffeee    The doctor told me it was caused by excessive caffeine and to stop my coffee. I could not even drink decaf without problems (but why would I want to, it taste horrible!) After about 6 months I could drink coffee again, but no more than 1 cup per day...that only makes me want more! If I drink as much as 2 cups, the tenderness comes back.

All, I'm saying is be careful, I would hate for the same thing to happen to other coffee lovers!!!! Good Luck!

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