Counting calories in tea, coffee, etc.

My teabags all claim to have 0-calories, but I know it's more like 2 (anything under 5 can legally be reported as 0 on the label).  As far as I know it's the same with coffee.  Even Splenda has calories (I know, I know...bad!  But I just canNOT get into Stevia, and sugar is out of the question) - 2 per teaspoon.

Do you count this stuff as part of your daily intake, or do you let it slide?  I'm really going back and forth.  I tend to be a bit obsessive, so maybe this whole post just seems rediculous to "normal" people...but I really can't decide if I should count this stuff or not

I always log my coffee even though I drink it black.  I used to log my tea as well but decided to stop.

I have a tagged item called "daily" that is 25 calories to cover my morning 16 ounces of coffee, Splenda, gum, vitamins, etc. Things that I wouldn't normally count, but since I eat a good number of these "zero cal" foods I figure I should at least count something.

that is a good idea!

i log coffee usually but not always, also do log multivitamin and chewing gum (every time)

useless.

how much could an "extra" 20-30 calories of zero calorie foods effect you at the end of the day? if anything the caffiene in the coffee/green tea would increse your metabolism enough to burn those miniscule calories...

or just do a couple pushups/situps after you injest them to 'cancel' things out..

don't log them, because then you might get obsessive and soon be logging dust particles, the smell of the bakery, the spiders you may have swallowed in the night.. etc.

point is, normal people don't drive themselves crazy for this, and no one has ever gained weight from chewing an extra peice of gum a day...

if you do consume a lot of zero calorie things, an extra 20-40cals added to your total intake might be a good idea.. although i don't it would be very good to have that much artificial stuff in your body each day 

I drink about 5 or more cups of tea a day, with milk.  Never counted it, never will.  Don't care to.  I am losing weight at a 1.5 - 2 pounds a week.  

I rarely log low calorie ("calorie free") beverages in my CC log, I do however log condiments like mustards, horshradish, etc just to keep their use in tow.

I've never tagged my daily caffeine-dose, but in retrospect maybe I should have apparently a Starbucks grande caffé americano has around 15-20 calories instead of the 0-2 I thought. Not that it will tip the scales either way, but it goes to show that you never know.

The odd cup of black tea/coffee doesn't really make a difference. 4 or 5 cups with milk soon add up.

But do you log every tiny bit of exercise? If you are going to log the 3? 4? 5? whatever? cals in that cup of black tea, the you need to think about logging the calories expended in making it.

I log all of my intake. I want to be totally real with myself, as I use this not only as a tool for weight loss, but to keep myself in check.

Original Post by discoqueenx3:

oooo i def do not log gum. i figure you burn the calories when you chew it long enough right?? will it really make that big of a difference?

of course it does not make a difference. the thing is, it helps some people be responsible and accountable for all the small things, from coffee to small work tasks, and prevents slacking

I am taking a nutritionlist class on base. They said, what ever goes into your mouth you should log in. That way, you see everything you have eaten during the day. 

Wendy In Alaska

Original Post by wendysuerosko:

I am taking a nutritionlist class on base. They said, what ever goes into your mouth you should log in. That way, you see everything you have eaten during the day.

Wendy In Alaska

...and when they say 'everything,' they mean EVERYTHING... heh, you should have seen some of the things we used to see people searching for on here... (you could see them on the main page of the site before they, um, redacted some words)  

But seriously, folks, I try to log everything but if a piece of gum slips by, it's no biggie. But if you're like some of the people I see on here asking about whether logging half a cup of 'no-calorie' butter spray as '0' is 'right' or not... well, the FDA and their 'rounding' rule is causing a lot of wishful thinking.

Remember... TANSTAAFL! Conservation of energy, the first law of thermodynamics, and all...

But still, some things aren't going to make or break us if we make sure to have a nice calorie deficit cushion at the end of the day. I aim for 500-1000, 750 on average.

Original Post by skwinkle:

I have a tagged item called "daily" that is 25 calories to cover my morning 16 ounces of coffee, Splenda, gum, vitamins, etc. Things that I wouldn't normally count, but since I eat a good number of these "zero cal" foods I figure I should at least count something.

 that's actually such an awesome idea :)

I don't keep up with the little onesies and twosies.  But, I try to keep 50 calories under my daily goal of 1400 cal/day to compensate for the tiny things that aren't logged.  Right now, I come in between 1325 and 1350 almost every day (without even trying, it's that consistent) and have had no issues at all being hungry except for when I first wake up in the morning.  I don't even log sugar-free jello.  It's 20 calories for the whole box (small box), and I never eat more than 1/2 box (1 cup) in a day.   

However, 10 extra calories per day over the course of a year is 1 pound.