Beware of Little Pleasures!

This is just a heads-up for those of you who (like me) have deceived yourselves about certain little pleasures. I drink a lot of coffee on a given day. I?ve read a ton of literature on the subject, so I know most of the pros and cons. Setting the actual quantity of coffee that I drink aside for a moment, I would like to talk about my creamer intake. I know this sounds goofy, but I like a ton of creamer in my coffee. In fact, I like about 3 tablespoons per 12oz cup. When I started dieting, I vowed not to count the creamer because I told myself that it couldn?t possibly make that big of a difference, and further, if such a small and goofy thing did make that much of a difference, then dieting wasn?t worth it. I got to thinking about it one day, however, and I got curious. Let me show all you coffee and creamer drinkers out there who may not have thought about it before exactly what I discovered.

I like 3 tablespoons of creamer per 12oz cup of coffee. My creamer is 10 calories per teaspoon. There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon. That?s 10 x 3 = 30 calories per tablespoon, which amounts to 3 x 30 = 90 calories for 3 tablespoons of creamer. That?s a whopping 90 calories per cup of coffee. If I then multiply that by 10 cups of coffee per day (I have no problem drinking that much and more), then it comes to 900 calories in creamer alone! I consume all most 1000 calories per day that are never counted!

The moral of this story is: Beware of those little pleasures that you have refused to count because you think it doesn?t make much of a difference.

wow! 10 cups a day???

o.O

that seems like a LOT

I have one cup on the occasional saturday... I think I'm ok sticking with my little pleasures...

:-|

Oh yeah -- right there with you...

I am very partial to half and half in my coffee -- I love the way it tastes.  I don't like creamers (a lot of them are sweetened and I HATE sweetened coffee) -- and I was probably putting 3-5 tbsp per 20oz cup and until recently, I was drinking about 3-5 20oz cups per day...

I've stopped the half and half completely, replacing it with unsweetened vanilla almond joy breeze.  It's not the same, but I can handle it.  At the same time I've cut my coffee intake dramatically -- I will always prefer the half and half but the calories (and sat fat) are a killer.

You and I are in the exact same boat!  I always add Half & Half to my coffee and I drink ALOT of coffee everyday!   I also have vowed not to give it up, so I have been trying to cut back on it a little bit everyday.  One thing that has helped me is that I have started to drink a lot more water - especially after each cup of coffee ;)    Give that a try...

I'm a 2 teaspooner but on the days I drink 5 cups (decaf) that's 100 calories.

 I drink my coffee black and bitter, the way God intended it. People who do wrong things to coffee deserve what's coming to them :-P

 Cutting down on the cream is a good idea. But cutting the coffee may not be, since caffeine intake helps promote lipolysis and fat metabolism in your body - drinking coffee means your body relies more on stored fat for energy. Effective dosage is about 300 mg of caffeine a day, more than that doesn't make much of a difference.

 Drip coffee has about 120 mg per cup, espresso about 30 per shot. So three cups of coffee or 12 shots of espresso a day, and you're good :)

I dont count the sugar I put into my tea. Or if I am eating carrots or broccoli without anything else thats a veggie I dont count those either. But I only drink one cup of tea a day. how bad can it be. I think i put three teaspoons of sugar in there might be three tablespoons though or anywhere in between. But I also only eat 1200-1250 cals a day 1400 when i run so those little tea ad sugar and veggies probably kee me from going into starvation mode.

I gave up my Starbucks Mocha's and have lost 10 lbs.  The calories in those are practically a meal.

I worked at changing my coffee habits slowly and steadily.  I was using more cream or about what you're saying, plus sugar but nowhere near as much coffee...24oz a day.  Anyway, I spread weening myself off of cream and sugar and slowly replaced the difference with powder cream.  I now use 2 tablespoons of sugar free french vanilla powder cream in my 24oz mug.  That puts me at 88 calories for my morning coffee.  Whew!

I too hesitated logging what I was guiltily splurging on in the beginning.

I love creamer in my coffee too, but then, I don't drink 10 cups a day (wow!).

I stick to one 12 oz cup a day, and I only add 1 tablespoon of Coffeemate fat free for 25 cals, one teaspoon of brown sugar, and then a packet of equal.  I haven't tried any of the flavored creamers because of the added sugar, but there are sugar free/fat free ones as well.

The only thing I'm brave enough to have at Starbucks is a tall double non fat cinnamon dulce latte - and even then it's only as a special treat. 

you know - this post is frustrating to me...

I never realized how many extra calories I used to get by putting cream and a little sugar in my coffee. I found this site and started to log it. I was shocked and appalled!!! I, too, drink a lot of coffee. I knew I had to do something.

Not drinking coffee is NOT an option for me. I'm addicted. I know that and I've made peace with it :) Soooo... I decided to drink it BLACK. Gross at first, yes. But I kept with it and actually like it much better without anything in it ( I swear I'm not lying :)

So, how much weight did I lose, you ask... nada. Very annoying!

I don't like my coffee black and I used to use cream and then milk and then low fat milk.  I've since switched to soy milk because it has fewer calories.  I figure that I usually drink about 1 cup of milk/soy milk with my 2-3 large cups of coffee.  Trader Joe's carries an unsweetened organic soy milk that is pretty good or I'll get the vanilla soy milk from Costco.

I gave up mochas except for the occasional one a while back because they have way too many calories...I love the vanilla mochas but now when I order one I get the kids' size, it's better for both my waist and my wallet.

I absolutely love coffee! Although I have really cut down on my intake I have also switched from using sugar and creamer to using a packed of sugar free hot chocolate. It gives it a great flavor (I love chocolate) and the calories are rather low! If I feel the need to have two cups of coffee I split the packet between cups.

Hi, my name is Angelic and I am a coffee addict...

I can totally identify with the having to give up Starbucks Mocha's (skim no whip is perfection...). I also identify with avoiding half and half (hopefully soon I will  have half the booty THAT has put on!).  I currently drink 2  20 oz cups of coffee per day.  With UNMEASURED non-dairy creamer and equal/splenda. 

I always estimate my coffee at 40 calories per 20 oz cup; I should probably go about measuring those teaspoons.  IGNORANCE IS BLISS RIGHT NOW THOUGH... I will save that for after vacation! :D

My personal trainer hasn't told me to kick the coffee yet - but she said if the results that I have been seeing start to dwindle...  I will be one sad sister!

Off to have my afternoon cup! :D

Oh yeah, gotta have the coffee! I've had to cut back to two cups in the morning because too much caffeine makes me an unhappy camper.  I now manage with splenda and skim milk instead of sugar and cream, and I think I'm finally okay with that.

My bigger weakness are my soy mochas at Dutch Bros.  260 cals a pop, and some days I used to drink 2! Hard on the budget as well. Those damn kiosks are everywhere, though, and I congratulate myself on my incredible willpower every time I drive BY one and not THROUGH it!

Good old Dutch Brothers - I like their Americano straight up and 0 calories....too bad the closest one is now 2000 miles away.  So is VooDoo donuts, and a good thing too (love their BM - bacon and maple donut - one a day LOL).

Snacks at Whole Foods are my uncounted weakness - I could snarf down several ounces of cheese, one bite brownies, tortilla chips, crackers with jalapeno spread and cookies (one sample at a time) during a visit....I stay away now, but in the past could easily sample 400 uncounted calories.

I don't drink coffee, but I can see where you're coming from.  I try to be extra meticulous, like counting ketchup packets (10 cals each).  When I eat samples like at costco, I try to guess how many calories are in each.

how many cals does a cig have?

I agree gdharris.  I realized the same thing.  I do a lot of other 'little bits', so small I almost didn't count them............then thought how many times a day I do that.  Now everything goes on my log.

Can I put this into perspective for you!? When I was in college and at my heaviest weight I was 160 pounds. I was drinking 5 or 6 coffees from Dunkin Donuts extra light with 5 sugars. When I realized I needed to lose weight I cut the number of cups back to 3 then I realized I didn't need 5 sugars so I cut back to 2 then from extra light to light. I continued this trend until I was able to drink my coffee black. Now I am able to drink 6 cups a day (I'm a HUGE caffine girl) and I'm not joking about this either ... I lost about 20 pounds just cutting back on coffee. I realized if I could do it with coffee I could cut out other things, I did and now I'm down to 120 - struggling with those last 10 ... but trust me coffee CAN be a vbad thing! Good Luck!!

d_supernova, I think a cigarette is probably the only thing you could count legitimately as negative calories.  But personally I don't plan on adding them to my diet - except when it's second-hand smoke at L'Entrecote in Toulouse.