I no longer heart Starbucks. Yeah, I said it.

So today before my daughter's dance class, I dashed into Starbucks for a nice little warm-me-up drink. 

Settled on white hot chocolate, and virtuously made it a tall (in Starbucksland that's a small).

Got home, went to log it in CC, and guess what?

460 CALORIES

WHAT DO THEY PUT IN IT???

I'm flabbergasted.  And the biggest FORMER Starbucks nut on the planet.  I'm just going to avoid the place completely from now on and make my own Swiss Miss.

Maggie

Yeah it totally sucks how many calories are in a Starbuck's drink. They do offer lighter versions though you just have to specially order it a certain way. I always make sure if it's available if I am going to stop in some where I'll go to their site to read their nutritional info. before I go there so I know what I'm getting myself into.

Ah, it was just one day. Did you at least enjoy the drink? If so, then move on and relax. :)

the answer to whats in it is 3 pumps of white mocha base

steamed milk

and topped with whipped cream

Hi Bliss! Cool website and nice bio. I was just in NYC where everyone is thin and in Starbucks they have colories listed next to all foods. Do I take that pumpkin scone of 650 calories or the crumb cake of 150 calories. I wish all restaurants and deli like places had that. Made a difference what I ordered that night.

Yeah, those fancy drinks are insane. ^Our Starbucks (in Seattle) have nutritional pamphlets. I wish it were mandatory for everyplace to have nutritional content listed.

Also, not everyone is skinny in NYC. If you think people are skinny there, go to LA. There's a good 10lb difference between East Coast skinny and West Coast skinny. Pretty crazy.

Being from Seattle I hate to admit I even go to Starbucks but my husband gets giftcards at work all the time. I like skinny lattes w/ sugar free vanilla or a nonfat steamer w/ s/f cinnamon dolce. I went on a frappucino light chip kick this summer, but now it's too cold!

edit: I also think they should offer the mini top pot doughnuts for individual purchase instead of just the large ones. I love me some top pot! I think it's incredible they're shipping them everywhere!

Ah starbucks and their foo foo "coffee".  I frequently study in Barns and Nobles which has starbucks, it always amazes me when people get those huge frapuchinos and lattes with mandatory whip cream. I idly wonder if they realize just how many calories are in those things. I stick with their green tea, or a medium Mocha frapucino light once in a blue moon. :)

UD

Generally speaking, I order non-fat/skim no-whip white mocha... even that has I think 390 calories in the grande.  Today I wanted to avoid the caffeine since it was 4pm, but rather than just go decaf I went for the hot choc.  I guess I was thinking of my swiss miss 160 cal powder and water, instead of whole milk plus syrup plus whip. 

All in all, more my fault than Starbucks' I guess... but still, empty calories I'm better off without except as an occasional treat! 

'mrandrzejak' thanks for the compliment! I too wish that all food establishments were required by law to provide full nutrition info, with take-home versions so I can log it all on CC.  lol

Hey, it doesn't have to be so bad!! I order a skinny tall hazelnut or cinnamon dolce latte and it's only 90 calories.  Worth it, I think.

It's the white chocolate! It's my favorite flavoring, but sooo high in calories!!

Today I got a tall salted caramel hot chocolate with a shot of espresso, non-fat milk and light whipped cream... Even still, my jaw dropped when I realized I was ingesting 460 calories as well just with that stupid little drink. If I get it again, it'll be a short, no whip and once every two weeks. I wish it weren't so cold outside or I'd get my regular summer Starbucks drink, a venti green tea with no sweetner...

That said, I generally try to avoid Starbucks and head to local coffee shops instead, but the salted caramel hot chocolate is so good...

My Starbuck's combo is a non-fat latte and a spinach feta wrap.

Haha, the hot chocolates are pretty amazingly high cal, aren't they?  I'm a Starbucks addict, I even keep the nutritional pamphlet in my purse. 8)  Avoid the white chocolate bases, they're the killers.

I never go there and now I'm glad I didn't get hooked. My sister brought me one once and it was good. My DIL goes all the time. Think of the money you'll save! I just do reg. coffee and worry cause I have to have some sugar in it. Hope you find something else to replace your caffine.

Thanks, everyone for the info. on Starbuck's! I was very disappointed to find so many calories in my favs!. I did some research on their website and found the skinny lattes. Tall for 90 calories. Don't really care for it, so who knows how much longer I will give them my business. My sig. other and I go there quite often, but, he gets the espresso most of the time.

I asked for a nonfat black tea latte, and the guy said I wanted a Chai tea latte.  I told him I dislike sweet drinks, and he said not to worry.  I was one of the worst drinks I ever had there.  You mean to tell me they can't figure out how to put warmed milk in a black tea without a recipe.  I know better than to order a speciality drink there now.

The beauty of Starbucks is that everything is so customizable! So use that to your advantage and get things like skinny lattes. I think the skinny mocha latte is my favorite. It's basically like hot chocolate. You have to ask for nonfat/skim milk when you order things with milk. 

However, it's still true that for a beverage most Sbux drinks are too high in empty calories. Their Passion Tea Lemonade is a great alternative to the hot drinks. It is amazingly good, I always ask for it unsweetened because I don't like sweet teas, but this drink unsweetened is still very good even if you prefer it sweet, because of the lemonade!  

The venti skinny vanilla latte is less than 200 cals. I think it was 160. The smaller ones are under 100 cals. It's my one vice:)

i've been reading about burning calories, of course....i've learned that if you're going to drink coffee....you're better off drinking black coffee...no milk...no sugar.

also, i just got back from Buenos Aires, Argentina and I was introducted to Yerba Mate. I've reading about the health benefits of this tea. So in addition to Green Tea, now i have another alternative to black coffee to give you that boost. At the sametime, get the additional calorie burn effect from drinking these warm beverages.

I'm a fan of Starbucks, but with the economy and ultra high calorie effect, it's time to make some adjustments.

Thx.

Aldo

I just found this blog. I love Starbucks and found that I replaced breakfast alot there. Since I love the miollorca sweet bread I try to avoid that place as well.  I do well with the drinks, I get a triple grande sugar free french vanilla soy latte. I thought after reading these messages that I may be still being bad so I went to the nutritional guidelines and it looks as though this combo may still be light. The sugar free syrups are 0 calories and they taste awesome!

Original Post by pchart:

I asked for a nonfat black tea latte, and the guy said I wanted a Chai tea latte.  I told him I dislike sweet drinks, and he said not to worry.  I was one of the worst drinks I ever had there.  You mean to tell me they can't figure out how to put warmed milk in a black tea without a recipe.  I know better than to order a speciality drink there now.

 You have order a "tea misto" instead... steeped tea with steamed milk.

I love Starbucks - but when I lost weight for my wedding 3 years ago, all I needed to do was drop my daily grande soy chai latte from my diet to lose 8 pounds!

The calories do add up, but if you're familiar with what's in what drink, you can enjoy Starbucks on a fairly regular basis (two or three times weekly) and still lose or maintain weight.  Many Starbucks (lots of them here in NYC, as mentioned above) have calorie counts right on the menu.  If not, there is a nutritional information packet right there at the "condiment" table, and they also post everything on the web. 

My suggestions for "better" Starbucks choices:

Skinny vanilla or cinammon dolce latte (wish they made more sugar free syrups - Starbucks, are you listening?) at 90 cal for a tall.  Light mocha, tall 130 calories.  Chai latte w/skim is also in the low 100's; can't remember exactly what. Coffee Frappucinno lights are only 90; light mocha frapppucino, 130.  But you've got to get "tall" (which is still pretty big) and no whipped cream!

In addition, in many Starbucks now, you can add a scoop of Whey protein to your drink, adding about 90 calories (it may be less, I can't remember) but making it a bonifide mini-meal, not just an indulgence.   Healthy snacking is a part of my regimen, so on cold winters days, that's how I justify my Starbucks fix.

And in the summer, I discovered their new Vivanno's - a healthy smoothie (loved the chocolate/banana version with an extra espresso shot after a long bike ride - but asked them to make it with skim.  Under 200 calories in the non-fat version - even though it's more watery than some people might like.)

And on the thin New Yorker's question - I lived in LA 20 years and am now back in NY for 3.  New Yorkers are thin, not because we don't eat, but because we WALK EVERYWHERE!  I find it so much easier to stay thin here - I get an extra hour of exercise MINIMUM every day, on top of the gym.   In LA, fitness and ridiculously skeletal body images for women are part of the culture.  The standard/competition is fierce (you will also see much more obvious plastic surgery.)  However, "average" people with full time jobs aren't always able to live up to the ideal, because we drive to work and home (often LONG distances).  You WILL see thousands upon thousands of gorgeous, thin people in LA - but very often they are out of work actors who spend all day (literally) in the gym.