Lose liquid calories
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Think about your beverages – because what's in your cup can make or break your diet.
A few wrong drink choices can trickle in more than 1,000 calories per day. Just eight ounces of orange juice contains 100 calories, a large skim milk caramel coffee drink has 380 calories, a 16-ounce soda has 200 calories, and a medium fruit smoothie is worth 340 calories. Shaving these extra daily drink calories can lead to almost a two-pound weight loss a week.
Though fluid needs vary from person to person, the Institute of Medicine recommends that women drink about nine glasses (72 ounces total) of fluid a day, and men about 12 1/2 glasses (100 ounces total).
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Choose beverages that have 15 calories or less per serving, such as unsweetened tea (herbal, black or green), coffee, and club soda (with a twist of lemon, lime or orange). While diet sodas are better than their high-calorie counterparts, you should drink them only occasionally because they might work against you if you are trying to lose weight: It turns out that the more diet soda you drink, the more likely you are to gain weight, according to research presented at this year's American Diabetes Association's annual meeting.
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Experts suspect that many diet-soda drinkers mistakenly think the low-calorie drink significantly lowers the overall calorie content of a high-calorie meal.
Of course, nothing beats water when it comes to quenching thirst and keeping you hydrated, but if you need something with a little flavor, try these slimming sippers:
Instead of sweetened iced tea, try lemon-lime seltzer or plain seltzer with a squeeze of lemon or lime.
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Instead of fruity drinks, try mixing in flavor packets in 16 ounces of water.
Instead of cola, try mixing 8 ounces of a (seasoned) tea with eight ounces of seltzer and one teaspoon honey.