For some folks, losing weight can feel super hard, even when they watch what they eat. It’s not just about the one hour you spend working out at the gym – it’s also about what you eat the rest of the day! Here’s the thing – most of the times we forget to keep track of the calories we drink or what we can call “liquid calories.” As we all know, for those trying to lose weight, every calorie counts! So, it’s important to track liquid calories allong with solid food calories to get a correct picture of your total daily intake to achieve your weight loss goals. But as we head into summer, we depend on soft drinks, colas, fruit juices, and other sweetened and chilled beverages to quench our thirst, and hence it becomes important to keep track of liquid calories. So, here are 5 Effective Ways To Cut Liquid Calories and Boost Weight Loss.
Why It’s Important To Count Liquid Calories While Trying To Lose Weight?
1. Hidden Calories: Many packaged beverages that we sip on may contain a lot of calories because they have a lot of added sugar in them. These calories can add up at the end of the day, and increase your overall calorie intake significantly if you are sipping on quite a few number of them through the day.
2. The Calories in Liquids Do Not Satiate: Unlike solid foods, liquid calories don’t make you feel as full or satisfied, so you would have to eat solid food to feel full. This can lead to consuming more calories overall because you don’t feel like you’ve eaten as much, potentially leading to overeating. So, in addition to the calories from the solid food, you would have to burn up the calories from liquids that did nothing for you.
3. They Lack Nutrients: Most beverages can not only be calorie dense, they may lack nutrients.
5 Effective Ways To Cut Liquid Calories and Boost Weight Loss:
1. Completely Avoid Packaged Fruit Juices:
Drinking fruit juices, even the fresh ones, can give you a quick boost of natural sugars, but too much can cause your blood sugar to shoot up fast. When fruits are turned into juice, the fiber gets left behind, so you’re left with just the sugary part. This sugar goes straight into your blood, and if you’ve already had enough sugar, it can end up being stored as fat. Plus, juices have more calories than whole fruits and don’t make you feel as full, so you would have to eat solid food to feel full. Most importantly, most packaged fruit juices are more of “glorified sugar shots” with concentrated sugar and with a high calorie count. Without fiber content, these juices will leave you hungry within a short period of time, and you may end up having more calories to curb hunger pangs. Comparatively, eating whole fruits is a better choice because they have fiber that fills you up and keeps you satisfied for longer, without all the extra sugar. Also read: “Why Should We Stop Having Packaged Fruit Juices?”
2. Avoid Sweetened Beverages, Even Sports Drink!
Lots of drinks, especially sugary ones like soda, fruit juices, and fancy coffee drinks, have loads of calories in them. Even though they might taste good, those calories can really pile up fast, and you might not even notice how much you’re drinking. Just having a few of these drinks every day can add a bunch of extra calories to what you are eating through your regular meals, which can make it harder to lose weight. So, it’s a good idea to avoid sweetened beverages (even sports drink), and switch to those without any added sugar. That way, you can still enjoy your drinks without all the extra calories.
3. Sip On Plain Water:
Water is the elixir of life! Drinking enough water is important to stay healthy and to lose weight as well. Here’s why – it’s zero-calorie drink! Also, if you don’t drink enough water, like at least 8 glasses a day, you might feel hungry all the time because sometimes our body confuses thirst with hunger, so instead of grabbing a glass of water, we might snack on chips and other calorie-dense snacks which adds a bunch of extra calories we don’t need. Water can also help you feel full and it has zero calories, which means it won’t make you gain weight. Plus, it helps your body get rid of toxins and soak up all the good nutrients from food.
4. Switch to Low-Calorie Liquid Beverages:
Switching to low-calorie liquid beverages like coconut water, green tea, coffee, and aloe vera juice can aid in weight loss because they contain fewer calories compared to sugary drinks. These liquids help quench thirst and provide hydration without adding extra calories, making it easier to stay within daily calorie goals. Additionally, green tea and black coffee contain compounds that may boost metabolism and promote fat burning. Also read: “8 Foods That Are Low Calorie But Not Healthy.”
5. Avoid Sugar in Tea/Coffee:
Skipping added sugar in tea and coffee is the smartest and most easiest strategy to cut down on extra calories, especially since most of us indulge in multiple cups of tea/coffee a day, right from the moment we wake for kickstarting the day to get an energy boost in the evening, or while out socializing with friends, we simply do not keep a count of the cups and calories. So, skipping sugar in these cups can help cut out significant calories and motor up our weight loss journey as well.
Most importantly, if you are trying to lose weight, we are here to help! The plans on the Rati Beauty diet include only healthy and nutritious food that get you into a calorie deficit from where fat burning becomes easy. Download the Rati Beauty app for more details.
Why Should We Stop Having Packaged Fruit Juices?
8 Foods That Are Low Calorie But Not Healthy
