Here’s a guide to the main drink categories you need to watch when you want to lose weight.
Everyone knows that losing weight means cutting down on your calorie intake and burning more calories through exercise. However, many people fail to consider the impact that their drinks have on their weight loss goals. Drinks contain calories just like food, but some drinks can even hinder your weight loss efforts in other ways!
Here’s a guide to the main drink categories you need to watch while losing weight.
Alcohol
People are good at looking at their diet and knowing what they should and shouldn’t eat, but don’t take time to look at their alcohol consumption in the same way. Alcohol should be accounted for as part of your daily calorie allowance. A couple for drinks a day will soon add up!
They don’t call it a “beer belly” for nothing: research has shown that alcohol can actually reduce the rate at which your body burns calories! It can also lead to some pretty unhealthy cravings, so it’s important to be careful.
Coffee, Tea And Weight Loss
Some other drinks that many of us have every single day include coffee and tea. Are these helping or hindering your weight loss efforts? Studies have shown that any drinks containing caffeine can interfere with weight loss. The stimulation that occurs after you drink caffeine, whether from coffee, tea or even soda, really isn’t good for cravings!
Many people drink green tea for weight loss. There’s been a lot of hype over this drink in recent years, and studies have shown that green tea extract may help you to lose weight. However, drinking too much green tea means you’ll still experience all the negative effects of caffeine listed above.
Juice
Many people switch their unhealthy sodas for juice when trying to lose weight. Their assumption that this is “healthy”. It’s true that fruit juice does come with more health benefits than sugary drinks. You still have to be careful about how much you’re drinking. Make sure you choose juice without added sugar and include the calories within your daily allowance. Try not to have huge amounts at one time, you want to keep your blood sugar levels stable.
Water
When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s vital that you drink enough water. You need water to keep you hydrated while you’re working out. You also want to use it as a way to make losing weight easier. There’s no miracle cure for losing weight, but water comes pretty close.
Did you know that what you think is hunger is often thirst? Drinking more water as standard every day can reduce those cravings that force you to overeat. Drinking a couple of glasses of water before each meal can help fill you up to prevent overeating. This makes it a lot easier to reduce your portion sizes!
The truth is that water is always best. If you’re used to drinking coffee, sugary drinks, alcohol and soda, then gradually replacing them with water will help your weight loss efforts, even if you do nothing else!