Repeat Offenders

Hello, there!

Welcome back, and thanks again for joining me on your journey to lose weight.

Maybe you’ve never been a calorie counter. That’s okay — there’s much more to losing weight than monitoring your calorie intake. But I’ll bet that if you did keep track of your calories for an entire week, you’d be surprised by one thing:

How many times so-called “Repeat Offender” creep into your diet, and how many extra calories they add to your overall total!

What do I mean by repeat offenders? I mean those seemingly innocent foods that you eat day-in and day-out without giving it a second thought. Oftentimes, these repeat offenders have a high calorie load, even though you might think that they don’t.

Sneaky Repeat Offender

Frozen Yogurt: Do you think that frozen yogurt is a healthy choice for dessert? Think again. While most frozen yogurt is low-fat or non-fat, those calories certainly add up. Each ounce of plain frozen yogurt has about 30 to 35 calories, so think about how much an 8-ounce, 10-ounce, or 16-ounce cup might be (240-560 calories to be exact). Instead of a dessert of frozen yogurt, try my recipe for Brown Sugar Ice Cream…

Coffee: Many of us need coffee to get going in the morning, and a cup or two of plain, black coffee is a low-calorie choice for our morning drink. But start adding flavored creams, milk, sugar and other additions and toppings, and your low-calorie cup could add up to hundreds of additional calories. Take five minutes to think about what you drink on a daily basis. If it’s soda, sweetened coffee, diet drinks, or juices — consider changing your drinks to unsweetened tea, unsweetened coffee, and water. It may seem extreme at first, but my cousin did this and lost 30 pounds in 6 months. You’ll get used to drinking beverage without sweetener and thus chop calories quickly. If you use artificial sweetener, stop — because they can set you up for hunger pangs that lead to unhealthy snacking and excess calories.

Wine: Who doesn’t love to unwind after a long day with a nice glass of wine? I know that I sure do! But be careful — a glass of wine can range from 110-300 calories. Have a glass or two of wine each night, and you could be drinking up more than 4,000 additional calories each week. Since wine doesn’t really fill you up, I recommend skimming back until you reach your target weight or counting wine as an occasional treat. Here’s a little known fact: wine and other alcoholic beverages will make your blood sugar drop, which may bring on wicked cravings for sweets the following day. So lighten up your wine intake by making a spritzer with half white wine and half sparkling water or just enjoy on weekends.

Energy Bars: Energy bars can be great for a quick snack, but be sure to eat them sparingly. With a calorie count upwards of 300 for many bars, you would be much better off snacking on fresh fruit (rich in fiber!), or granola or breakfast bars that are mixed with whole grains.

Thanks again for joining me on your journey to a healthier life!

Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about my 200-calorie fix program — it’s a great healthy eating program that can help anyone lose weight!