Childhood Obesity Project

Rethink your drink

Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

When it comes to weight loss, there’s no lack of diets promising fast results. There are low-carb diets, high-carb diets, low-fat diets, grapefruit diets, cabbage soup diets, and blood type diets, to name a few. But no matter what diet you may try, to lose weight, you must take in fewer calories than your body uses. Most people try to reduce their calorie intake by focusing on food, but another way to cut calories may be to think about what you drink.

What Do You Drink? It Makes More Difference Than You Think!

Calories in drinks are not hidden (they’re listed right on the Nutrition Facts label), but many people don’t realize just how many calories beverages can contribute to their daily intake. As you can see in the example on the next page, calories from drinks can really add up. But there is good news: you have plenty of options for reducing the number of calories in what you drink.

Occasion

Instead of…

Calories

Try

Calories

Morning coffee shop run

 

Medium café latte (16 ounces) made with whole milk

265

Small café latte (12 ounces) made with fat-free milk

125

Lunchtime combo meal

20-oz. bottle of non diet cola with your lunch

227

Bottle of water or diet soda

0

Afternoon break

Sweetened lemon iced tea from the vending machine (16 ounces)

 

180

Sparkling water with natural lemon flavor (not sweetened)

 

0

 

Dinnertime

A glass of non diet ginger ale with your meal (12 ounces)

124

Water with a slice of lemon or lime, or seltzer water with a splash of 100% fruit juice

0 calories for the water with fruit slice, or about 30 calories for seltzer water with 2 ounces of 100% orange juice

Total beverage calories

 

796

 

125-155

(USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference)

This is an excerpt from a brochure called Rethink your drink from the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention