7 Drinks That Can Ruin Your Diet

What you put in your cup may matter more than what you put on your plate if you are trying to lose weight.  Many dieters eat a healthy diet and then consume more than a day's worth of calories in liquid form. These seven drinks are common offenders.  Make sure they don't derail your diet.

Sports Drinks

One of the biggest weight loss workout mistakes is to drink a high calorie sports drink to rehydrate during or after your exercise session. Depending on the drink you choose, you may even end up consuming more calories than you burn during the workout. It’s true that some athletes may need specialized drinks to perform better, but for most of us, water is the best option.

 

Smoothies

Weight loss smoothies can be a great meal replacement option if you are busy and don’t have time to cook. But it’s also easy to over-indulge when you're throwing multiple ingredients into the blender. Make sure you measure your ingredients before adding them and learn to avoid other common mistakes that can turn your smoothie into a diet disaster.

Soda Pop
If you drink soda every day, you may be consuming over 200,000 extra calories every year and spending hundreds of dollars on your drinks. Have you every tallied the total cost of your habit? Have you ever thought about how much weight you could lose if you just changed the way you drink? It might be worth looking at if you are trying to lose weight. Dropping the soda habit is one of the easiest ways to decrease your total calorie count each day. 

Diet Soda
If you are a regular soda drinker, switching to a diet version of your beverage might seem like the best option. And it might be, in the short run. But some recent studies have suggested that when we drink beverages that are artificially sweetened, we are more likely to eat more and make poor food choices. This might be due to the way we adapt to artificial sweeteners, or it might be because we rationalize that our food choice doesn't matter if we drink a no-calorie beverage. Either way, your diet soda may not be a guilt-free solution.

 Coffee
Coffee, like soda pop, is a common habit that is hard to break. But coffee lovers don’t need to panic. You don't have to give up your coffee habit completely. You just need to make better choices.

• If you make coffee at home, don’t add creamer. It’s full of fat, and most of us don’t add the right amount, anyway. And if you think fat-free creamer is better, think again. Some of those products are common sources of hidden fat.


• If you visit a coffee house, like Starbucks, be sure you order one of their low- calorie coffee drinks. A nonfat cappuccino won't ruin your diet, but several other options on the menu can contain hundreds of calories 

Booze
Best way to gain weight? Drink lots of booze. Easiest way to lose weight?  Limit your alcohol intake.  Use time-tested strategies to limit your alcohol consumption to slim down.  Quick tip: It’s a good idea to limit alcohol anyway, but also limit where you drink. If you are on a diet, try to avoid consuming more than one drink at parties and happy hours.

Juice Drinks
Juicing for weight loss can backfire for a variety of reasons.  In fact, some juice drinks are loaded with sugar and stripped of the nutrients that will help you lose weight.  Don't be fooled by the fads and trends.  If you are juicing to lose weight, be sure that your drink adds value to your diet, not just calories.  

 Water - The Best Drink Solution
Water doesn't sound like an exciting drink option, but if you hydrate with water, you’ll put yourself in a good position to get weight loss results. Yes, it sounds boring, but there are ways to make water taste better so that it becomes your beverage of choice. And, just remember that if you replace higher calorie drinks with water, you can decrease your daily calorie count and lose weight without ever changing the food that you eat.

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