At Goal
Coffee and Calories
by Terry Simpson, MD, FACS
Is that latte from Starbucks keeping you from your goal? It just might be! A recent study noted that 21 percent of the calories consumed by Americans came from liquids. There is no weight loss surgery in the world that can compete with liquid calories. Whether you have the RNY, the Lap-band, the DS or some other operation, liquid calories are quickly absorbed and often stored as fat. Consider coffee—a perennial favorite that has become even more popular thanks to the expansion of Starbucks and other coffee chains. A Venti Iced Caffè Latte from Starbucks is 210 calories. Substituting nonfat milk brings the calories down to 130. Plain black coffee of the same size is just 15 calories. Did you ever wonder what you have to do to burn the 115 calories the “latte? added to your coffee? Well, a 200-pound individual would have to walk one mile at 4 miles an hour—a mile in 15 minutes—which is a pretty good clip.
So, do you really need all the extra stuff in the coffee, or are you going to walk that mile in 15 minutes to make up for it? If you don’t, the added calories from a daily latte can mean a weight gain of 12 to 13 pounds in a year. Don’t get me wrong… we Norwegians have an extra blood type: A, B, AB, O and C—for coffee, so I have no problem with our patients drinking coffee after surgery. But, unless you are going to put in the extra exercise, that coffee should be black!
Weight loss through surgery is difficult, but it is also the start of a new and healthy lifestyle—a tool to help you lose weight. If you wish to keep the weight off, a few things have to change, and one critical change is becoming aware of all of the calories you consume. In this case, making a simple change from one beverage to another can save you pounds over the course of a year.
Excess weight often comes from small unhealthy changes over a long period of time. Likewise, your success over time will depend on small healthy choices, which may mean going against the cultural flow. Beverages are coming in increasingly larger portion sizes—check any mini-market and you will see larger and larger cups. However, if you want to get to goal and stay there, consider the liquids you drink—how much of them you are consuming and how many calories they include. The best and easiest beverages are the ones have few or no calories, such as my favorite—water!
Terry Simpson, MD, FACS is a weight loss surgeon in Phoenix and has authored several books. For more information visit www.drsimpson.net.
Click here for the PDF version of this article from its appearance in OH Magazine
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