Coffee, or more accurately...

squeaker87
squeaker87 Posts: 82 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Coffee creamer. That’s my problem. Delicious, warm coffee with a butt load of coconut creme liquid creamer in it. Like 210 calories worth.

Any tips on dropping the habit? Should I scale it back and wean myself off of creamer? Should I just switch to tea?

I recently re-evaluated my goals and the switch to 1230 is gonna make it difficult to splurge on drinking my calories.

Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • cdudley628
    cdudley628 Posts: 547 Member
    Try buying coconut flavored coffee and only adding a little creamer. Or you can try to completely stop using creamer, that's really your choice.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    Scale back. Make sure you're measuring how much you're using and gradually decrease over time.

    What kind of coffee do you buy? I've found buying a good flavored coffee means I just need a splash of half & half and then it's delightful.

    I do like a creamy coffee drink sometimes, but that's something I get 1-2 times per month these days.

    ~Lyssa
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    I use plain half and half. 2 tbsps is 40cals.
  • nexangelus
    nexangelus Posts: 2,080 Member
    Seems a few have this creamer thing going on, never used it. I either use milk or sometimes cream...but not loads and no sugar...black coffee? It is pretty tasty and still flavours that water...
  • jeannettemancini
    jeannettemancini Posts: 58 Member
    I was literally coming on here to ask the same thing. I would give up a meal to get my coffee and creamer. Yes I do that’s a bad thing to do.

    I really think the only solution to this is to wean myself off. As it is now getting warmer that was the time
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    I use low fat milk and it doesn't add that many calories. For a little more flavor and sweetness, low fat chocolate milk would be a nice treat and much less calories that what you are currently using.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Whole milk or half and half and coconut flavored stevia drops?
  • aliblain
    aliblain Posts: 175 Member
    What is creamer? Not sure we do this in the uk. I like a lot of milk in my coffee- I allow myself one latte at breakfast and then the rest of the day I take a dash of milk instead.
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
    I’ve never seen creamer either, but it’s mentioned often on these threads. Must be a US thing?
    Can you cut back slowly? Use less of it and substitute with low-fat milk?
    I have 2 instant coffees each morn with 1/2tsp sugar and a splash of low-fat milk. 58cal I think for both.
  • ACanadian22
    ACanadian22 Posts: 377 Member
    DeadliftsAndSprinkles wrote: »
    Does a lower-calorie coffee creamer exist...? You could try that. Otherwise you could just cut it back a bit or make other small changes throughout your day to allow for some wiggle room.

    Yes. Walden farms has many different 0 calorie creamers
  • ACanadian22
    ACanadian22 Posts: 377 Member
    edited April 2018
    aliblain wrote: »
    What is creamer? Not sure we do this in the uk. I like a lot of milk in my coffee- I allow myself one latte at breakfast and then the rest of the day I take a dash of milk instead.

    It is the fatty part of the milk that they separate and it is very thick and creamy
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Creamer is just a product specifically made to lighten coffee. Dairy or non-dairy, powder or liquid, flavored or plain, it's all called creamer.
  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
    I'd personally find a lower calorie alternative. Maybe sugar free coconut syrup or Stevia? Or find a regular version with lower calories. I find coconut milk doesn't give me the same effect (and I love me some coconut, so I know how ya feel!)
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Almond milk plus flavored extracts.
  • slimgirljo15
    slimgirljo15 Posts: 269,456 Member
    Idk what creamer is but I just use light milk.. (not skim) still tastes ok without the cals of whole milk or the wateriness of skim
  • TheLovelyMrsKhan
    TheLovelyMrsKhan Posts: 8 Member
    Hi— I was in the same situation as you! I HAD to have my Reese’s creamer and dude, I drink a lot of coffee- so I was getting an extra 300-500 calories a day— from my coffee alone!! That’s like a meal!! No wonder I saw no change when I began eating healthier LOL. Anyways, now I’ve cut down to about 4-6 cups per day... and I’m still struggling a bit myself.. I can’t drink black coffee..I’ve been using powder coffee creamer (10 calories per tsp,I think) and then I cut back on the huge 2 TBS I was using.. it’s hard man.. I’ve read a lot of articles where people say “black is best” or if you need creamer, people use butter (IKR?!) But it must be from grass fed cows etc ..

    If I were you, just try to cut back gradually, go to a non dairy creamer if you can— && speaking of dairy — I noticed a big change when I cut out all dairy except for Greek yogurt / occasionally eating cheese, I was racking up a lot of extra calories with my oatmeal via cows milk.. now I just use Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk— it takes an adjustment, but i feel so
    Much better now & have lost almost 20LBS in a little over a month- (I have been using MY NET DIARY/8FIT APPS) but I have been learning about MACROS, and stumbled upon this one.. Anyways - hope this helps and keep up the work, it is daunting sometimes and frustrating BUT- seeing results is totally worth it!
  • Slwk5
    Slwk5 Posts: 3 Member
    I used to be a latte girl. Had to quit cold turkey. Now any creamer tasted gross. Just do it.
  • Archaeologicals
    Archaeologicals Posts: 21 Member
    I drink either a coffee with 30mL (100cal) of heavy whipping cream or a 16 oz soy latte (170cal) every morning. I wasn’t willing to give it up so instead I drink my morning calories in lieu of eating them most of the time. Choices, choices.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    You will probably have to decide through experimentation. I think most of us are comfortable with giving up some things, substituting some things, and demanding the real deal with others.

    I live in the South and I was raised on sweet iced tea. When I was in my mid 20's I decided to switch to unsweetened. Now if I accidentally get sweet tea at a restaurant it tastes like syrup to me. I decided to change and I did. I like tea better now.

    As far as substitutions go I like substituting greek yogurt for mayonnaise in recipes. I like it better and it is less calories. I do not feel deprived at all.

    On the other hand, when I want mashed potatoes don't you dare try to serve me mashed cauliflower. I like cauliflower but it is not the same thing. Real all the way.

    These things are true of me. They aren't right or wrong because they are preferences that I learned by experimenting. Whether you can be happy with different cream, no cream, no coffee, or the way you want it is something only you can decide. I don't drink coffee with cream or sugar but I still typically only have 1 cup a week on the weekends which I have done now for over a decade. That might be an option too. Have it less often but the way you love it. I am sure you will figure it out.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    Wow. I thought 3 sugars was a lot when I started. Just start scaling back. Tablespoon by tablespoon. You will not be happy if you just cut it all at once.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    Leannep2201 wrote: »
    I’ve never seen creamer either, but it’s mentioned often on these threads. Must be a US thing?
    Can you cut back slowly? Use less of it and substitute with low-fat milk?
    I have 2 instant coffees each morn with 1/2tsp sugar and a splash of low-fat milk. 58cal I think for both.

    kimny72 wrote: »
    Creamer is just a product specifically made to lighten coffee. Dairy or non-dairy, powder or liquid, flavored or plain, it's all called creamer.

    Historically, it was non-dairy (short for "non-dairy creamer" -- if it was a dairy product, people called it "cream" or "milk" or "half and half").

    I think in these threads, people are most often referring to liquid, sweetened, flavored products that might be dairy, non-dairy, or a mix of dairy and non-dairy fat or fat substitutes.

    Cutting back slowly and replacing some of it with plain (unsweetened) milk sounds like a good idea.

    Also, could you try cold brew? I find that it borders on sweet when you drink it black, so it would probably need a lot less of what you're adding to get it taste good to you. And in general, buying good coffee beans, as freshly roasted as possible, grinding them yourself just before you brew, and making sure your brewing set-up, press, pour-over gear, or whatever you use is clean, without old coffee oils on them, is going to give you a better-tasting cup to begin with that should, hopefully, need less added to it.

    I have never put sugar in my coffee (it tastes vile to me -- the essence of coffee is to be bitter). Once in a long while I might stir the coffee with a spoon I used to put unsulphured molasses in hot cereal, that still has a little film of molasses stuck to it. That's not bad, because the molasses is a mix of bitter and sweet.

    I used to prefer my coffee with milk or cream in it, the higher fat, the better, but they stopped having the little ultra pasteurized one-serving half and half containers at work, and the powdered non-dairy stuff they had just clumps up, and if you do get it to dissolve right, you get an oily film on your coffee, so I just learned to drink it black, and now I prefer it that way. I mostly only add milk or cream if it's too hot to drink and I don't want to wait for it to cool down, or if it's bad coffee (over-roasted, old, really weak, insanely strong).

    I do have lattes sometimes. I don't get them flavored, and I generally use non-fat milk, which to me has a reasonable calories-to-protein ratio, so I don't even see it as something I have to "fit in" as a treat. It's just a normal food. (At home, if you don't have an espresso machine or some other gizmo for foaming your milk, put the milk in a jar that's at least twice the volume of the milk, close, shake vigorously until it gets foamy, remove lid, nuke in microwave, watching carefully so you can turn the microwave off when the milk starts to rise toward the rim of the jar. So good!)
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    I gather this "creamer" has got a lot of sugar in it.

    My first boss suggested I stop putting sugar in the nice Italian coffee we used to get from the café next to our bookshop, saying it would spoil the taste.

    I went from 2 sugars to none, and did not look back (but still had white coffee). Coffee tastes so nice without sugar. Kind of nutty.

    Weaning yourself off it slowly would just prolong the "agony".

    Going straight to no sugars, you might find you like a whole new thing, rather settle for a poor substitute for something you have a thing about.

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    I gather this "creamer" has got a lot of sugar in it.

    My first boss suggested I stop putting sugar in the nice Italian coffee we used to get from the café next to our bookshop, saying it would spoil the taste.

    I went from 2 sugars to none, and did not look back (but still had white coffee). Coffee tastes so nice without sugar. Kind of nutty.

    Weaning yourself off it slowly would just prolong the "agony".

    Going straight to no sugars, you might find you like a whole new thing, rather settle for a poor substitute for something you have a thing about.

    My parents didn't serve coffee to children, but at about 12 I had spent the night at a friend's and her mother offered me a cup of coffee at breakfast prepared the way my friend liked it, white and sweet. I thought it was awful, and almost like a cruel trick, that something that smelled so wonderful should taste so awful.

    I think most people like the way coffee smells, and it's kind of weird that so many seem to prefer to cover up the coffee flavor with sugar.
  • sauronseye
    sauronseye Posts: 40 Member
    It's not necessarily about covering the taste but about the combination of tastes. I don't like sweetened black coffee, but latte with sugar? Yum.

    Has anyone successfully cut back on the coffee consumption? I am trying, but it is difficult. I scaled back with the sugar, I only use cca 3 tablespoons altogether now (usually with the first two cups in the day), daily. I am also drinking smaller cups (around 1dl of black coffee and 0.5 dl of milk - don't use creamers, ever) and I'm trying to make them last longer. But I still drink four or five of those during the day.

    I know I'm addicted and it's horrible. I'd like to consume lesser amount, two coffees a day would be great!
  • Ziaki
    Ziaki Posts: 18 Member
    I used to drink energy drinks and my trainer told me that energy drinks are so bad for you that it's better to drink coffee. I told him I hated coffee so he suggested mixing hot chocolate mix instead of sugar.

    I've been doing that ever since and as I gradually acquired a taste for coffee I was able to scale back the amount of cream and mix I use. My coffee still ends up being like 222 calories but that's my whole breakfast. It surprisingly gets me through a good portion of the day.
  • rainingribbons
    rainingribbons Posts: 1,051 Member
    As a fellow coffee creamer lover, I totally relate. If you love having creamer in your coffee then make adjustments to the amount you use instead of cutting it out completely. Personally I probably used to use anywhere from 3-5 tablespoons of creamer before I started measuring. Now I limit myself to two tablespoons per cup (I also only usually have a single cup per day, your adjustments may vary depending on how much coffee you usually consume). Perhaps you can try adjusting your normal amount down as well, so that you don't have to completely give it up?
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    sauronseye wrote: »
    It's not necessarily about covering the taste but about the combination of tastes. I don't like sweetened black coffee, but latte with sugar? Yum.

    Has anyone successfully cut back on the coffee consumption? I am trying, but it is difficult. I scaled back with the sugar, I only use cca 3 tablespoons altogether now (usually with the first two cups in the day), daily. I am also drinking smaller cups (around 1dl of black coffee and 0.5 dl of milk - don't use creamers, ever) and I'm trying to make them last longer. But I still drink four or five of those during the day.

    I know I'm addicted and it's horrible. I'd like to consume lesser amount, two coffees a day would be great!

    About 10 or 15 years ago I believed the "experts" about caffeine addiction and how it was a bad thing. I cut out my coffee cold turkey and I had a headache the first day and by the end of the second it was pretty much over. That was it. As far as addictions go it is pretty mild. I never got back into the habit of drinking it again and now if I do early in the morning it seems to make me hungrier through the day. I wouldn't give it up if I was still accustomed to drinking it today.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    squeaker87 wrote: »
    Coffee creamer. That’s my problem. Delicious, warm coffee with a butt load of coconut creme liquid creamer in it. Like 210 calories worth.

    Any tips on dropping the habit? Should I scale it back and wean myself off of creamer? Should I just switch to tea?

    I recently re-evaluated my goals and the switch to 1230 is gonna make it difficult to splurge on drinking my calories.

    Thanks in advance!

    Try Walden Farms coffee creamer. It's decent. Or get coconut coffee pods and add in just a little bit of skim milk or coconut milk. Coffee doesn't have to be cut out, but the creamer and sugar typically has to get minimized in order to obtain calorie intake goals.

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