coffee vs. tea.... my two cents

lipt8611

I know there are a lot of avid coffee drinkers on here...

I've been reviewing my diary for the past 2 weeks and realized how many extra calories per week I'm consuming from coffee creamer! I know it may not seem like significant calories but when I only get 1,200 without exercise calories I value each and every calorie I take in! I am still able to get my morning caffeine and not add any calories!

I do love my coffee......but I love being skinny even more

NYCHealthyMe

Have you tried drinking it black? It's actually quite nice. Are you putting in sugar?
Even though I prefer splenda, I've been trying to use Stevia (either Truvia brand or whole foods).

I tried try switch to tea or Yerba Mate but it just wasn't the same.

birdieandkenadi05

And thats the exact reason I switched from coffee to green tea!! I only have a small amount of calories as well so 60 on creamer is so not worth it!!

Lpfeifer419

I drink my coffee black, so it only costs me about 4 calories for my mug of coffee in the morning...

spitfiregirl

Hi, New to this site...but I started my plan of food changes a month ago after finding I am pre diabetic and an RN to boot!
So, I have lost 5 lbs. in the month. A week ago, I looked at my coffee ritual and decided on Decaf...could I do it? yes, now I add
Almond unsweetened milk and a sweet n lo and like it~ Yesterday, I stopped coffee all together, and felt great this morning without the ritual and had a glass of water with lemon. I am not saying I can stay away from it, but maybe not everyday! Good luck to you!

tinkerbell1964

I very rarely drink tea, i limit myself to 2 coffee's a day with splash of 1% fat milk , no sugar ( 2 spoonfuls per cup of good quality instant coffee , or one very large heaped of grounds if i can be arsed to get the cafeteria out )

markp99

Yup, big coffee drinker here...except I use splenda and no creamer. Keurig machine makes it easy to enjoy a little variety in flavored coffee - current favorite is caramel vanilla cream (yummy):

Took a while to adjust to "black", but I actually enjoy it now. Really helps knock down those hunger pains

Keurig Coffee K Cups 6 Oz Cup (1 serving)
calories: 2, fat: 0g, carbs: 0g, protein: 0g

Almost guilt free!~

spitfiregirl

OH, I use Stevia in Ice Tea, but do not like the taste in coffee! So reverted back to the only Sweet n low I use, is for my cup of coffee when I have it!

shayshay01

Stevia has zero cals and tastes soooo good in both coffee and tea. I make my "sweet" iced tea with it, and I drink my coffee black with it.... Yummy!! Don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything and all my drinks total.... NOTHING! :-)

amuhlou

I do a splash of skim milk in my coffee sometimes (a tbsp or less) and the calories are better than creamer. I think almond milk is even better calorie wise but I've never tried it.

I drink tea as well, mostly herbal. With tea I like the flavor more so I find myself never needing to sweeten it. I do love a good chai latte once in a while though!

elainio

I have one cup of green tea and one black coffee every day and do not log anything for them. they are my treats lol.

W

ashmom86

Ive been facing the coffee and tea dilemma as well. I have decided that coffee is the one thing I am not going to give up! Yes it takes away from my calories, because I have to have creamer. I have been using sugar free french vanilla (coffee-mate) and have still lost a total of 55 lbs. I thought if I cut it out of my daily routine, I might lose some more pounds quicker BUT my sanity is worth more!!!!!!!! I need the caffeine!!! Get migraines without it. I am cutting back and adding some green tea in the evenings instead of coffee which I can drink w/o sweetners.

lijparsons

I don't drink coffee, but I am an avid tea drinker, and I am having the same issue. I have already cut down to one sugar cube instead of 2. I use plantation raw sugar, as I am trying to stay away from white stuff. I also don't like using artificial sweeteners. I just don't know if I can cut out the milk. The tea itself has nothing in it, but the sugar and milk add up to 30 extra calories. It might not seem like much, but 3 or 4 cups a day, and thats an extra 90-120 calories. I am on 1200 a day too, and I want to make every calorie count. I am going to try to slowly reduce the milk and sugar to eventually see if I can drink it black. I think your only choice is going to be to reduce the creamer, or don't they make sugar free creamers? My husband is diabetic, and sometimes buys Sugar-Free Vanilla Coffee Mate.

lilsweetslol

Its really a matter of weighing your options based on your fitness goals. My two cups of coffee in the morning is what I look forward to to start my day. I've cut it out before and drank tea but didnt get the satisfaction I needed. So i make amends with it and use a flavored creamer with no sugar and try and use as little as possible. It may be 40 calories each morning, but thats worth it to me. I eat clean the rest of the day :flowerforyou:

So its all about whats best for your own personal goals, i've heard mixed reports about caffeine anyways.. Some say straight caffeine is good to boost metabolsim prior to workouts, while other say its bad because caffeine causes dehydration.. I guess since i drink about 100 ounces of water a day, i'm not too worried about it!!

WifeMomDVM

I'm such a weirdo American but I DON'T like coffee or anything flavored with it... at all. Never have, never will. Why would anyone want to drink burnt beans? :noway:

I'm even more weird because I don't like tea. Drink dried leaves? What???? :sick:

I have to say I pop out of bed every morning without any caffeine. I have a theory that more people could do this if they just tried it.

I'm not knocking you bean and leaf drinkers out there - I know I'm the strange one! :laugh:

What do I drink? Just H2O.

stephierae25

I'm such a weirdo American but I DON'T like coffee or anything flavored with it... at all. Never have, never will. Why would anyone want to drink burnt beans? :noway:

I'm even more weird because I don't like tea. Drink dried leaves? What???? :sick:

I have to say I pop out of bed every morning without any caffeine. I have a theory that more people could do this if they just tried it.

I'm not knocking you bean and leaf drinkers out there - I know I'm the strange one! :laugh:

What do I drink? Just H2O.

I am the same way. I dont like either!!! I only drink water as well. I have never had to give it up but I did have to give up my coke and I had headache for 3 days but now I dont even miss it.

Bridgetc140

I drink 2 cups of coffee each morning with each getting 1 creamer. That's 60 calories. I immensely enjoy my morning coffee and I'm not going to give it up. I would like to move to 1/2 creamer per cup...I used to use 2 per cup, but that tastes entirely too sweet to me now, SO...it's possible to adapt and maybe someday I'll even enjoy a black coffee. I doubt it though, because at this point, black coffee tastes disgusting to me.

annacataldo

Idk y ud want to drink coffee or tea, I love em both, but they deplete water n ur system and then u have to drink even more water. I aready have to drink 20cups a day, y would I want to drink a cup of coffee and then have to drink 21cups of water?? Bluck I'm already burnt out on water as is....

Ps. Any caffeine drink depletes ur water. Decaf doesn't...and what's the point of decaf coffee?

bmontgomery87

I'd switch to green tea personally.

coffee really isn't beneficial.

Iceskatefanrn

Just posted this on ANOTHER "coffee vs tea" thread, so I'm cheating and just "cut and pasting" from my other post! So I apologize if anyone's read this already, but here ya go....

I'm a tea-drinker, never developed a taste for coffee. But my daily hot tea is practically a ritual for me - I've modified it from the sugar-laden sweeteners and the fat-laden creamers, and now I've got a routine that I love!

I like "sugar and milk" in my hot tea, and I like the Chai flavors of tea. My favorite tea bags are Yogi Classic Indian Spice, and Yogi Chai Green. They both have a delightful combination of the Chai seasonings!

I brew the tea in a small Mr. Coffee that has NEVER been used to make coffee! I put one bag of each in the "coffee" section, no filter, and I'll run at least 2 pots through those two bags.

Once I pour a tall mug of this hot, spicy, part Black/part Green tea, I then add Davinci's or Torani's Sugar Free Syrups - I like to mix equal parts of different flavors into one bottle, so I just have to had a splash to get a mix of flavors. Today's "mix" includes sugar free flavors of French Vanilla, Caramel, Chocolate, and Brown Sugar Cinnamon.

ADD TO THAT a generous splash of Silk Pure Almond Milk - unsweetened and unflavored. The milk is 35 cals for a FULL CUP, so for this decadent, sweet, hot, creamy beverage, I'm getting less than 10 calories - probably closer to 5. Spicy chai flavors, plus the sweetners, plus the Almond Milk flavor - YUMMMMMMMMMILICIOUS!

I record a full cup of the Almond Milk every day, because I drink hot tea all day long and I get close to a cup by the end of the day. Best 35 calories I ever "spent"!!!

:drinker:

Ice

lipt8611

My point of my original post wasn't to insult or upset anyone, say what I do is right or what you do is wrong or anything, I am also not looking for suggestions- I'm happy with my routine. I have not successfully enjoyed a cup of black coffee thus far in life, but I will continue trying. The only purpose was to point out that I noticed that by cutting the 30-60 calories each morning I have a little more wiggle room throughout the day- I prefer to eat my calories, not drink them!

AnnieeR

I absolutely love my 2 morning coffees - it's the ritual AND the taste, but I can't stand milk or sugar in it - I think it's just what you get used to.... I grew up in Northern California where there's a coffee shop on every corner and my teens were spent sitting around drinking the stuff so I guess I just got used to it. I live in the UK now but I've never really caught tea fever, so after my coffee I'm trying to just have water and green tea.

ruststar

I noticed this same thing recently and asked for suggestions to help. I love my morning coffee and wasn't satisfied with tea, so I tried other things. Two version I've liked:

Replacing my 1/3 cup(!) of flavored creamer with a half cup of Silk Almond or Coconut milk and a sprinkle of splenda - only 1/4 cup of milk needed, and it cuts 125 calories.

Soy latte with sugar free flavored syrups - a tall is 170 calories, but I count that as my morning snack since it has the combo of carbs and protein from the soy milk, and it's better than the fat free mocha I used to get!

betterthanmama

I love coffee with cream and sugar, and love tea. I drink about 4-6 cups of tea per day. Every morning I wake up to make my husband's coffee, and I used to have a cup also, but I cut that out and save myself 70cals.

I have found that coffee affects my system in weird ways, making me lose the water and give me a quick caffeine fix, but after a few weeks I end up gaining weight. Not sure if it's the diuretic effect or just the 70calories.

With tea, I drink it without cream or sugar. Green teas are too delicate and the sweetness/cream will ruin any subtle flavor that the tea has. Also cheap dark tea is very bitter, and you need creme and sugar to mask the taste. (I deal with it due to cost issues from drinking too much tea). For green teas, I recommend getting a Japanese brand like Yamamotoyama and Itoen. Make sure the box is fresh, over 1 year and the taste will start going. Tea will also not give you the jump start like coffee, but more of a relaxed buzz.

Adding a drop of vanilla extract to your drink can trick you into thinking it's "sweeter" too.

irridia

I like both, I drink them according to mood and how I physically feel. Chai is my tea of choice. Especially Stash Double Spice and I make it uber strong. I like it w/2% milk, no lower, no higher. Or in a pinch unsweetened Silk Soy. I'm going to try some tomorrow w/unsweetened Silk Almond. I've moved to stevia exclusively for sweetening beverages except on the occasion that I just wanted the honey flavor and then add a little w/the chai. Chai is especially soothing when my sinuses have flared up or I have a cold. I actually find a more diuretic effect from the Chai than the coffee. Stevia can be a little bitter, so I use cinnamon to mask it. Caffeine kills appetite and so do the thermogenics in the spice and the cinnamon. I'm hoping the almond milk will help with inflammation. I avoid the name brand stevia, both Truvia and Purvia made by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo respectively as they have alchahol sugars which can cause bloat, gas, pain and the runs. Most of the creamers and possibly even the sugar free variety have high fructose corn syrup which increases uric acid, which then prevents glucose uptake into the muscles and the uric acid can build up and actually cause damage to ligaments.

On the subject of water, I take my weight/2 and that's how many oz of water I need, add more for meds, caffeine, and exercise.