Oh Coffee, You Horrid B****.

I freakin LOVE coffee, and like you, I refuse to drink it black.

Here are a few ideas:

Slowly wean the sugar out of your coffee. If I get 2% milk rather than skim, the coffee tastes smoother, and I need less sugar/syrup to enjoy the taste. So, if you're putting 3 sugars in now, start putting in only 2... and after a few weeks reduce it to 1, and see how you feel about it.

You can also get smaller sized drinks.

You can work out more so that the calories aren't such a big deal.

You can skip it once or twice a week and substitute tea (not everyday... just a few days here and there.)

Try making Bulletproof coffee, it's amazing. I cut back from 6-8 daily cups to 2-3, only making 1 of them bulletproof. But I didnt have the sugar addiction in coffe, I save that for donuts

http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-morning-too/

first and foremost you make the decision to give something up. no one can make that decision for you. Obviously you want to live a better lifestyle so yes you will probably have to give them up. But you can learn to make your own healthy choices at home, not Starbucks but healthier and way way cheaper.
You can use less sugar, less cream or milk. Y
You have to decide whats best for you. I used to think I would never in a million years drink black coffee., YUCK. But I gave it a try for a few weeks till I got used to it. now when I do have sugar and milk/cream in my coffee its just too much.
I like black coffee now. I save on calories and sugar. Lets me also have a little piece of cake or something sweet if I wanted to every once in a while. When I look back I save so much calories and sugar its actually pretty awesome.
Good luck

I take about a 1/2 cup or so of 2%milk, put it in a shaker with a lid, shake it up until it's foamy. Nuke in the microwave until it's warm (without the lid so it doesn't explode). Add this to a cup of strong coffee along with a tablespoon or so of Torani sugarfree french vanilla or Hazelnut flavor syrup and it's GREAT. Feels like I just went to Starbucks ....costs very little and has A LOT less calories.

If you could see my diary you would know coffee is a huge calorie suck for me. I was using real sugar and flavored half and half. With two little babies I was drinking like 500 calories a day in coffee!! I only get 1200 if I don't exercise, which is completely unlivable for me to only eat 700 calories in real food. Anyways, I switched to splenda and 2%milk and I find I don't really love if as much, and don't drink as much. I think if you can't give it up, you will just have to give up a snack during the day to make up for it. You'll be a little bit hungrier but sometimes it is worth it. Also I think at the end of the day it is about long term changes to be healthier and it sounds like you're doing that anyways, keep up the good work!!

As long as it fits within your calories I see nothing wrong with having your latte......maybe limit yourself to one grande per day or get a venti with skim & half the amount of syrup. I remember having a starbucks habit, unfortunately my wallet won't allow it these days.

If you can't see yourself giving it up, then just make sure you have enough calories to cover it. You are right. This is a lifestyle change.

I drink black coffee, an 8oz cup has only 2 calories and no carbs. You can start with skim milk if you must to have milk.

I am a tea drinker not a coffee drinker, but I feel for you. The coffee you describe is not coffee, it's liquid dessert

....

And, if you must keep the coffee, experiment with high quality stuff. Really, the sugar and the milk are masking the bitterness - get a higher quality coffee and you won't feel you need to mask the bitterness as much. No idea what to tell you for coffee since I'm a tea girl... I don't do Lipton any more it tastes like crap to me. I am mostly a Republic of Tea girl, with decadent flavors like Strawberry Chocolate (put in that truvia and van/coconut milk and it is an awesome way to have chocolate without killing your diet!)

Yours truly, the tea snob.

Yeah, I'm a tea snob as well. Hand blended chais and fruit-y and chocolately blends as well. I've had stomach issues for the past year and just recently realized that my problem was black tea. So, I'll switch to herbal. I have to keep my caffeine at a low amount any way (less caffeine than an what is consumed in an 8 ounce cup of coffee per day. Good thing I don't like coffee!) so this switch is for the best anyway!

As for your coffee. For now, cut back the size. Later cut the size once more or start changing up the ingredients. Or don't. The choice is yours to make.

Right now, the last think I would want is something that would give me a sugar rush with the later let down. Let alone not getting something in my stomach to make me feel full! LOL. If the joy of your drink make up for these things than maybe you are doing what you need to do for now. Remember, you always have the power to make changes. Whether that be now or later or never.

Hey Labryinthrunn, :flowerforyou:

I used to HAVE to have my tall regular latte every afternoon. I found though that even the sugar in the regular milk alone would send me into low blood sugar shock, leaving me ravenous in that fake hungry type of way. This would happen consistently about 2.5 hours after drinking my afternoon latte. I slowly broke the habit by swapping it out for a shot of espresso on ice with a tiny bit of cream. It is very rich tasting (as opposed to sweet), and gives me my caffeine boost but does not leave me feeling shaky and hungry later.

As for morning coffee I have one of those plastic cups with a straw in it (you know the kind that they give you at trade shows or whatever). Anyway, I fill that with coffee so I know I'm only drinking 2 cups in the morning and then I add a bit of Silk's unsweetened soy milk. I used to drink my morning coffee with tons of half and half. I could NOT step over to the whole milk, non-fat milk realm of coffee drinkers. It would always just end up cooling my coffee off too much. But for some reason the unsweetened soy milk only takes a bit and my coffee is delicious. I believe I use a total of 1/4 cup Silk to my 16 oz of coffee. Best of luck in your coffee adventures!

So, this time I have decided to make a complete lifestyle change instead of trying to diet. Its going pretty well. I'm using portion control, healthier choices and frequent snacks to make better choices in the nutritional aspect of my life. But its coffee. It gets me every damn time. The problem is, I don't and cannot drink it black. I feel like I need it, want it, have to have it to stay awake in my morning classes. But again, my idea of a coffee is a cinnamon dolce latte from starbucks. Did I mention Venti?

Give up the coffee, you say. Try tea instead, you say. But, this is a lifestyle CHANGE. What if I don't want to live in a world where I can't have my latte in the morning? What then? Can I just drink it and exercise extra hard later? Am I shooting myself in the foot? I have already made it as healthy as I can. I get it made with nonfat milk, hold the whip. I'm not going sugar free. If I'm drinking it, I'm drinking it. I did stop asking for extra syrup though. Today I drank one and a half. But then, I also went and did an hour on the elliptical. Thoughts?

You know, stop worrying about it.
Over time, as your habits and lifestyle and fitness improve, you just change.
The things you that used to be an "addiction" stop having such a grip on you.
Your tastes change.
I really see nothing wrong with you desire to have coffee, however you like it.
But let your creative mind go to work.
How can you satisfy your desire to have a healthier cup of coffee, while still enjoying it immensely?
Have you tried using stevia or part stevia to sweeten it? And half-n-half is really not that bad, macro-wise. You could use that.

If you are working on making changes in other areas, and are moving forward, then enjoy your coffee.
You can always work on changing that later.
And likely, you will become more moderate with your "coffee-vice" as you become more healthy in general

Torani makes syrups sweetened with splenda. I put just a dash in my coffee and it's really good.

My fiance has the exact same problem as you do. Venti cinnamon dolce lattes. Something like 300+ calories and 55 carbs. I've ordered some Torani syrups he may like, but they haven't arrived yet. The "skinny" cinnamon dolce he got tonight tasted like crap.

Feel free to add me and we can share stories of our Starbucks trials and tribulations.

Splenda is 2 molecules from pesticide (sorry). Go with Truvia or Stevia in the Raw.

this is an interesting thread in light of the proposed New York ban on supersized drinks... I think it answers the question nicely.. YES. ban the gigantic ones...but that's just my opinion. (if people have to buy 2 less-healthy drinks to get their kick, they'll probably think twice, find out that one is satisfying enough and be that much closer to 'healthy') mho of course

I hate black coffee too. But I don't think there's anything wrong with skimmed milk so it doesn't bother me one jot I drink milky coffee all day, and account for the milk in my calories.

I don't have sugar in it though, or sugar syrups.