Tea and coffee

I was stunned at how many calories my milky tea was costing me. At eight cups a day it was a killer. I now intersperse with green tea flavoured with citrus or cranberry at 1 calorie per cup.

Oh man, I agree, I could never cut out coffee and tea, ESPECIALLY when trying to lose weight. But I've trained myself to take tea without milk/sugar, and coffee with very little, and only a couple times a week, so 200 cals/day has turned into ~100/WEEK! Here's how I did it:

Transition coffee -> tea: Go down to one cup of coffee in the morning, the rest replace with English breakfast, Irish breakfast, or English afternoon teas. You should do this because most people end up putting more milk and sugar in coffee than they do in tea.
Gradually start to have days where you don't have any coffee, and only have tea. Celestial Seasonings, which I usually hate, actually has a really good herbal tea that tastes like coffee when you just put a bit of milk in it. It sort of has natural flavors I associate with sweetness, like cinnamon and allspice, but 0 calories and I don't even need to put sugar in it.

Transition to less milk and sugar: This is easier for tea-- try flavored teas. A lot of them don't need milk and sugar at all, and in fact I prefer them without now! A classic example is Earl Grey, which can be dressed up with a little slice of lemon. I also love the Bigelow tea flavors, like Constant Comment, Plantation Mint, and Cinnamon Stick, and the Twinings and Whittard of Chelsea flavors with all the crazy British fruits. Mix it up, too, try green teas, herbal teas, and rooibos, and try lots of brands. Definitely try NEW flavors, and try a few sips without any milk or sugar first. If you start by taking the milk and sugar out of flavors you're used to, it will taste like something's missing. Wean yourself off them with new flavors, and then you can go back to your favorites with less and less milk and sugar.

Good luck! You can totally do it and not sacrifice the beverages you love. Lifestyle changes are what it's all about!

It's not the coffee and tea killing you - it's the milk and anything else you are adding that is busting your calorie budget. I'd say first cut down on the milk.

Here are a few ideas -

It might pay to buy higher quality teas and coffees that have better taste, so you don't want to mask them with milk. i learned this the hard way. I live in Ecuador and you'd expect that in a coffee-producing country they'd have great coffee. Wrong! They export all the good stuff so what is left is poor quality and you have to pay a fortune for good stuff. I'd end up buying the cheap local stuff and did as the locals do - drink it with lots of milk. One reason I blew up to 295 pounds. Now everytime we go to the states we pick up some good quality coffee which I don't feel a need to add anything to. Experiment, maybe with some herbal teas, to see if you find a hot drink you like without all the calorie bashing add-ons. Just shop wisely, some herbal teas add sugar to their mix so they have an elevated calorie count over normal teas.

One thing my ex-mother-in-law put me on to (bless her) was simply hot water with a lime or lemon slice briefly steeped in.

Drink water. If you are drinking the 8+ cups of water a day you'll feel less like eating anyway and probably will want to drink less coffee and tea and your calorie popping milk additions.

If worst come to worst, you'll have to budget yourself. Out of 1,200 calories how much are you willing to budget for your milk (not coffee or tea) drinking habit? One cup of skim milk? Then budget yourself that much. Measure it out into a container at the start of the day for you to use, then use it until it is gone then no more. better yet, challenge yourself to decrease the amount you use over time.

Good luck!

I am in the exact same predicament, I usually drink 7-10 cups of tea per day, it stops me snacking. But I can't spare the 200 calories, when I only only have 1200 to play around with. I have gone onto peppermint tea. It's quite nice and no calories

I drink 3/4 sometimes 5 cups a day, 2 of them with no milk, and I use sweeteners, if I use sweetners and dont add milk per cup is about 3 calories......with milk is about 25

Tea is calorie free. Can you drink tea without milk? I usually have mine with just a packet of NuStevia NoCarb blend. The packets are 0 calories.

Coffee is usually with 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk and a 1/4 cup regular milk + 2 NuStevia packets. My coffee comes out to 40 some calories. Feel free to check my diary for today so you can see the calorie count. I normally don't have more than 2 cups of coffee a day.

You have to find a mix that works for you. Substitute your sugar and/or use less milk.

I LOVE, coffee and tea!!!! But I have gotten used to drinking it black with no sugar ( and no sweetener of any kind), the calories there just werent worth it,,,,when you're ready to give those calories up, you wil, just another hurdle to think about. good luck

I drink around 6 cups of tea a day! I'm surprised so many people put so much garbage in their tea! All you need is lemon or honey- why ruin it with milk and sugar?

Well, on the database it says that a cup of tea with 30ml of semi-skimmed milk (which is loads! I probably only have 10ml) is only 15 calories. So I have no idea why it's saying that coffee with skimmed milk is more...