But I LOVE Starbucks !!

I've been a cafe supervisor making Starbucks coffee for almost 8 years now, and the temptations can be very difficult to avoid. I'm certain that my poor choices over the years (daily iced quad venti no whip white chocolate mochas) helped lead to my weight gain. I slowly began to get a smaller size everyday, started getting less pumps of syrup, but eventually had to stop getting my daily drink because I really wanted to eat the calories that I was drinking. For me, beer consumption is harder to curb since I have no control over the calories and they go down sooo smoothly. I'm in college and work full-time, so drinking less caffeine just doesn't feel like an option. I've been successful by making sure that I have one cup of coffee at home before I go to work, and on my lunch I allow myself a doppio with one raw sugar, followed by lots of water chugging. I sip my drink, and savor every bit of it rather than just sucking it down. I'm not willing to add artificial sweetener to my drink, because my palate simply does not care for it and it doesn't seem worth it. No matter what, a barista with any amount of customer service skills will be happy to work with you to find out how to make your regular drink more healthy. I never thought that I'd like my old drink as much if I changed it, but cutting the syrup in half and adding more milk really didn't make it less delicious, and the added protein works good for days when I've done a lot of strength training. I still get my old fancy drink, just not often, and I make sure that it works into my calories/ macros for the day. So for me, finding a less costly ( $ and calories) alternative for my daily drink made it so that I don't feel bad splurging every now and again.