It’s a low calorie drink, with only 2 calories per cup, and may even help you burn more calories!

Unfortunately, many people tend to load this popular drink with unhealthy creamers, artificial sugars and syrups.  Too much of these and you’ve turned a healthy low calorie drink into a fattening 300 calorie one.

But, that doesn’t mean you have to drink your coffee black!  In fact, you can take black coffee and make it even healthier AND taste delicious by following these three simple tips!

1. Black coffee can taste bitter to some, that’s why they load it with sugar! And those that rely on artificial sweeteners may be saving on calories, but the jury is still out on whether it’s healthy or not.  An all natural way to add some sweetness to your coffee is to add a little Stevia.  Stevia contains zero calories and carbs and it only takes half a packet to sweeten your coffee.
2. An easy way to give your coffee a sort of mocha taste without all the calories and sugar you’d find in coffee shop varieties is to add a little unsweetened cocoa!  Cocoa also contains a healthy dose of antioxidants and may even lower blood pressure.  If it’s still a little too bitter than add in the half packet of Stevia as mentioned above!
3. My personal favorite and another good way to increase your antioxidant intake, lower blood pressure and even slightly raise your metabolism is to add a little cinnamon to your coffee!  Both coffee and cinnamon can aid in weight loss, albeit very slightly. Though, if you’re replacing high calorie extras with cinnamon in your coffee, the reduction in calories, which could be as high as a few hundred per day, will definitely help you lose weight!

Do you have any tips to add flavor to coffee without adding hundreds of calories and extra sugar?  Let us know in the comments below!

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3 Tips To Healthy & Delicious Coffee

In fact, many people use it as an excuse to pass on healthy foods and skip exercising altogether.

But, not only can you eat healthy on a budget, you may even be able to save a little money by changing up your diet, getting regular exercise and losing weight!

Sound too good to be true?  It’s not!

Here are 10 ways to lose weight and save money at the same time!

1. Reduce Portions – Eating less will not only help you lose weight, but it can help you save money. For example, next time you go out to eat cut your meal in half and box it up right away for a meal tomorrow. You effectively get two meals for the price of one.
2. Buy Healthy Food – No, not the expensive prepackaged so-called “health” foods, but rather natural whole foods like chicken, salads, vegetables and so on.  In fact, the New York Times reported that you can feed a family of six for about half the price with a meal made up of a salad, roasted chicken and vegetables as you could from McDonald’s!
3. Skip The Gym – You don’t need to fork over hundreds of dollars a year to exercise in a gym when you can burn calories and get a great workout just about anywhere.  Plus, studies show that just by being more active each day (not including exercise) can help you burn fat!
4. No More Fad Diets – Diet programs that require you to eat their special, and pricey, prepackaged meals can cost you thousands of dollars a year!  That’s absolutely unnecessary!  If you’re looking for low calorie recipes then you can find them for free on this site!
5. Cook Your Meals – Not only is cooking your own meals cheaper than eating at most restaurants, you can control exactly what goes in your food!  This will help you keep tabs on the amount of calories, fat, etc.
6. Take Advantage of Leftovers – As mentioned above, eating half of your meal and saving half is a great way to cut back on calories and save money.  But, another advantage is that it helps save time!  Cooking multiple meals every single day can be tiresome, so cut your cooking time in half by always eating half and saving half for a later meal.
7. Save At The Doctor – Living a healthy lifestyle has another benefit that many people often overlook: It can save on co-pays!  The obese pay on average $1,429 higher than someone of a normal weight in annual medical costs according to the CDC!
8. The Great Outdoors – Instead of paying to take your kids to the movies, for example, walk with them to the park and play! Or take the dog for a walk.  The world is your playground and best of all it’s free!
9. Compare Prices – By spending a little time upfront comparing prices on your favorite healthy foods, you can find the best deals and save hundreds over the course of a year.  And don’t forget to check out local food markets for fresh and cheap produce.
10. Find A Hobby – Many hobbies like gardening will help save money on vegetables and other produce plus it will hep you burn calories and lose weight.

As you can see, with a little creativity you can not only save a few bucks, but lose weight and improve your health!  It’s a win-win!

Also check out:

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10 Ways To Save Money And Lose Weight

I’m too old!

I’m too set in my ways!

I don’t know where to start!

But, these excuses are just that – Excuses!

It doesn’t matter how old you are, what level of physical shape you’re in or how set in your unhealthy ways you are – It CAN be done!

Take for example, Gary Vollhoffer, who lost 23lbs in just 49 days at the age of 52…

Or Corina Gutierrez who suffers from a rare bone disease, is wheel chair bound and is a Zumba instructor!

Everybody who has successfully lost weight have a few things in common.  They mentally prepared themselves for this life-changing experience, they changed around their diet, started working out and lastly, put it all together in an easy to follow plan.

Let’s take a closer look at how YOU can follow these four tenants to quickly lose weight and drastically improve your health, no matter how old or what physical condition you’re in.

Mental
Some may argue that mentally committing to losing weight and changing your old habits is the most important step.  And it’s hard to disagree with that notion.

It’s even a good idea to jot down exactly why you want to lose weight.  Maybe you want to get in great shape before spring comes around.  Or perhaps you have health issues and your doctor recommended that you lose a few pounds.  Whatever your motivation is, write it down and post it somewhere that you will see it every day.  In case your motivation starts to wane as time goes on, this list will be a good reminder of why you’re changing your life around and will help fire you up again!

Nutrition
Once your mentally committed to losing weight and have visualized success, it’s time to change those eating and fitness habits.

Weight loss starts in the kitchen, but unfortunately it’s the dieting aspect that hinders people from even starting on a weight loss plan.

From fearing that they won’t be able to eat their favorite foods to not fully understanding exactly how many calories to eat, people tend to fail before they even start!

If you feel you have this problem then start out by reading our Low Calorie Diet Introduction Series to get a basic understanding of how an effective diet plan works.

Fitness
Combining a fitness regimen with a proper diet is a tried and proven way to quickly lose weight and improve your health.

Your fitness program should include a mixture of both calorie burning cardio training along with resistance training to help maintain or even improve muscle mass.

What’s important to understand is that you don’t have to spend hours in the gym or lifting heavy weights to get great results.  In fact, for a lot of people, especially beginners, just moving more will help!  Check out these easy exercise tips for a few ideas!

A Plan
Now that we’ve covered the first three tenants to quickly losing weight, you finally need a plan that put’s it altogether.  A plan that combines an effective way to control your caloric intake, that allows you to comfortably burn calories and most importantly teaches you how to make lifestyle changes, NOT drastic and temporary diet or boot camp style fitness changes. A program like The Simple, Proven Plan For Weight Loss & Control!

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Quick Weight Loss At Any Age

There’s nothing wrong with waking up, and finally realizing that you aren’t content with how things are going with your weight or body image. After all, being within your goal weight will ward off many health issues and, in the long run, will allow you to enjoy life to the fullest.

One thing I must really stress is that you shouldn’t let a bad experience with a weight loss program in the past put you off. Sometimes, we all don’t have the correct mindset needed to achieve our goals, and it’s possible for us to relapse. However, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try again when you are ready. By taking note of the mistakes you made last time, you’ll guarantee better luck and determination the second time round.

Here are 5 lessons that I learned on my journey and I hope that they can help you find success in your weight loss goals.

1. Set small, frequent goals

Saying to yourself that you want to lose 50lbs in the next month won’t get you anywhere. You don’t know whether your weight loss technique is going to be adequate, or how your body will react to your latest regime. Because of this, you should take things day by day, or week by week. This way, as you reach the little targets, you’ll be able to see real progress, and develop your strategy if things aren’t going right. It’s all about remaining motivated and believing in you.

2. Exercise

We’ve heard it a million times, but it’s so true. Starting a good cardio exercise routine and will burn those nasty calories. But don’t forget about weight training. The extra muscle will tone your body, plus muscle burns calories faster than fat, even when you’re sitting down watching TV.

Personally, I find running the most rewarding exercise to burn calories. And since I also love electronics that feed you with data, a few years ago, I bought myself a Garmin Forerunner, which is a GPS system that gives you all kinds of information about your run. But the one feature that I love on my Garmin is where it tells you how many calories you’ve burned. This rewarding feature really proves the payoffs of exercise.

3. Think healthy first and weight loss will follow

Eating less shouldn’t be the approach you pursue to losing weight. Instead, you need to eat healthy. Make sure that the food you are eating gives you all of the vitamins and nutrients needed. Striking the balance between meat or fish, fruit, vegetables and the right fats (which can be healthy too!) ensures that you achieve the ‘balanced diet’ which we always hear about but don’t always understand.

4. Having some moral support along the way can be essential

After a trying day, it’s hard to keep up the willpower, and the temptation to undo all of the hard work invested so far can be overwhelming. This is why you need family and friends by your side to remind you of why you’re making the effort to build a new you, or a support mechanism that includes access to other people who are also losing weight.

5. Love food!

I know that you think that food is what got you overweight in the first place, but food is really exciting. There is so much to discover, with healthy soups and delicious, nutritious snacks for during the day. Have you ever considered broadening your horizons, going to cooking classes, learning more about the foods we eat and how to create wholesome, homemade dishes without just resorting to salty, processed meals and snacks?

If you really listen to and follow these five lessons, you’ll soon be on your way to losing weight and feeling so much better. You can enjoy food, enjoy life, and feel like a million bucks.

As an avid runner, Jacquie believes in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and she attributes running as one of the key factors in helping her sustain her goal weight. On Jacquie’s blog – Online Running Gear dot com, she tries to stay current with the newest trends in fitness by researching and writing detailed, informative reviews on products she recommends such as the Garmin 305 Forerunner and the P90X Workout Routine.

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Lessons Learned When I Lost 50lbs

I actually would like to know where or how to start? i am a 33 year old mother of two with a full time job and everyday i wake up and think where do i start? im always taking care of everyone but myself, i need a simple start…and what i mean is what to cook or how to start some exercise routine. anyway you can help i would appreciate a little guidance.

First of all, thanks for the question! This is actually a very popular question and is one of the main roadblocks that prevents people from ever taking action.

I want to start out by saying that it’s a good idea to first download the free low calorie diet plan!  It’s available over on our Facebook page  (If you already “like” Low-CalorieDiet.com on Facebook then click the “Free Stuff” tab to access the low calorie diet plan).

As simple as the plan may be to help people lose weight, I understand that it can still be hard to figure out where to start!  There’s a lot of information and it can feel overwhelming.  So, I want to quickly share my reply to the reader who asked the above question and add a little to it.  Check it out:

That’s a very good question!  And I actually am in a similar situation myself – similar age with 3 kids.

 

What I have found to work the best is to plan ahead.  I know what I’m eating tomorrow before it even comes.  I actually have a meal chart that I made that I have hanging in my kitchen.  You can see a similar meal chart here:  Sample Low Calorie Meal Plan

 

It only took about a half hour to put together.  Now, I don’t eat exactly the same thing everyday, but I stick pretty closely to my chart (swapping out different foods here and there, but keeping portion sizes the same) to make sure that I’m eating roughly the same amount of calories daily.  It’s a great way to control my calorie intake without having to count every calorie I eat.

 

There’s a ton of low calorie recipes to choose from on the site and since it sounds like your pressed for time,browse through the low calorie foods section for some prepackaged low calorie options.

 

Another tip I use is every time I cook a healthy dinner at night, I portion out some for my lunch the next day.  I don’t have a ton of time to cook, so when I do cook I try to make a couple meals out of it.

 

As far as exercise goes, I personally get up early before my kids get up and squeeze in a half hour workout in my basement.  I know that’s not feasible for a lot of people, so just remember to try and move more each day.  Buy a cheap pedometer and aim to walk around 10,000 steps per day.  If you do a lot of work around the house or walk around a lot at work then those steps will add up pretty quickly.

I really recommend that you incorporate some sort of cardio as well as resistance exercise program into your routine not only for weight loss purposes, but for your overall health!  I understand it can be hard to find time which is why I created these 15 Minute Workout Ideas.  There are more articles right here on this blog over in our Fitness section to help get you moving!

So, if you don’t know where to start then grab the free low calorie diet plan and start making the small changes as described above to your daily routine and the weight will come off!

If you are still struggling to start off on the right foot then leave a comment below or contact me and we’ll get you started!

Also, if you have a simple tip to help others get started you can leave it in the comments below!  We would love to hear from you!

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Help! I Don’t Know Where Or How To Start Losing Weight!

Unfortunately, for those waiting till the new year to finally get in shape, history is not on your side.

In fact, if people stuck to their weight loss resolutions obesity wouldn’t be on the rise, 95% of dieters wouldn’t regain their weight back and weight related diseases wouldn’t be overtaking smoking as the nations #1 killer!

So, this year we’re going to forget about new years resolutions, diets and/or drastic weight changes!

Instead, we are going to focus on what really matters!

Creating a healthy lifestyle!

You can still set goals!  Still measure results!  And hold yourself accountable!

But, we’re not going to focus on boring diets.

Nope, we’re going to create healthy habits for permanent weight loss!

And remember, you don’t have to quickly lose weight to be successful.  If you lose only a 1/2 pound a week, by this time next year you will be 26 pounds lighter!

So, how does one create a healthy lifestyle exactly?

This site is filled with information to help you create a healthy lifestyle!  But, I understand that with the hundreds of articles on this site it can be a little overwhelming.  So, here are a few quick resources to help you get started on the right foot this year!

Setting SMART Goals For Weight Loss

How To Make Healthy Habits Stick, Permanently!

7 Habits For Successful Weight Loss

These articles will give you a great start to your new year!  If you want a more complete plan, all bundled for you in an easy-to-understand package that you can download instantly, then check out The Simple, Proven Plan for Weight Loss & Control!  This no-frills, cut-to-the-chase guide will help you learn everything there is to know about creating a healthy lifestyle and not just some temporary diet plan. Plus, it comes with 3 FREE bonuses!  Check it out now!

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This Years Resolution? No More Resolutions!

This site wouldn’t be where it is without you!

There are a lot of great things planned for 2012 that will really help you reach your goals, so make you sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter or by RSS.

And if you haven’t yet, be sure to download the Simple, Proven Plan For Weight Loss & Control!  We have surpassed 10,000 downloads of this FREE eBook!!  So don’t miss out!

So, as promised, here’s a look back at the best and most popular posts of 2011!

38 Delicious Low Calorie Meals And Snacks
The most popular post on this site with over 200,000 views in the last 3 months.

How many calories per day should I eat to lose weight?
An answer to the most important question a dieter faces.

200 Calories Or Less Meal Ideas
A list of delicious and lower calorie meal ideas.

Low Calorie Beer Comparison
A list of low calorie beers and their total calorie counts.

Delicious & Guilt Free Low Calorie Alcoholic Drink Recipes
These low calorie alcoholic recipes will allow you to have a few without the guilt!

10 Delicious Low Calorie Salad Ideas
10 low calorie salad ideas that are as light as they are delicious!

300 Calories Or Less Meal Ideas
These low calorie dishes will allow you to eat frequently without consuming a large amount of calories per day.

Low-Calorie Food That Fills
Fill up on these low calorie foods so you can feel full without all the calories!

How To Lose The Muffin Top
That unsightly layer of fat that hangs over the top of jeans?  Ya, this article helps you get rid of that.

Exercises To Lose Belly Fat Fast
The most sought after physical attribute is a six pack.  And this is exactly how you get it!

Resource Section

We added a new resource section over in the sidebar this year.  This was to gather like articles and neatly organize them all on one page.  These resources answer common questions I get submitted, so when you get a second check them out!

Low Calorie Recipes

We revamped the Low Calorie Recipe section to make it easier to find your favorite recipes.  And, of course, we will be continually adding to this section to make it more robust, so check back often.

We’re on Google +

If Google + is your thing, then be sure to check us out there and add us to your circle!  It’s a good way to stay up-to-date with the latest articles and to interact!

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The Best Of 2011

Because of this I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this subject and list 12 more low calorie mixed drink recipes!  All of these recipes are under 200 calories and best of all, you and you’re friends won’t even be able to tell the difference!

Since I already covered how to make low calorie substitutions and the importance of creating your own low calorie mixed drinks in the first article, I’ll just get straight to the recipes.

Oh, and remember to drink responsibly…for weight loss and more importantly, you’re safety!

12 Low Calorie Mixed Drinks

Tropical Autumn

Recipe courtesy of Ty Ku

Calories: 115

Ingredients
1.5 oz Ty Ku Liqueur
½ oz Pomegranate juce
2 oz Pineapple juice

Directions

1. Mix ingredients in glass and enjoy!

VuQo V8

Recipe courtesy of VuQo

Calories: 95

Ingredients
2 oz VuQo Vodka
Tomato juice

Directions

1. Mix ingredients in glass and enjoy!

Partida Margarita

Recipe courtesy of Partida Tequila

Calories: 170

Ingredients
1 oz. lime juice (app. the juice from one lime)
¾ oz. pure, organic agave nectar
¾ oz. pure spring water
1.5 oz. Partida Tequila Blanco, Reposado or Añejo

Directions

1. Shake all ingredient with ice in a shaker
2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Lean & Green Spatini

Recipe courtesy of Morton’s The Steakhouse

Calories: 98

Ingredients
1.5 oz Ty Ku Soju
.5 oz Agave nectar
1.5 oz Lime juice
1 oz Soda water

Directions

1. Shake ingredients 25 times with ice.
2. Double strain into a champagne flute.

Ocean Water Cocktail

Recipe courtesy of Ocean Vodka

Calories: 97

Ingredients
1.5 oz Organic Ocean Vodka (54 calories)
3 oz Coconut Water (25 calories)
1 tsp Agave syrup (18 calories)
Mint leaves

Directions

1. Muddle mint leaves with Ocean Vodka, coconut water, and agave syrup.
2. Add ice and shake.
3. Strain and serve neat in a lowball glass with a slice of lime and sprig of mint.

Zilch Margarita

Recipe courtesy of Zilch

Calories: 97

Ingredients
1.5 oz Tequila
.75 cup water
Ice cubes
Lime or salt

Directions

1. Empty contents of 1 packet into glass.
2. Add 1 jigger (1 ½ oz) of Tequila and stir briskly until dissolved.
3. Stir in ¾ cup water. *
4. Serve over ice.
5. Add lime/ salt for garnish.

Javatini

Recipe courtesy of Coffee Mate

Calories: 120 calories

Ingredients
1/4 cup Espresso
2 Tbsp. Coffee-mate Natural Bliss Sweet Cream Flavor
¾ oz. Vodka
Ice cubes

Directions

1. Fill cocktail shaker with ice and add espresso, Coffee-mate and vodka.
2. Cover and shake for 10 to 15 seconds.
3. Strain into chilled martini glass.
4. NOTE: Try garnishing the rim of the martini glass with grated chocolate. Coat the rim with honey or agave syrup, then dip in grated chocolate.

Pineapple Martini Recipe

Recipe courtesy of My Man’s Belly

Calories: 136

Ingredients
2 Ounces Coconut Rum (I used Malibu Rum)
2 Ounces Pineapple Juice (fresh or canned)
Pineapple Wedge (optional)

Directions

1. In a shaker filled with ice add pineapple rum and juice.
2. Cover and shake vigorously.
3. Strain into martini glass.
4. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and serve.

Pom-tini

Recipe courtesy of POM Wonderful

Calories: 162

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
1 1/2 oz. raspberry or regular vodka
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime
1 oz. simple syrup (equal parts sugar and cold water dissolved together)
Spiraled orange rind for garnish
Ice cubes

Directions

1. Assemble all ingredients in bar or mixing glass.
2. Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
3. Garnish with spiraled orange rind.

POM Fleur

Recipe courtesy of POM Wonderful

Calories: 185

Ingredients
2 oz. POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
2 oz. vodka
1 tsp. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur Preparation:

Directions

1. Stir all the ingredients over ice to chill and strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass.
2. Garnish with a food-grade rose petal or other edible flower if roses are not available.

Skinny Clementine Martini

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker

Calories: 130 calories

Ingredients
Ice cubes
2 tbsps (1 oz) gin or citrus vodka
1 tbsp (1/2 oz) elderflower liqueur or clear orange liqueur
3 tbsps fresh-squeezed clementine juice, fresh-squeezed pink grapefruit juice or pomegranate juice
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsps club soda
Clementine slice, pink grapefruit peel twist or fresh lime slice for garnish

Directions

1.  In cocktail shaker filled with ice, add gin, liqueur and juices. Cover; shake until well mixed.
2. Strain into martini glass; top off with club soda.
3. Garnish as desired.

Grapefruit Vodka

Recipe courtesy of Daryl Thompson of ATM Metabolics

Calories: 187

Ingredients
8oz of grapefruit juice
1 oz shot of vodka

Directions

1. Mix grapefruit juice with vodka, stir and enjoy!

Side note: According to Daryl Thompson, grapefruit contains certain chemicals called flavonoids that have the ability to inhibit or slow the body’s ability to absorb and store carbohydrates. This means the more grapefruit juice you drink, the less likely you will be able to process that holiday cheesecake into fat. Learn how grapefruit can lower your cholesterol, aid in weight loss and improve your health with his book, The Grapefruit Solution.

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12 More Low Calorie Mixed Drink Recipes

Here’s my situation; I am really good about exercising and I count calories to stay in check. My problem is my boyfriend!  For some reason whenever I’m with him I feel like calories don’t count and I end up eating whatever I want. Any ideas for getting out of that mind set?

It can be tough to stick to a diet plan when you’re around certain people.  Why?  Sometimes when you’re around these people your priorities change, you let you’re inhibitions go or perhaps your family or those closest to you eat whatever they want, so the temptation is always there…staring at you..saying eat me!

Either way, we need to learn to deal with these situations.  All the advice I give on this blog is fine and dandy, but the real world always provides tough obstacles that we need to overcome to reach our goals.

So, here is how I proposed that Rachel tackles her problem.  Honestly, it’s a similar problem that I face when I’m around my family and it may hit home with you too!

First of all, if you overindulge every once in a while with your boyfriend then honestly I would say it’s no big deal.  Remember, it’s OK to cheat every now and then.  Go ahead and enjoy!

However, if it occurs regularly then you should explain to your boyfriend your health and diet goals and ask that he helps when he is around.  Maybe you could even get him interested in eating healthy and you could experiment together with healthy low calorie recipes. Support from loved ones can make all the difference.

Another good option is to plan ahead.  If you know you’re going to be around your boyfriend and there’s a good chance you might overindulge, then eat less calories during the day to balance out the extra calories you will be eating later.  A little planning can go a long way.

Lastly, and what most people don’t like to hear, is that you’re in control of your actions.  You obviously know there’s a problem and only you can fix it.  I’m impressed that you’re already controlling your calories and exercising!  You’re already way ahead of most people!  So, I don’t see why in time that you can’t learn to control yourself around your boyfriend.  Just slowly work on it and remember that slow lifestyle changes overtime lead to extraordinary results!

If you have faced and overcome a similar situation, please let us know in the comments below how you have handled it.

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How Do I Eat Healthy When My Family Doesn’t?

Between misleading labels and “healthy” foods unknowingly loaded with sugar and fat, it can be hard to understand what is really good for us and what’s not.

If you’re frustrated by all the marketing hype and popular dieting misconceptions, you’re not alone!  So, to help put an end to a few of the more popular dieting trends and unhealthy eating habits, I put together this little guide to dispel the myths and offer a few healthy alternatives.

Gorging On Energy Bars

A lot of those so-called “energy” or “power” bars are nothing more than a glorified candy bar, packed with processed ingredients sweeteners and saturated fat.  Plus, if you eat these in addition to your regular meals you could easily be consuming an extra couple hundred calories per day!

That doesn’t mean that all energy bars are bad.  When choosing a bar be sure to look at the nutritional information.  Keep the calories under 300 if you’re replacing a meal with it or under 150 calories if you’re eating it as a snack.  Pay close attention to the list of ingredients and look for bars with minimally processed, natural ingredients (typically the fewer ingredients the better).  Bars high in fiber and protein will help fill you up and keep you feeling fuller longer!  A couple of my favorite are Power Crunch Bars and Raw Revolution 100 Calorie Bars.

Replacing Water And Other Drinks With Sports Drinks

The first thing most people reach for when trying to reduce the amount of soda they drink is sports drinks.  They taste better than water and are full of vitamins and minerals so they got to be healthy right?  Not exactly!

Many sports drinks can contain as much sugar and calories as the soda they’re replacing.  As a matter of fact, one 20oz bottle of a leading regular sports drink contains more sugar than what the American Heart Association recommends for an entire day.

But, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck drinking boring ol’ water all the time.  There are many sugar and calorie free sports drinks on the market or you can try making your own flavored drink- just take a glass of water and add some berries, orange slices, cucumber or lemon.

Following New Fad Diets

Unfortunately, fad diets still pop up on a regular basis and they are increasingly being backed by celebrities and bogus promises of rapid weight loss.  From HCG to detoxes to only eating foods that are the color purple, these fad diets are not only worthless for long-term weight loss, they can be downright unhealthy!

There’s only one healthy diet that is time-tested and that’s eating healthy foods, being mindful of your caloric intake and consistently following those two principles!  Can you lose weight with the latest fad diets mentioned above?  Sure, but it’s not typically a healthy way to lose weight and you’re likely to regain the weight back when you return to regular eating habits. Instead of making drastic changes to your diet, create healthy eating and exercise habits to lose weight.  Learn how to make healthy lifestyle changes with our free low calorie diet plan.

Consuming Fat-Free Foods Thinking They Are Low Calorie

Many processed foods like chips and crackers that are low in fat contain just as many calories because the fat was replaced with a filler, like sugar or other processed carbs.

Instead of looking for “low fat” alternatives to your favorite foods, simply enjoy the full fat varieties in moderation.  Fat isn’t necessarily the enemy, as long as you don’t exceed your daily limits, and some fats like mono’s and poly’s are actually healthy for you.

Assuming The Salad You’re Eating Is Healthy

If you think you’re playing it safe by ordering the salad then you might be doing more harm than good!  In fact, many restaurant salads or those pre-made salad kits at the store can pack as many calories as a Big Mac or more!  The Chicken & Spinach Salad from IHOP, for example, contains 1600 calories!

Salads can be healthy without all the high calorie extras piled on top.  Always ask for the dressing on the side and choose low calorie salad dressings like Newman’s Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing. Go easy on the cheese and croutons and when applicable choose grilled chicken over the breaded or fried varieties.  Check out these low calorie salad tips to create a tasty salad without all the calories!

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