When watching what you eat and counting your carbs, how many of you forget to add in the odd cup or two or three of coffee or some other calorie-dense drink?

Now I love a (decaf) coffee with the girls or to relax with my family BUT, like all foods and drinks, it’s important to have everything in moderation.

These “social” drinks all count in your daily nutrition tally and can prove to be “costly” if you are counting your carbs and training for fat loss – or even on a maintenance program.

A mug of coffee (flat white, latte, cappuccino style) contains somewhere between 10-15g of carbs. Syrup-flavoured coffees and cold drink alternatives like a Gloria Jean’s vanilla chiller, will contain 2-3 times more carbs than a “normal” coffee, depending on the size of the drink.

You could opt for a black coffee (long black or espresso), which obviously has next to no carbs, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea! Other options are the less calorie-dense piccolo latte (which means a small latte) or a cortado (available at Grind) – served in the small coffee mugs/glasses.

To compound the problem, if you have morning and afternoon tea as well, and/or eat biscuits, chocolates or cake with your coffee, you are sure to be headed for a daily carb blowout.

So if you find yourself pondering why you are not losing weight as you drink your fourth mug of cappuccino for the day, the answer could be right in front of you!

As an extra incentive to reduce your coffees/ teas per day, you could put the money you would have spent into a special “treat” jar and buy yourself a new item of clothing at the end of the month!

“Social” drink comparisons

(300ml mug, except for short black)

DRINK TYPE	CARBS	PROTEIN	FAT
Chai latte, skim milk	23.1	8.8	0.3
Cappuccino, skim milk	13.2	9.3	0.2
Espresso, short black	0.1	0.1	0.0
Flat white or latte, skim milk	12.9	9.3	0.3
Very vanilla chiller, Gloria Jean’s	32.7	4.5	12.3
Hot chocolate, skim, Gloria Jean’s	43.8	10.8	1.5
Iced chocolate, skim, Gloria Jean’s	39.3	6.3	9.3
Tea, black	0.0	0.0	0.0

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