Are Empty Calories Hindering Your Fat Loss?

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Here’s a useful tip which most people tend to forget about when dieting:

Reduce your intake of calorie-packing liquids.

Many individuals add on to their meal calories by drinking sodas and juices. Research shows that this just adds calories. In other words, you tend not to reduce your food intake to compensate for this.In terms of calories, it's a whopping change to go from a regular Coke to a Diet Coke. Just think to yourself for a second. If you’re drinking 12 Cokes a week, and believe me, this happens very frequently, you are consuming roughly 1680 empty calories.Now, why do I say empty calories? Well the calories in these sugar filled drinks carry little to no nutritional value. Take a protein shake for instance. If you were to consume 12 shakes a week, you would be adding loads of protein and nutrients to your body which your body could use through the course of the week. Not so much with the others.

Now if you were to drink Diet Coke rather than regular coke, you would be saving almost a half of pound right there, i.e., since there are 3500 calories in a pound.

Now you see how this can add up?

My suggestion?

Replace soft drinks with water all together and limit your intake of fruit juices; use low-fat salad dressing or something else entirely; and forgo sweeteners altogether.

A simple step like having water with your popcorn instead of a keg-sized soft drink can save you 500 calories.

What are some other foods that would fall under the “empty” calorie department?

*Beer, Wine, and other alcohol beverages. A can of beer contains about 150 calories from sugar and not much else. Also, calories from alcohol tend to be stored as fat in the abdomen.

*Candy. Again, lots of calories from sugar but no micro-nutrients.

*French Fries, Fried Chicken, Chips, and all other fried foods. Large fries equal up to 600 calories, not to mention 30 grams of fat and nearly 10 grams of Trans fat. Tons of calories from fat and very little micro-nutrients.

Just remember, keep it simple and smart. Empty calories do nothing for your fat loss goals. Make sure every calorie you put in your body is beneficial to you.

Jennifer Williams (Omaha, NE)

http://www.beconfidentlyfit.com/profile/JenniferWilliams

Let me tell you about the best Personal Trainer ever, Trevor Davis!

Trevor has given me the motivation to push myself, which I really needed, to not only work hard in the gym but to also work hard at eating right to see results and the importance of 'lifestyle change.' And, when I thought things were getting tough he always encouraged me to get back on track.

I have worked with several different Personal Trainers in the past and Trevor is the best one by far. He has extensive knowledge, is passionate about what he does and has a very outgoing, friendly, enthusiastic personality. Trevor really cares about his clients and their individual needs! Every workout was challenging and different which made it fun. I actually looked forward to training with him!

It all started when I was getting ready to do on a vacation to Cancun and of course wanted to get 'toned up'. So once again I decided to work with a Personal Trainer but wanted to try someone new because all the other times I just didn't get the results I thought I should have.

Little did I know that I would actually see the results I did in only 5 weeks. I had enough confidence that I actually went out and bought a bikini, something that I have not owned for 20 years! If that is not cool enough, I also got to buy practically a whole new wardwrobe because of the several inches that I lost!

At the same time we were having a weight / body fat loss program going on at work so I decided to continue to train with Trevor to help me to meet my goals. I not only met them but exceeded them in half the time! I lost over 10% of body fat in only 6 months!

To top it all of my energy level has increased, my balance and agility has greatly improved and I can even see muscles that I didn't even know existed! :)

-Jennifer Williams

Omaha, NE