Drinks. We all need them, but are you being sensible with your choices. It’s surprising how much difference the right drink can make to your calorie intake. Many people work hard on their food intake and exercise but drinks can get forgotten. Extra liquid calories end up sneaking in without you being aware.

With a coffee shop on every corner it’s easy to be wooed by the delicious sounding drinks, however your favourite beverage may have more calories in than you think. Take a coffee for example: Latte, Cappucino, Americano, added syrups, sprinkles, small, medium, large, the possibilites are endless. An average large latte provides 340 kcal, equivalent to many people’s breakfast. A large Cappucino can be 200 kcals which is the size of a snack, whilst a large Americano is only 23 kcals.

Looking at cold drinks an average smoothie can be 150 kcals and an energy drink such as Lucozade 266 kcals. Having these drinks regularly could lead to your taking in more calories than you should be and prevent you achieving your weight loss goals.

Lower calorie drinks include:  No added sugar squash, all types of tea (earl grey, darjeeling, redbush, herbal and fruit), low calorie hot chocolate, diet drinks and the best choice of all is always water.

This post was originally written and published on the Slimsticks site.