[tigerchic89]

I used to drink tea all of teh time when I was pg (mostly herbal caff free). Since teh birth of my last baby, I have been increading my coffee intake. Mostly for teh kick b/c I feel tired often, but I have also grown to really like the taste.

I usually have 2 cups in teh morning: 1c coffee, 1c skim milk, 2T half half. I have recently added mid morning and early afternoon each an iced coffee: 1c ice cubes, 1c skim milk, 2T whipping cream, 1 c coffee. So that's 4-6 cups of coffee a day, and with all of teh dairy it adds up to be a signifigant % of my daily calories. (today it was almost 500 calories and 12g of fat.. just in coffee)

In my defense (LOL), I don;t drink anythign else except water all day long (occasionally at social events, once every 2-3 weeks, I will have a few glasses of red wine or a few beers) Teh coffee milk is my only dairy intake excpt for yogurt/kefir every 2-3 days, some cheese (usually in salads), or if I eat a bowl of cereal (2-3 times a week).

Wanna talk me into switching to tea? Maybe I will try having tea in teh mornings, and "saving" teh iced coffee that I truly enjoy and look forward to, for an afternoon treat/pick me up. Thoughts/advice??? TIA!

[traveling michele]

Well......
As you may know, it takes a reduction of 3500 calories to lose a pound....
So, if you are consuming 500 calories per day in coffees and you cut that out alone, you will lose 1 pound per week! That would be incentive enough to me!
Personally, I try not to "drink" my calories. I like to eat way too much! I do have an occasional coffee drink but it is always with non fat milk and maybe just one or two a week.
I love flavored teas and consider them a treat.
Good luck with your "habit"!

[BlueToBlue]

There's nothing wrong with drinking coffee in moderation and it sounds like the actual amount of coffee you are drinking is only 2 cups a day, it just equals 4-6 cups because of all the stuff you are adding to it (unless I've misunderstood you). 2 cups a day of coffee definitely counts as moderation and may even be good for you (there's some evidence that drinking even caffeinated coffee in moderation can prevent heart disease, diabetes, and Parkinson's).

So I don't think the coffee itself is a problem. But because you are adding so much stuff to it, as Michelle says, you are consuming a lot of calories in beverages. I don't drink beverages with calories because they aren't very filling and, like Michelle, I like to eat too much to waste my precious calories on them. But if you're going to use part of your daily calorie allotment for beverages, than dairy, especially nonfat dairy, isn't really bad way to go. You are getting lots of calcium and the milk also has some protein in it. But I would be starving if I used 500 of my calories for the day for beverages (that's around one-third of my calories for the day). So I think you might want to start drinking your coffee with less stuff in it or switch to tea, if you'll be able to drink tea without all the extra stuff.

I drink my coffee with 1 tbsp fat free half and half and 1 tbsp SF Torani syrup. It works out to 10 calories per cup and I'm quite satisfied with it this way. It's probably just that I've been eating FF dairy for so long, but I can't tell the difference between FF half and half and regular half and half.

[WaterRat]

I agree with what Barbara and Michele have said - you're not drinking coffee, you're drinking flavored milk. I love coffee, and about 90% of the time I drink it black. (The other 10% is lattes made with ff milk - usually about 2x a week). If you drink tea unadulterated, I'd say go back to tea! If you add as much to your tea, then I'd consider learning to drink either beverage with a lot less added calories.

[suecd]

One thing about tea is that it's less tempting to put half and half or cream in it (at least for me). I don't drink coffee mostly because it makes me very jumpy, and I have to put in so much milk and sugar to make it palatable that it becomes something else.

But I love good black tea, and I drink several large mugs every morning and often one in the afternoon--I put a teaspoon of sugar (or a bit less) and some 1% milk in, so the calories add up to between 50 - 100, depending on how many cups I drink. For me, that's totally worth it. I don't want to train myself to drink black tea or tea without any sugar. But I also don't drink much else that has any calories in it.

It seems like you could try putting less stuff in your coffee, and/or swapping some of it out for tea, also with less stuff in it.

[AndLy]

I drink one soy latte every morning. 1 cup coffee, 3/4 cup soy milk, and a shot of sf torani syrup...all over ice. It's delicious.

[tigerchic89]

Thanks for all of teh input. This is what I am going to do: On the weekends, I will brew coffee, dh is around on teh weekends and will drink a cup too. On weekday mornings (when I really want teh caffeine, LOL), I'm drinking tea. 1 bag id black 1 bad of green with .5c of skim milk. I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would.. for 40 cals in teh am instead of 200+ .

In the afternoon, if I REALLY want my iced coffee, I will brew a small pot and make it. But I'm sure there will be many busy days that I will skip it all together.