How do you make whole milk have less fat? My mom always buys it and I am trying to lose weight. I was wondering if boiling it makes it have less fat? Maybe skimming the top layer? Or would filling a cup with 4oz and 4oz of water is a better idea? Thanks!

I usually buy alternative milk but she gets mad when I don't use what she buys

Also I am making right size smoothies in the morning that are chocolate so I won't notice the taste of the milk too much but I am doing this to try to lower that fat content/calories.

If you're mostly just using the milk to make smoothies, and you don't much like the taste of milk anyhow, I'd totally mix it with water! Or even ice, mmm. The smoothies will still be tasty, and like you said, fewer calories and fat.

yeah drink less of it, or add water to it. Also, just tell your mom you don't want it, maybe you can meet in the middle and get 1 or 2%

If your mom won't buy lower fat milk, maybe she'll buy a box of dry milk powder for you. It won't spoil, and it's nonfat. I think 1/3 cup of dry milk powder makes 1 cup of milk (check the box to make sure) so you can add that to your other smoothie ingredients with water. You'll get your calcium and protein, but it's very low calorie in comparison

Can I just say that you're already at a healthy weight for your height....

I agree with the powdered milk suggestion, though .

Or maybe you can just buy your own milk. Or not drink it every day and take a calcium supplement and only drink it on occasion. Or ask your mom to buy 2%. Or you could just not care if she gets mad at you for buying alternative milk.

But simply put, drinking whole milk will not prevent you from losing weight, unless you drink like a gallon a day (or some obscene amount). I hate to say it, but this is such a minor part of your diet. If you eat healthy and exercise, whether you drink 2% or whole milk won't really matter. Sure, whole is more fattening, but if you cut out fat in other areas of your diet, it won't matter. It's like with juice. Juice may be high in sugar, but if you drink it in moderation and watch the sugar in other areas of your diet, you won't gain weight. And, dairy is actually a good fat in moderation, like avocados. You just can't overindulge. And, some people argue that incorporating dairy into your diet, like yogurt and drinking milk can help you lose weight.

Also, mixing milk and water makes it taste quite disgusting so I wouldn't recommend doing half water, half milk.

Honestly, I think you're overthinking and freaking out about something that's very minor. And like someone above said, you're in the normal weight range for your BMI. So at that point, drinking whole milk will not make you fat.

Though if you like to drink it, be forewarned - dry milk does not taste that great.

My husband works at a milk bottling plant and he said he would never drink whole milk, says it is yucky, yucky, yucky! He says they have to "make" the milk after it comes in and is pastureized by adding fat and stuff.

I've never understood why people drink whole milk. I've always drank 2%, sometimes 1%.

There is no way to make it have less fat. American milk is homogenized so we don't have to shake the milk everytime we use like back in the "olden" days. They shoot the milk through a really fine nozzle to break up the fat globules. As a result, the butterfat does not rise to the top and the milk is creamier.

My dh likes whole milk so I buy it for him, when I want some milk I just drink less of it-like 1/2 cup instead of 1 cup. And really, I like whole milk better. After years of forcing myself to drink skim milk, I feel like I'm getting a treat when I drink whole because it's so rich. How sad is that?

Sarah in MD

We were struggling with this issue in our house. We have two toddlers and babies are supposed to drink whole milk until they're about two. I'm not a big milk drinker (usually just for coffee) but I didn't want to drink whole milk when I drank any. I tried to buy just a half gallon of skim milk (or less) but even that ended up being pretty wasteful. Now that my kids are a little older we've all switched to drinking 2% milk, and it's working out well.

So maybe have your mom buy you a half gallon of skim and then a smaller amount of whole milk for herself? Or as others suggested, try compromising around 2%. I always hear that if you're going to switch down from whole milk, do it slowly...don't go right to skim milk. That allows you time to get used to the difference without feeling cheated.