Hi all,

I reached goal not long ago and am trying to fine-tune my maintenance regimen to make it as satisfying as possible. Right now I weigh 145 lbs and consume about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day. About 350 of those calories are in liquid form: 6 oz wine with dinner (150 cals), 1/2 cup juice with sparkling water (75 cals), 3 cups coffee with milk and 1/2 sugar (total 100 cals), and one cup tea with a little honey and pressed ginger (25 cals). (I occasionally have soup for dinner or milk with cereal for breakfast, which further adds to the liquid calories, but it somehow feels different.)

I'm wondering if I would enjoy my maintenance regimen more if I cut the number of liquid calories down to about 200, which would give me 150 extra calories of food to "play with."

How about you? How much of your caloric allotment do you "spend" on liquids? Does it feel right or would you like to go higher/lower?

TIA Freelance

Usually 0. I only drink water. There are exceptions, like drinking wine or having a cocktail but it is not an every day thing and I try to plan it into my calories. I do love soup, but I don't really count it as drinking.. and if it was soup that I was "drinking" it would be my homemade chicken stock, which is low calorie.

25 calories from a diet swiss miss hot chocolate. Otherwise I drink tea, water and diet coke.

I do drink a glass or two of crystal light every now and then, which amounts to 10-20 calories.

I don't like coffee or alcohol, so I guess it makes it a bit easier for me to avoid liquid calories.

I just count total calories. I don't differentiate between liquid and solid.

It used to be 0 since I only drink water. I would maybe have a glass of apple juice one every 3 months (so 120 calories).... However, 3 weeks ago my husband introduced me to a French Vanilla Cappuccino Supreme from the local coffee shop. I could have one of those a day. A small runs at 280 calories. I have promised myself that I will only ever get them on the weekends, and that I will budget for them ahead of time. Mhmmmm

The most it ever is would be 120 calories when I have a can of gingerale once in a while but normally it is zero. I only drink water and tea for the most part.

Very little - just 2 tablespoons of half & half with my coffee in the morning, which runs about 20 - 45 calories depending on the brand. Like, if I use the fat free version which I buy myself, or the full fat version at Starbucks. Other than that, I drink water and tea with splenda. Oh, and the occasional tall skim latte.

About 120, all milk. 40 in the morning with my cereal and 80 in the evening with dinner. I HATE to spend edible calories on liquids!

Btw, that doesn't change if I'm maintaining or trying to lose (like right now).

Never thought about it. Milk is probably the only true liquid calories I consume and I try to go for skim, and, generally its in my coffee, latte or cereal.

I don't drink alcohol or fruit juice. V8 low sodium occasionally, only 50 calories.

Sometimes, however, I have Glucerna diabetic meal replacement, 200 calories, instead of breakfast/lunch.

Soup? I eat soup occasionally - but its so full of "stuff" - the liquid broth is kind of inconsequential.

well the only calories that are liquid for me is my coffee in the moring. other than that i find that its not worth wasting the calories. for me liquid doesnt make me full so i drink mostly water and the occasional tea.

Usually just milk in my cereal (45 cal). This week I have been making a 350-cal protein shake for breakfast and although it is very filling, it's not all that satisfying, if that makes sense. My mouth wants to know why it isn't chewing

I drink black coffee and water, sometimes a little bit of tea with lemon and honey most days. On weekends I usually add in some alcohol (which is why my weight isn't really going anywhere!)

For most of my weight-loss process, I continued to use whole milk in my coffee, counting the calories for it (I allowed about one cup of milk per day, spread over 3-4 cups of coffee). I have never taken sugar in my coffee, just the milk. At the time, I thought I would never ever be able to give that up.

About six months ago, maybe a little longer now even, I decided to give one more try to drinking coffee black. I was getting closer to a healthy weight, needing to shave more calories from my diet, and 150 calories per day of milk was just glaring at me as an obvious place to do that.

So, I tried. And I found that I was able to do it. It took a little getting used to but not much. If it's good quality coffee brewed in a clean machine, I can enjoy the flavor of it without using milkfat to cut it.

I still like coffee with milk, and occasionally I will have some. But for my every-day coffee, I am very happy to have cut it out.

Now, the only calories I get in liquid form are the 1/2 cup of skim milk or almond milk on my cereal on weekday mornings, and the very, very occasional alcoholic drink (once or twice a month).

Like Carter, I've gotten used to drinking black coffee, and most of the time, that's how I'll have it. I still like it with half-and-half, though, so occasionally, I'll have 1-2 tbsp of it (so 20-40 calories).

Every night I have two cups of espresso with a teaspoon of Sambucca in each, so the Sambucca comes to 16 calories per tsp (so a total of 32 calories). That's the only liquid calories I have on a regular basis (although I know black coffee has calories, I don't count them; I figure the metabolic effect of the caffeine burns off those calories ).

Occasionally, I'll have wine or a cappuccino, but that's not a routine.

You could shave some calories off your coffee by using a noncalorie sweetener. I don't use artifical anything, but there are some all natural, good tasting sweeteners. My sister just found one in Whole Foods made by Nu Naturals because she wanted to cut the calories fr/ her coffee. She doesn't like any artifical sweetener nor does she like stevia or anything with stevia. However, she said this Nu Naturals product has no aftertaste & tastes exactly like sugar. I haven't tried it yet, but I want to.

Usually about 20-30. I use the crystal light packs in my water sometimes. Now if I have milk with cereal for breakfast it is more, but that is pretty rare.