Diet Strategies: Weight Loss Drinks  

Two hundred gallons. That's the amount of liquid the average man guzzles each year. Approximately 34 gallons of beer, 53 gallons of soda, 24 gallons of milk, and a whole lot of gallons of other stuff.

Feeling a bit bloated? You should be. But the great thing about drinking so much is that all you have to do to lose weight is make a few adjustments to the types of drinks you're already pouring down every day. Juice with pulp instead of pulp-free. Green tea instead of regular.

Do it all and you're gulping 35,456 fewer calories in 4 weeks. That's a savings of 10 pounds.

So fill 'er up. This one's on us. And off you.

YOUR A.M. JUICE

Unless you're an astronaut or a skinny 10-year-old boy, trade in your Tang, Sunny D, and pulp-free OJ for the thick stuff -- juice with extra pulp.

It may help you resist the lure of the office bagel basket. Researchers at Purdue University found that people stayed full longer when they drank thick drinks than when they drank thin ones -- even when calories, temperatures, and amounts were equal.

"Thicker drinks help to fight off hunger longer," says Richard Mattes, Ph.D., the study author.

Calories saved in 4 weeks: 5,460

YOUR MIDMORNING BREAK

Even if your taste in tea runs more toward Long Island than iced, there's a reason to consider adding a bit more of the stuff to your diet: It's a natural fat burner. But not just any tea will work.

You need to buy the stuff marked "green."

A Swiss study found that substances in green tea called catechin polyphenols can significantly increase your body's metabolism of fat so you burn the stuff at a faster rate.

You can drink prebrewed greens from Snapple, SoBe, or Arizona, but they're filled with sugar and average more than 200 calories a bottle.

Look for Honest Tea brand instead -- it has just 34 calories per bottle. Or buy tea bags and brew the stuff yourself.

Calories saved in 4 weeks: at least 4,872

LUNCH IN A CAN

Meal replacements really work. In a study presented at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, researchers found that regularly drinking meal replacements increased a man's chances of losing weight and keeping it off for longer than a year.

But which one should you drink? "Men trying to lose weight need about 600 calories per meal, with 25 percent of those calories from protein, 25 percent from fat, and 50 percent from carbohydrates," says Liz Ward, R.D., a Massachusetts nutrition consultant. That's about what you get from this drink:

Strawberry Power Blast

1 c low-fat vanilla yogurt

1 c 1 percent milk

2 tsp peanut butter

1 medium banana

1 1/2 c frozen unsweetened strawberries

2 tsp sugar

2 ice cubes or 1/2 c crushed ice

Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend on high speed until smooth (about 4 to 5 minutes). Drink immediately.

Per serving: 608 calories, 25 grams (g) protein, 106 g carbohydrates, 11 g total fat

Calories saved in 4 weeks: 9,856

YOUR AFTERNOON INDULGENCE

Need something thick and creamy from a drive-thru? Head to White Castle. The damage from its regular chocolate shake is just 220 calories, compared with a small McDonald's chocolate shake, which has 360 calories. Burger King is nearly as bad, with 305 calories per small shake, but Dairy Queen wins the crown for the most fattening shake going: A small DQ chocolate shake is packed with 560 calories.

Calories saved in 4 weeks: 9,520

SODA FOR THE DRIVE HOME

The best place to get used to the taste of diet soda is a minimart, according to Ward. The soda at those places is always ice cold. "The colder a diet soda is when you're drinking it, the less you'll notice the difference in taste," she says.

Or try hitting the self-serve drink station at a fast-food place. "If you can't stand diet but want to start drinking it, try filling your cup three-fourths of the way with regular soda and topping it off with diet," says Ward. "Then gradually adjust the ratio until you can wean yourself off regular altogether."

Calories saved in 4 weeks: 2,024

YOUR EVENING BEER

There's nothing wrong with "lite" beer, unless you count not tasting anything like the real thing.

Unfortunately, a bottle of Sam Adams or Heineken can set you back around 170 calories. Here are some better regular beer choices:

Beer

Calories per 12-oz bottle

Cerveza Tecate:110

Keystone:122

Busch:133

Calories saved in 4 weeks: at least 1,036

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