Do you know how many calories are in that cup?

Many patients are blissfully unaware of how many calories are contained in the beverages they consume. This is a very important issue when it comes to weight gain, maintenance, and loss.

Case in point: a patient received the wrong shipment of beverages at his office. Instead of diet Cream Soda, they delivered regular Cream Soda. Not thinking much of it, he continued to consume his regular intake of  2 1-liter bottles of Cream Soda over the course of each day. After 3 months, he had gained 15 pounds. How is this possible?

Let’s turn to the math:

It takes 3500 excess calories to create a pound of fat. So my patient needed to consume 52,500 extra calories in 90 days. Could he do it?

Each liter of soda contains 480 calories.

He had 64 working days in 3 months.

480 x 2  x 64 = 61,440

So there you have it. He consumed more than enough extra calories to put on the 15 pounds and then some.

So please remember, beverages play a crucial role in weight gain, maintenance, and loss. Increasing the calorie amount in beverages is a great way to improve efforts towards weight gain, while decreasing calories in beverages is a great way to help balance out a disproportionate diet.

Now get hydrated, and do it smart.