Energy drinks and dieting

fierystormcloud

OK, so my sister (45) has always had a weight problem, and is currently at 15 stone 3 and 5 ft 2. She has been trying everything to lose weight for years. She went down to 12 stone (around mid 2010) and then it gradually crept back up to 15 by early 2013, and she has not managed to get it to drop below 14 and a half since.

This past 4-5 months, she has been quite good with her eating, even spending 6 weeks on less than 1500 calories a day. Result: 0 pounds lost in that 6 weeks. She did lose 2 pounds at one point during the 6 weeks, but it went back on. She gets reasonable exercise (walks 2-3 miles a day,) but she doesn't go to the gym or anything.

Upshot is; she has got into this habit for the last year to year and a half, of guzzling blue charge and red bull; probably a litre bottle every other day. (It is the sugar free by the way...) She says she heard (over a year ago,) that this helps you lose weight, but I saw a feature in the paper the other week, where a woman (about 29 y.o.) said she lost 4 stone in around 8 months, when she cut out the energy drinks.

Can anyone throw any light on this please? Would sugar free energy drinks be OK when you're attempting to lose weight? Or would they stall weight loss?

fairy_lights

Well caffeine supposedly speeds up your metabolism so could help weight loss, lots of diet pills have a high caffeine content or other ingredients that speed up the metabolism. But that kind of thing is a quick fix and I think we all know that diet pills and other quick fixes don't really work for long term weight loss. Plus so much caffeine can't be good for her health - is she drinking tea and coffee on top of the energy drinks?
I suspect the woman you read about who lost weight after giving up energy drinks had been drinking ones containing a lot of sugar.
To be honest, there's no way your sister wouldn't have lost weight if she genuinely had stuck to 1500 calories a day for six weeks. I suspect she was either cheating and secretly snacking, or was vastly underestimating the number of calories in her food.

asajj

fierystormcloud wrote: »

This past 4-5 months, she has been quite good with her eating, even spending 6 weeks on less than 1500 calories a day. Result: 0 pounds lost in that 6 weeks. She did lose 2 pounds at one point during the 6 weeks, but it went back on. She gets reasonable exercise (walks 2-3 miles a day,) but she doesn't go to the gym or anything.

Upshot is; she has got into this habit for the last year to year and a half, of guzzling blue charge and red bull; probably a litre bottle every other day. (It is the sugar free by the way...) She says she heard (over a year ago,) that this helps you lose weight, but I saw a feature in the paper the other week, where a woman (about 29 y.o.) said she lost 4 stone in around 8 months, when she cut out the energy drinks.

Can anyone throw any light on this please? Would sugar free energy drinks be OK when you're attempting to lose weight? Or would they stall weight loss?

Could it be that she isn't eat properly / eating less than she should? Daily calories are not set on the stone for everyone. It will change according to person's age, sex etc.

Yes if you do drink energy drinks or coke (both full of sugar) everyday at high amounts or cappucino and similar hot drinks, cutting them would help losing weight. However doesn't mean it will help everyone.

Tell her to get on My Fitness Pal and track her food - also she can add her exercise to it. However If someone is let's say size 16 - expecting them to drop to size 8-10 is not really realistic. Especially at her sister's age.

fierystormcloud

fairy_lights wrote: »

Well caffeine supposedly speeds up your metabolism so could help weight loss, lots of diet pills have a high caffeine content or other ingredients that speed up the metabolism. But that kind of thing is a quick fix and I think we all know that diet pills and other quick fixes don't really work for long term weight loss. Plus so much caffeine can't be good for her health - is she drinking tea and coffee on top of the energy drinks?
I suspect the woman you read about who lost weight after giving up energy drinks had been drinking ones containing a lot of sugar.
To be honest, there's no way your sister wouldn't have lost weight if she genuinely had stuck to 1500 calories a day for six weeks. I suspect she was either cheating and secretly snacking, or was vastly underestimating the number of calories in her food.

Hmmmm, good point, but she swears she lost nothing, and did stick to it, but as you say, maybe she underestimated the calories in her food. And that is why she wondered if it was the energy drinks.

asajj wrote: »

Could it be that she isn't eat properly / eating less than she should? Daily calories are not set on the stone for everyone. It will change according to person's age, sex etc.

Yes if you do drink energy drinks or coke (both full of sugar) everyday at high amounts or cappucino and similar hot drinks, cutting them would help losing weight. However doesn't mean it will help everyone.

Tell her to get on My Fitness Pal and track her food - also she can add her exercise to it. However If someone is let's say size 16 - expecting them to drop to size 8-10 is not really realistic. Especially at her sister's age.

Thing is, it is the sugar free energy drinks she has. I guess the full sugar ones would be bad, but would the sugar free ones not be OK?

She does have a couple of cappucinos a day though, and she has about 10 mints a day. And 2 or 3 shortcake biscuits a day. Could be the sugar mounting up.

Fluff15

fierystormcloud wrote: »

Hmmmm, good point, but she swears she lost nothing, and did stick to it, but as you say, maybe she underestimated the calories in her food. And that is why she wondered if it was the energy drinks.

Thing is, it is the sugar free energy drinks she has. I guess the full sugar ones would be bad, but would the sugar free ones not be OK?

She does have a couple of cappucinos a day though, and she has about 10 mints a day. And 2 or 3 shortcake biscuits a day. Could be the sugar mounting up.

Anything with a chemical list in it with words you cannot pronounce is not okay when you're trying to lose weight. Studies have shown that diet fizzy directly interferes with the metabolism and other risks such as headaches, dizziness, caffeine withdrawal and type 2 diabetes.

The cappuchinos are 300/400 calories a pop. One shortbread finger, 90-100 calories, each mint, 10 calories. All full of sugar and she'll be eating a lot more than she realises.

I bet she's eating bad food still but reducing the calories, which will do absolutely nothing. She'd be better of kicking all the diet foods and treats, and only eating 1500-1700 calories of wholesome foods.

Porridge/wholegrains for breakfast, chicken/fish salad with low GI carbs for lunch, something similar for dinner. Snacks should be fruit, vegetables, nuts, greek yoghurt. No 'diet' ready meals, no 'low-fat' substitutes.

If she's used to walking every day, her body won't respond to that type of exercise. She needs to up the intensity and duration. There's lot of free workouts on youtube, I recommend 30 day shred, davina's 7 minute fit, pop pilates.

fierystormcloud

Fluff15 wrote: »

Anything with a chemical list in it with words you cannot pronounce is not okay when you're trying to lose weight. Studies have shown that diet fizzy directly interferes with the metabolism and other risks such as headaches, dizziness, caffeine withdrawal and type 2 diabetes.

The cappuchinos are 300/400 calories a pop. One shortbread finger, 90-100 calories, each mint, 10 calories. All full of sugar and she'll be eating a lot more than she realises.

I bet she's eating bad food still but reducing the calories, which will do absolutely nothing. She'd be better of kicking all the diet foods and treats, and only eating 1500-1700 calories of wholesome foods.

Porridge/wholegrains for breakfast, chicken/fish salad with low GI carbs for lunch, something similar for dinner. Snacks should be fruit, vegetables, nuts, greek yoghurt. No 'diet' ready meals, no 'low-fat' substitutes.

If she's used to walking every day, her body won't respond to that type of exercise. She needs to up the intensity and duration. There's lot of free workouts on youtube, I recommend 30 day shred, davina's 7 minute fit, pop pilates.

:T:T:T Brilliant response.

Are you a fitness and nutrition expert? That is very solid and helpful information. Thanks so much.

She DOES suffer from headaches some days, and I wondered if that could be connected to the energy drinks?

And yes you're right that she needs additional exercise. As well as walking. I did wonder about the sugary mints and shortbread fingers too. Shocked about the cappuccino calorie content.

So if she has just one cappuccino a day and cuts OUT the shortbread fingers and the mints, and has an additional 20 mins exercise a day, this would help? She does like her biscuits - and chocolate - but does not appear to have a lot. It's pinpointing exactly what the problem is with her lack of weight loss though.. Could be (as you said,) the high sugar content overall with all the bits and bobs.

Thank you! :j

tomtontom

fierystormcloud wrote: »

Hmmmm, good point, but she swears she lost nothing, and did stick to it, but as you say, maybe she underestimated the calories in her food. And that is why she wondered if it was the energy drinks.



Thing is, it is the sugar free energy drinks she has. I guess the full sugar ones would be bad, but would the sugar free ones not be OK?

She does have a couple of cappucinos a day though, and she has about 10 mints a day. And 2 or 3 shortcake biscuits a day. Could be the sugar mounting up.

Was she having all that when she was calorie counting?

She may be better suited to Slimming World or Weight Watchers, where she doesn't have to work out the calorific values. But what I would suggest first is keeping an honest diary of her food intake - writing down everything - seeing it in black and white might prompt her to acknowledge where she is going wrong.

asajj

fierystormcloud wrote: »

Thing is, it is the sugar free energy drinks she has. I guess the full sugar ones would be bad, but would the sugar free ones not be OK?

She does have a couple of cappucinos a day though, and she has about 10 mints a day. And 2 or 3 shortcake biscuits a day. Could be the sugar mounting up.

Cappucino is not only sugar but also fat (assuming full milk) so bad ! If she wants coffee, should stick with Americano, black coffee and occasional skinny cappucino etc! As you say, sugar mounting up!
That's why MyfitnessPal is good - you discover that a lot of food you think as harmless contain a lot of calories!

So if she has just one cappuccino a day and cuts OUT the shortbread fingers and the mints, and has an additional 20 mins exercise a day, this would help? She does like her biscuits - and chocolate - but does not appear to have a lot. It's pinpointing exactly what the problem is with her lack of weight loss though.. Could be (as you said,) the high sugar content overall with all the bits and bobs.

I wouldn't try to get a precise answer - it might or it might not. The best would be to cut it ALL. If a cappucino has 300 cals this requires intense workout to burn assuming time is limited.
Everyone likes chocolate and biscuits but it doesn't work that way
We can't pinpoint the exact issue - she needs to see an expert. It might be a health issue preventing to lose weight or perhaps just what she eats.

Fluff15 gave great advice already. Read what Low-GI diet means for more information if you want.

fairy_lights

fierystormcloud wrote: »

She does like her biscuits - and chocolate - but does not appear to have a lot. It's pinpointing exactly what the problem is with her lack of weight loss though

What sort of things does she eat for her main meals?

Fluff15

fierystormcloud wrote: »

:T:T:T Brilliant response.

Are you a fitness and nutrition expert? That is very solid and helpful information. Thanks so much.

She DOES suffer from headaches some days, and I wondered if that could be connected to the energy drinks?

And yes you're right that she needs additional exercise. As well as walking. I did wonder about the sugary mints and shortbread fingers too. Shocked about the cappuccino calorie content.

So if she has just one cappuccino a day and cuts OUT the shortbread fingers and the mints, and has an additional 20 mins exercise a day, this would help? She does like her biscuits - and chocolate - but does not appear to have a lot. It's pinpointing exactly what the problem is with her lack of weight loss though.. Could be (as you said,) the high sugar content overall with all the bits and bobs.

Thank you! :j

Not an expert, but I know how to lose weight and am a big fan of fueling my body the right way I do a lot of research on it, could never do it as a job but it interests me greatly.

Yes, too much caffeine is bad as you'll get withdrawal symptoms. Caffeine is a drug, treat it like any other - you become reliant on it. Two cups of tea/coffee is the recommended limit - so all that in the diet energy drink plus coffee is no good. Also may be from not drinking enough water, get her to up her water drinking to around 2L a day. If she is burning fat, it will be released into her body and excreted through breath, sweat and pee, so water will help her flush it out.

One cappuchino is better, or if she can make the switch to black coffee even moreso. Then, save the cappuccinos for the weekend as a treat.

If she feels like she's missing out, a lot of people incorporate a cheat meal or day, where if you want to have something bad - go for it! It helps keep the balance of what is good/bad and you don't feel more inclined to binge or overeat at other times.

Also get her to not think of it as a diet - diets suggest they are temporary, it's a lifestyle change. Recent studies have found that sugar is the culprit for obesity, rather than fat. So cutting out sugar will definitely help.

Those exercise things I posted are around 20 minutes, if she incorporates one of those 3 days a week, in addition to her walking and cutting out sugar, I think she'll start to see changes

fierystormcloud

tomtontom wrote: »

Was she having all that when she was calorie counting?

She may be better suited to Slimming World or Weight Watchers, where she doesn't have to work out the calorific values. But what I would suggest first is keeping an honest diary of her food intake - writing down everything - seeing it in black and white might prompt her to acknowledge where she is going wrong.

Ummmm, yes. :rotfl:

fairy_lights wrote: »

What sort of things does she eat for her main meals?

Quite good stuff tbh. Made from scratch stir frys (with olive oil,) and salads, most of the time. But it does appear to be the sugary stuff from what everyone here has said.

Thanks SO much for all your help. I am seeing her in an hour. I will tell her all this information.

Oh hang on......

So the upshot is that is probably NOT the energy drinks stalling her weight loss then? More likely the sugary stuff?