When you think of weight gain, what comes to mind? McDonald’s hamburgers? Overweight people? Overweight people gorging down McDonald’s burgers? It’s almost second nature to associate weight gain with crappy junk foods…but what about junk drinks? You may think eating right is integral, but what’s the point of eating a salad if you’re just gonna combine it with a calorie-dense, nutrient-lacking frosty? On the road to a healthy lifestyle, you may slip and fall into these calorie-rich concoctions. To put things into perspective, I’ve determined what exercises you would have to complete in order to burn the calories in each one of your favorite drinks (and these estimates for only one serving size). Some might be worse than you think!
Orange juice is great and all, but Sunny D is pretty much oranges and lots of extra sugar. Even though it’s only 55 calories, I’d stay away from this for the sake of my teeth and blood sugar level. But if you must get your daily dose of Sunny D, you should also walk for and extra 15 minutes to burn the calories off.
“Wine is healthy,” they say. “It’s good for your heart,” they say. If you’re underage, you definitely shouldn’t worry about drinking alcohol to better your heart conditions. Besides, at 126 calories for only 5 ounces, is it even worth the half hour of walking or the 10 minute vigorous swimming session to burn the calories from just one glass?
Ah, America’s godchild. Who doesn’t love a crisp, bubbly sip of coke after a long day of working out? This 25 g-sugar-bomb is 90 calories deep, which at first glance seems okay to guzzle down. That is until you realize that you’ll now need to walk for 20 minutes, jog for 10 or swim for 7 minutes to burn the calories away.
It’s debatable whether or not you actually need to consume Gatorade (if you’re an athlete or not) since the drink is pretty sugary, but if you insist on the 53 calories, then you’ll have to incorporate a walk for 14 minutes or a 6 minute jog into your workout.
Call it what you may, but lemonade isn’t actually just lemon with the aid of water. If it was, a medium Chik-Fil-A lemonade wouldn’t be 232 calories. To burn the calories from this tasty drink, you’re going to need to invest about an hour into briskly walking or 20 minutes swimming.
This drink should already sound like a bad idea. First of all it has candy in it. Are you supposed to drink it or eat it?! Regardless, you’re still gonna have to walk it – 82 minutes of walking or 24 minutes of swimming — to kiss those 294 calories goodbye.
This holiday treat is comprised of milk, cream, sugar, and eggs, which doesn’t sound too bad since everything is (somewhat) natural. But it also contains 344 calories. To burn the calories from this egg smoothie, prep yourself for about a 1 hour and 30 minute walk or 40 minutes of jogging.
Brr, it’s cold outside! Why not warm up with some nice hot chocolate at McDonald’s? Because the trans-fat-sugar-bomb weighs in at 440 calories — and that’s only for one pint. And once you’re warm enough, you can warm yourself even more with the 30 minutes of HIIT…that is, high intensity interval training.
A good rule of thumb when trying to live a healthier life is to avoid Starbucks. Starbucks is the liquid version of McDonald’s! Well, Starbucks may have better ingredients, but this drink right here is about 550 calories: 10 calories more than a Big Mac. Proceed with 2 hours of walking or an hour and 20 minutes of cycling.
C’mon why is this on the list? It has bananas in it—a fruit, for crying out loud. Yeah, you’ll be crying, all right. Crying in that hour long boxing session to burn all 609 calories. Now that’s bananas.
Donuts are a death trap. First of all, you can’t just only have one. Secondly, you almost always need something to wash all that sugar down. Let’s say, coffee (i.e, more sugar). What if I told you that this drink has more calories than that donut? That’s right, at one calorie shy of 800, this mocha coffee has about the same amount of guilt-power as 4 glazed donuts. We wish you the best with over an hour on the row machine just to burn the calories from the coffee alone!
Up for a dare? Go to your closest Cold Stone Creamery and order their PB&C Shake. Order the 14 ounce size and drink the entire thing. Now, you either have the choice to spend 2 hours on the elliptical or play a nice 3-hour-long game of basketball to burn off that 1,287-calorie smoothie. And if you didn’t know already, the PB&C was titled “the worst drink in America” because it has the same amount of fat as 25 slices of bacon.
Compared to foods, this just goes to show that drinks can be equally — if not more —detrimental to your healthy lifestyle. This list should help you come to the conclusion that plain is almost always better. Water is always 0 calorie, meaning 0 mins of walking, cycling, and swimming. When you’re asked what type of drink you would like with that salad, you’re first (and last) thought should probably be….water.
*All calorie/exercise information from Calorie King.
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