Coffee in itself isn’t so bad for your weight loss goals- in fact, a small caffeine hit in the morning can actually help get your metabolism started and make your body burn more fat. But when you add all the sugars, syrups, powders and whipped creams that gourmet coffee franchises like Gloria Jeans and Starbucks offer, you might be packing in far more calories than you realise. In fact, one study suggested that consuming one of these gourmet coffees each day could result in gaining up to 10kg a year. Here’s why you should be cautious with your coffee…

When you walk into any popular coffee chain, you’ll be faced with a delicious-looking menu of hot and cold drinks, from hazelnut mocha chillers to caramel white hot chocolates and everything in between. It’s hard to just stick to your skinny latte or long black when there are so many tempting options on offer. But resisting will do you a big favour. Many of those drinks pack in more than 100% of the recommended daily intake of sugar and saturated fat- often up to 400 times the amount of calories in a long black.

The biggest culprits are the cold, cream-filled chocolate and coffee drinks that are growing increasingly popular. Most of the iced coffees have so much sugar that they don’t even taste like coffee- which means you’ll be able to get through a jumbo-sized cup in no time. And once you add the whipped cream and caramel topping, you could be consuming over 800 calories without even realising it.

For example…

• A regular-sized Coco Loco Mocha Chiller from Gloria Jeans has 428 calories and 78.8 of fat- 121% of the recommended daily intake. You would need to do at least 45 minutes on the exercise bike to work it off.
• A grande (regular-sized) White Hot Chocolate from Starbucks has 410 calories and 12 grams of fat. Once you add whipped cream, you get up to 490 calories and 19 grams of fat. It would take 45 minutes of swimming to reverse the damage.
• A large Irish Nut Crème from Gloria Jeans has 364 calories, with 46.8g of fat. You would need to run for 31 minutes to burn that amount of calories.
• A grande Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks has 400 calories and 9 grams of fat. Whipped cream makes it 520 calories with 20g of fat. You would need to do an hour and fifteen minutes of aerobics to burn it off.
• A regular Tim Tam Iced Chocolate from Gloria Jeans has 534 calories, with 59.4g of fat. You would have to walk for an hour and 40 minutes to work that one off.

Ordering smart

But you can avoid the extra calories and still get your morning coffee hit from Starbucks or Gloria Jeans- they’re not completely evil! It just pays to be more cautious when you order and choose options that aren’t going to ruin your diet. Be wary of adding flavours, whipped cream and other toppings. These extras quickly add up- a serve of whipped cream usually has at least 60 calories and over 6 grams of fat- and if consumed every day will make a real difference to your diet plan.

If you are addicted to those iced mocha caramel lattes, make a decision to have one only once a week as a special treat- and when you do, try to resist the ridiculously huge jumbo size. For example, a venti-sized Vanilla Frappuccino from Starbucks is 440 calories (without whipped cream), while choosing the tall size will take you down to 230 calories- almost half!

For your normal, every-morning caffeine hit, try to stick to traditional unflavoured coffees, like a skinny latte or a long black. Most coffee chains will automatically use full-cream milk unless told otherwise, so make sure you request skinny milk- you won’t even taste the difference, I promise! Keep the size to a regular at the biggest, and if you need more caffeine to wake up, ask for an extra shot rather than upsizing, so you can save on the calories in the extra milk. By making those small changes, you’ll be saving quite a few calories. A large latte with full cream milk from Gloria Jeans has 213 calories, while a regular size with skim milk gets you down to 92 calories. If you’re drinking coffee everyday, saving those calories will make a real difference.