Thursday, June 11, 2009

RIP triple triple

I had a rude awakening the other day when Red and I were discussing calories and the problems with losing weight. I have a habit of not counting my coffee or tea in my daily calories because I thought coffee and tea were basically free with the exception of the sugar and cream or milk used in them. Since I don't use sugar in my hot beverage and the amount of cream I would use is what I considered negligible, I figured it wasn't hurting me. Boy was i wrong!

Half and half cream is a killer in the calories department, approximately 20 calories per tablespoon. And I know I use more than that in a cup of coffee or tea, probably the equivalent of 3 or 4 anyway raising the calorie count to 60 or 80 in addition to the few calories already existing in the beverage itself. So imagine my shock, and Reds, when we googled the calorie count of an extra large triple triple from Tim Hortons, God of all that is coffee in Canada, and realized it comes in at about 420! That's way more than 3 tablespoons of sugar and cream each in one cup. Go figure that a fast food place would find a way to increase the calorie count of something as simple as a cup of coffee. I guess if McDonalds and the like can make a salad upwards of a thousand calories then anything is possible.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. Replace the cream with milk and the coffee takes on a whole different taste, same when you cut or replace the sugar. Tim Hortons coffee is highly addictive and people who drink it love it. No wonder when it basically tastes like dessert, so sweet and rich. People are always saying they put something in the coffee to make it addictive, to me its just all the cream and sugar that makes it so good. I've had Timmys with Splenda and milk and its quite a different experience.

While i was sick a couple of years ago, I lost my taste for coffee and switched to tea with sweetener and milk. At work, I'd use cream in my tea because I do love the richness of it, but when I'd order a tea, I'd get milk. It has only been recently that i rediscovered my love of the triple triple and thankfully after only a couple of weeks, I've realized the truth about its calorie content. This would help explain some of Red's problems losing weight and mine for that matter. I was enjoying about 2 of these drinks a day so that's an additional 800 calories I wasn't accounting for! That's more than a pound a week! Now at work, I've switched to 1% milk in my tea, I'd prefer 2% at least, but the cafeteria doesn't seem to offer any middle ground here, its either half and half, 1% or skim.

So this change should yield results in the coming days. I stepped on the scale this morning just for a look and it read 215, the same as last Friday. I'm not concerned really, as I did drop 5lb last week and until Tuesday was still enjoying those 400 calorie coffees. I'm still in the gym first thing in the mornings and taking a cardio class roughly 4x a week in the evenings so things have to keep going down I'd think. I did screw up a bit last night at dinner, we had a couple pieces of steak leftover from the weekend that needed to be eaten so I enjoyed those which wasn't a problem except that Red cooked up some Kraft dinner for her dinner as she's sick and wanted something soft and easy, so I shared in that too. Add in some roasted veggies and it was a bit more than I required. Of course I did drink one of my banana smoothies later on which I certainly didn't need, so while the day wasn't a write off by any means, it probably didn't help my weight loss goals.

Tonight I am taking a cardio attack class at the gym and I'll be enjoying some roasted veggies for dinner in addition to some leftover roast chicken so today will be good. This weekend we are heading home for a Bar Mitzvah and they're serving both lunch and dinner in addition to a dance so we'll have to remain vigilant and not blow the good work we've accomplished. I, for one, plan on being good.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Joe,

Congratulations on the great weight loss and keep that focus going. In regards to the Triple Triple, I hear ya! Although I am a Tim Hortons franchisee here in Hamilton ON, I do get concerned when people order all that 18% cream in their coffee or dare I say an Iced Capp, especially the kids. But as long as you're burning it off ... all the power to ya!

Cheers!

Jeff

aka Joe said...

Thanks Jeff! I have to admit I'm still in mourning over the loss of my triple triple but i just can't justify it. I could I guess get a small or medium single or double double but i enjoy a larger sized coffee. I guess its true, everything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.

Thanks for the good wishes Jeff!

MulchMaid said...

The great thing about changing a flavor combo is that eventually, you get used to it being that way and you might even get to where you prefer it. I recently started eating my plain yoghurt without the tablespoon or so of jelly I used to accompany it. It took a couple of weeks, but now it tastes fine. Likewise, I went to non-fat milk in my tea (from 1%.) If I put enough in (and I DO use as much as 1/4 cup in a big mug of tea) it tastes just fine to me now. And if by chance I use whole or 2% milkfat, it almost tastes too creamy.
Good luck with your resolve against over-sweetened, super-rich beverages!

Unknown said...

It's hard to quit drinking the LG triple triples. It is addictive. It's the cream that males a good cup of coffee.