There are a million and one ways to enjoy coffee these days which means there are a million and one ways to classify it. When the question "can coffee make you gain weight" comes up, it becomes difficult to answer due to the quantitative results being skewed by so many qualitative factors. Skim milk has fewer calories than whole milk. Sugar and creamer can become a glucose bomb of stored fat if you drink your weight in lattes every day. A better way to ask the question would be, "What kind of coffee drink will cause me to gain weight?"
In another article we asked is black coffee good for you. While we did discover a few negative aspects of drinking your java black, there was no association between black coffee and weight gain and the answer to our question leaned overwhelmingly to yes, it is good for you.
By itself, black coffee has little to no nutritional value. The nutrients it does have are scant and the calories are almost that at 2 per 8 ounce serving. That's for brewed, filtered, made-from-tap-water coffee.
It's when you start to add other things, like sugar and cream, that turns coffee into a caloric beast.
Adding just one tablespoon (12 grams) of granulated (white) sugar is 50 calories.
Top that off with one ounce of skim milk and there's another 10 calories totaling 62 calories per 8 ounce cup of coffee with one tablespoon of sugar.
The average coffee drinker has three cups a day. That's only 186 calories, which is less than drinking 2 12 oz. cans of caffeinated soda. Not bad. But that all changes when you start adding the heavier stuff, like the accoutrements below. Calorie numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest whole number for simplicity's sake.
- 1 ounce of 1% milk: 13 calories
- 1 ounce of 2% milk: 15 calories
- 1 ounce of whole milk: 18 calories
- 1 ounce of half and half: 39 calories
- 1oz cream: 59 calories
- 1 teaspoon powdered regular or non-dairy creamer: 10 calories
- 1 teaspoon powdered flavored non-dairy creamer: 12 calories
As you can see, each of the above carries a low caloric value by itself. The problem is when those conservative values are recalculated to individual preference. One person may take several teaspoons of sugar in his or her coffee, or more than one ounce of cream. That's when those numbers jump dramatically. That's when you start seeing weight gain from daily coffee intake.
That doesn't even take into account the crazy concoctions you find at coffee houses. Drinks that are more reminiscent of dessert than coffee.
Take a look at these numbers from some popular coffee house chains in our area.
Starbucks (these figures come directly from the Starbucks website).
- Grande (16oz) Caffè Latte with 2% milk: 190 calories
- Grande Caffè Latte with whole milk: 220 calories
- Grande Caffè Latte with soy milk: 170 cal.
- Grande Caffè Mocha with 2% milk: 260
- Grande Flavored Latte with 2%: 250
- Grande White Chocolate Mocha with 2%: 400 calories!
Caribou Coffee (these data are from their website).
- Medium (16oz) Latte with 2% milk: 200 calories
- Medium Latte with soy milk: 160 calories
- Medium Northern Lite (Flavored coffee with skim milk): 130 calories
- Medium Mocha with 2%: 390!
- Medium Mocha with 2% and whipped cream: 490 calories!
- Medium Breve (coffee with half and half): 510 calories!
Dunkin Donuts (data from website).
- Latte Small (10oz): 120 calories
- Mocha Coffee Medium (14oz): 170 calories
- Medium Mocha with cream: 260 calories
- Medium (16oz) Caramel Mocha Latte with milk: 330 calories
I could go on all day, but you get the point. Dressed up to the nines, specialty coffees are subversive fat machines. Coffee by itself or with some light additions doesn't add up to much, but loaded with all the fattening sweeteners can turn your waistline into a shoreline.
So, does coffee make you fat? No. It's what you put in your coffee that does.
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