Liquid calories make you gain more weight than the same sugar in solid food, and there’s a study that shows it. One group got 450 calories of jelly beans a day, another got 450 calories of soda. The jelly bean group didn’t gain weight. The soda group did.
The jelly bean vs soda study
Researchers gave one group of people 450 calories worth of jelly beans every day, and another group 450 calories worth of soda. Then they watched what happened to each group.
The jelly bean group did not gain weight. Think about that for a second: 450 calories of pure sugar a day, about the worst thing you could eat, and no weight gain.
The soda group gained weight.
Why the jelly bean group didn’t gain
They compensated. The jelly bean group ate less of something else to make up for those calories. Picture someone who’d normally have a cupcake in the afternoon: they ate the jelly beans instead, so their total barely moved.
The soda group didn’t adjust at all. They kept eating the same cakes, cupcakes and candy they normally ate, and drank the soda on top of it. They didn’t think of it as extra food, so they never made room for it.
Same sugar, same calories, completely different result.
What this means for your abs
You don’t count what you drink the way you count what you eat. That’s the trap with every liquid calorie, and it’s why I cut all of them:
- Soda. The obvious one.
- Juice. Apple juice, orange juice, any juice has about as much sugar and as many calories as soda.
- Milk. It has a surprising amount of sugar even though it doesn’t taste sweet. Here’s why milk isn’t a health food if you want abs.
- Cream and creamer in your coffee. It doesn’t fill you up, so it doesn’t feel like eating, but it counts.
- Protein shakes, if your goal is getting lean. I explain why in your protein shake might be stopping your abs.
Cutting liquid calories is one of the easiest changes you can make, because you’re not giving up any real food. You’re just removing calories you never noticed in the first place. That’s why I don’t drink my calories, and why you shouldn’t either. It’s tip four in my top 10 tips for getting six pack abs.
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This is general fitness information, not medical advice.
