Son of a BITCH!

A couple of weeks ago I caught my reflection in a shop window and instantly realized that 'stocky' or 'well built' didn't accurately describe me anymore. A much more accurate description would be "Great Big Fat Bastard."

So, I do what I always do when I notice I'm getting fat. I don't go on a diet, I just start to watch what I eat and make sure I'm eating because I'm hungry, and not just because I'm bored or because Tom's 'Hot Fries' are crazy delicious. It's amazing how much weight you can lose just by stopping eating when you're full and not carrying on until you plate is empty.

However, this time I thought I'd be a little cleverer. You see, I absolutely despise drinking water so I tend to drink a lot of soda or tea or coffee loaded with sugar. I realized that I drink the majority of the calories I take in. Four or five cans of sodas on a hot day add up to over a thousand calories. Considering that's the equivalent of eating two big macs, it all adds up.

So this week, when we went to the grocery store, I decided not to buy any sodas but replace them with things like natural fruit juice. I figured that would be cutting back on some calories while adding a lot more vitamins and anti-oxidants and all that other good stuff. I bought a gallon of orange juice, and sunny bought some cranberry juice.

So today got incredibly hot and I was drinking my second glass of orange juice for the day, feeling good about myself and the vitamin C that was obviously doing me the world of good…when I decided, on a whim, to see exactly how many calories were in a saving of orange juice.

I checked the label…130 calories per serving.

How much was a serving?

1 cup…about half a normal sized glass.

I fished an empty can of orange soda out of the trash and checked the label on that. 170 calories per serving…but a serving of orange soda was double what a serving of pure orange juice was.

So, what this actually means is that I'd actually be better off with the soda. Basically ounce for ounce, orange juice has almost 100 more calories than orange soda. Sure, it doesn't have all the other good stuff in it…but when your original objective is to lose weight, it's a bit of a pisser.