Thread: A word of caution re: milk!

If you use milk as one of your healthy extra choices and don't measure out the amount that you use, it might be something that you want to consider.

This last week I had a gain, which I sort of expected after Valentine's Day, but I thought it was more of a gain than I expected given that I'd been good in the days afterwards.

So I went back over my food diary and checked it all out - the only thing I hadn't been weighing and measuring was my milk (semi skimmed - I've tried using skimmed in the past and I can't stand the stuff, it tastes off to me).

I'm a coffee drinker , and I like to put quite a lot of milk into my coffee, a really good slosh of it - and I also have rather a large cup (which says on it "fridge pickers wear bigger knickers", but that's another story ).

So yesterday I bought a cup container with a sealed lid which holds 350ml, put 250ml of milk into it and marked the outside with a permanent marker (so I know where to fill to in the future) - 250ml really isn't very much!

I've been using 125ml each day on my porridge (I know this because I measure it), and then a good slosh in each of my 10 or so (yes, I know...!) cups of coffee. When I put my large cup next to the 350ml container and put the large slosh of milk in the cup, and measured the levels... I reckon I've been using probably 1/4 to 1/3 of my daily allowance in each cup.

So - I use half the allowance in my porridge, which is fine. The remaining allowance does 2 cups of coffee. I then go on to have 8 more cups of coffee, which in the worst case scenario, if I use 1/3 of the allowance in each cup is another 700ml of milk - another 17 syns worth of milk!!!

Now, when I was looking for a reason as to why I wasn't losing weight...? You'd think the fact that my husband and I were going through 12 pints of milk a week should have given me a clue that something was wrong, wouldn't you?

So this week I shall be using a dedicated container to measure out the exact amount of milk I need each day - I've also gone back to drinking tea and in a smaller cup, because when I drink tea I use a tiny amount of milk, only enough to turn it from black to white really. I shall be like a bear with a sore ar$e whilst I get over the coffee withdrawal, but I'll cope!

Anyway... the moral of the story is - if you're not measuring your milk and you're not losing weight as you think you should be, try it!

Here's hoping I can report a loss next week.

Hi Helen

That's a very good point. I'm terrible at 'guesstimating' the amounts I should be measuring. x

Wow 10 large cups of coffee a day??? I have one in the morning then drink green tea for the rest of the day, I feel much better after getting rid of the excesses of caffeine from my body, I have much more energy and sleep better

Originally Posted by Taz

Wow 10 large cups of coffee a day??? I have one in the morning then drink green tea for the rest of the day, I feel much better after getting rid of the excesses of caffeine from my body, I have much more energy and sleep better

I don't work through long term illness, so I think it's come about from being stuck at home all day! I have to say that sleeping is something I never have a problem with - I get into bed and I'm out like a light. I think perhaps I'm strange like that, I sleep better with more caffeine than with less! I think going back to tea can only do me good, really.

Originally Posted by suepat10

Hi Helen

That's a very good point. I'm terrible at 'guesstimating' the amounts I should be measuring. x

I thought I was pretty good at it - but I've just discovered I'm not!

aww bless ya ladyhelen my guestimations are probably about the same as yours lol

Im always a stickler for measuring the things that you should (never live life dangerously me!!!) Lol
When I check diaries on here I feel like Im Hitler by scrutinising everything, but I dont want people to fail!!!
Well done for spotting the mistake and now that you are correcting it, you will see better results.

Kerry-Ann
xx

Originally Posted by LadyHelen

I don't work through long term illness, so I think it's come about from being stuck at home all day! I have to say that sleeping is something I never have a problem with - I get into bed and I'm out like a light. I think perhaps I'm strange like that, I sleep better with more caffeine than with less! I think going back to tea can only do me good, really.

I too am at home, off sick since mid December. It is difficult when you are at home all day. I cut right down and now make sure I get my 2 cups of green tea and 1l of flavoured sparkling water everyday.

Originally Posted by Taz

I too am at home, off sick since mid December. It is difficult when you are at home all day. I cut right down and now make sure I get my 2 cups of green tea and 1l of flavoured sparkling water everyday.

It really gets on your t!ts after a while, doesn't it? I've been off for 2 1/2 years now, and all I want to do is get back to work and get on with it again.

I did try green tea once but really couldn't get on with the taste. I quite like redbush tea though, I might go back to some of that in place of ordinary tea - only trouble with it is that it puts me to sleep!

Redbush tea is lovely! I've converted to that recently and it's fab

Great post and good advice to us all. I bet you have a great loss this week!

I agree a very informative post and I bet we can overguesstimate on lots of stuff.

In Sainsburys, not sure if anyone else does it, they have some new milk, dont know what to call it 1% I think. It has an orange top and it is halfway between skimmed and semi skimmed. I dont like skimmed milk either but I quite liked this 1% stuff. Just a thought.

I didnt like green tea, but could stand it with a sweetner in it. Do love sparkling water though.

Just a word of warning - the 1% milk (is very nice) but is only 250ml (same as semi skimmed) for HEX A.

Brilliant post... I too don't measure LadyHelen but do the guessing game... You've made me stop and think for sure now.. thanks for this!

Originally Posted by StaceyUK

Just a word of warning - the 1% milk (is very nice) but is only 250ml (same as semi skimmed) for HEX A.

Our consultant warned us about this too - apparently skimmed milk is less than 0.3% fat and semi skimmed is 1.5 to 1.8% fat, so the 1% stuff isn't all that much less.