Hidden Calorie Bombs that Can Blow Up Your Progress
#1. Coffee drinks: plain coffee is near zero calories, but order a Venti Iced Chai Latte with Golden Foam and you’ve just drunk 630 calories! A Big Mac only has 580 calories. It gets worse:
- Big Mac
- Fat 34g (nearly the same!)
- Protein 25g (double the drink for fewer calories)
- Iced Chai
- Fat 32g
- Protein 12g
There’s a reason why people love fancy coffee drinks – they’re amazing, they are the equivalent of “junk food,” but we perceive them as being something other than 2-3 candy bars in a cup, hence it’s a hidden calorie bomb!
The Java Chip Frappuccino has 580 calories (equal to a Big Mac). If you are a small (5’2” or less) female who doesn’t have a manual labor job, then this Frappuccino might be half the calories you need in a day. Caffeine is great, but look for low or no calorie ways to get it.
#2. Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate has a “health halo” around it whereby people have come to believe it’s “healthy,” and, as we all know, the calories in healthy foods don’t count. There are many supposed health benefits circulating social media, but the biggest one is dark chocolate’s polyphenol antioxidant content.
Dark chocolate, 100 grams
- Calories: 600 (half the calories many women need per day)
- Fat: 42 grams
- Polyphenols: 1,600 mg
Strawberries, 100 grams
- Calories: 35 (~95% less)
- Fat: 0 grams
- Polyphenols: 235 mg (If you wanted to get to 1,600mg it would only cost 230 calories, and would yield 12-14g of fiber)
Dark chocolate is high in calories and fat because, wait for it, it’s chocolate. Chocolate is a treat – a delicious treat, but a treat (or “junk food”) nonetheless. For my calorie budget, I will eat a smaller quantity of milk chocolate because milk chocolate is infinitely better tasting. If you actually like the taste of dark chocolate, just remember that it is a hidden calorie bomb just the same as milk chocolate is.
#3. Avocados: avocados are creamy and delicious, and, similar to dark chocolate the avocado trade association has worked very hard to give them a “health halo.” Healthy calories don’t really count, or, at least, you know, they are available at a thermodynamic discount (this is the 5th law of thermodynamics for my nerdy readers)… But avocados are creamy and delicious, and while an avocado beats a block of cream cheese for nutritional value that doesn’t negate any of the many calories in an avocado.
Avocados are 80-85% fat by calories, and all foods that are mostly fat are very high in calories because fat is the most compact source of calories. So, yes, replacing 100 calories of cream cheese with 100 calories of avocado will add fiber and reduce your saturated fat intake, but 100 calories of mostly fat is still 100 calories of mostly fat. For many recipes blended fat-free cottage cheese of fat-free yogurt will add creaminess for very few calories.
#4. Dried fruit: Have you ever wished that you could eat 5 apples in one sitting without feeling like you’re going to barf? Dried fruit will be your secret weapon in getting all of those fruit calories without feeling so full. My wife says I sound snarky, and what I am trying to say is that drying out fruit boosts the calorie density (calories per unit of weight/mass) by 900-1,000%. Dried fruit is literally natures candy because it’s a dense source of sugar and calories like candy. Yes, dried fruit does have far more fiber than regular candy, but no matter what lies may be legally printed on food labels, fiber doesn’t subtract calories.
I would encourage you to eat regular, fresh fruit. If you want something with a longer shelf life, try frozen or, even canned (not the stuff packed in sugar syrup). A lot of people eat dried fruit for a fiber boost, but you get the same amount of fiber from one dried plum (prune) as you would from a fresh plum. Furthermore the fresh plum has a lot of water inside, and you also need water to be regular. Fresh fruit takes up 9-10x more space in your stomach, and that’s a big deal for satiety.
#5. Granola and muesli: granola is delicious, and muesli is it’s sad, soft second cousin. They’re both from the family High Calorie. Coincidentally both granola and muesli have about 450 calories per 100 grams, and to put that into perspective chocolate chip cookies also have about 450 calories per 100 grams… so, they’re both on par with cookies, cake, etc in terms of calorie density. (Calorie density being how many calories per gram or ounce of food. The higher the density the easier it is to overeat because it’s very few bites to have eaten way too many calories.). For further contrast, 100 grams of Big Mac would only have 264 calories.
If you are wedded to your granola or muesli then use a food scale and a food logging app to see how you can work those plentiful calories into your day. Also, Kashi is a great option for crunch and fiber. But make sure to measure it too to avoid hidden calories.
Coach Josef Brandenburg — ACE | NASM | Precision Nutrition | Training Peri and Menopausal Women | Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification | Functional Kettlebell Training | 28 years coaching | Specializes in strength training for women over 40.
Josef Brandenburg, best selling author, is the co-owner and a coach at True 180 Personal Training, Charlotte’s most effective personal training studio for women since 2016. With decades of experience and multiple certifications, he shares his research with you including these top 5 hidden calorie bombs.