15. Limit most caloric beverages to 8 fluid ounces or less per day.
This recommendation comes from guidelines published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2006. Liquid calories go down easily and can increase your caloric intake considerably, without satisfying hunger. If you reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories, you will lose approximately a pound every seven days. A 20-ounce bottle of regular cola has almost 250 calories, so removing it from a daily diet would result in a loss of ½ pound per week. Other sweetened (naturally or otherwise) beverages and even 100% juice have a calorie and sugar content similar to that of soda, so switch to water, coffee, or tea (up to 40 fluid ounces per day); diet drinks (up to 32 fluid ounces); or low-fat milk or soy milk (up to 16 fluid ounces). If you’re used to drinking more than 8 ounces of juice a day, try diluting 8 ounces with an equal amount of water — you may find it refreshing, and it will have half the calories of regular juice.
