Every calorie you can trim from your diet matters if you're trying to lose weight -- especially the "liquid calories" you may tend to ignore. Soy milk and milk can offer similar benefits in terms of weight loss, if you know the right type of milk to choose. Because calories ultimately matter the most, reading the Nutrition Facts panel on the milk's container is a must.
Beverages Matter
If you're cutting calories, selecting healthy, low-sugar, low-fat drinks helps you trim down. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, soft drinks like soda pop can contain 150 calories per every 12 oz. Fruit juice gives you essential vitamins and minerals, but it's still high in sugar and may have just as many calories as your average cola. Milk and soy milk fall under beverages that provide you nutritional benefits -- however, these also can be high in calories. Water is touted as the beverage of choice for dieters. Milk or soy milk can be a part of a healthy, reduced-calorie diet, as long as you drink them in moderation.
Calories
An 8-oz. glass of whole milk gives you 150 calories, the same number you'd get if you drank a regular 12-oz. cola. The same serving of 1 percent low-fat milk and nonfat milk gives you 100 and 90 calories, respectively. An 8-oz. serving of regular soy milk has 100 calories; regular light soy milk has only 60. However, beware of the added calories in flavored soy milks: 8 oz. of regular chocolate-flavored soy milk has around 140 calories, almost as many as you'd get if you were drinking whole milk.
Nutrition
Light soy milk has the lowest number of calories compared to regular soy milk and even nonfat milk. The nutritional benefits of these two beverages are markedly similar. An 8-oz. glass of milk gives you 8 g protein, compared to light soy milk, which gives you 6 g. Both drinks give you 30 percent of your daily value, or DV, for calcium and 10 percent of your DV for vitamin A based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Soy milk gives you slightly more vitamin D -- 30 percent of your DV, compared to skim milk, which gives you 25 percent. Nonfat milk has no dietary fat, which is a healthful feature of the beverage; however, light soy milk delivers 1.5 g heart-healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat. When consumed in moderation, these dietary fats can decrease high blood cholesterol and reduce your risk for heart disease.
Other Tips
The Harvard School of Public Health does recommend soy milk as a possible substitute for cow's milk, if your goal is to obtain calcium from your diet. Weight loss is all about successfully managing calorie intake and expenditure so you don't consume more calories than you use. Every pound of body fat you need to lose represents 3,500 calories. If you want to lose 1 lb. of weight each week, create a daily calorie deficit of 500, either by shaving calories from your diet or burning them off through physical activity. Fitness experts at the American Council on Exercise recommend doing both.
References
- Harvard School of Public Health: The Nutrition Source -- Calcium and Milk; 2011
- American Council on Exercise: Trimming Off the Fat
- NutrientFacts.com: Nonfat Milk; Low-fat Milk; Nonfat Milk
- Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia; Soy; May 2009
- MyPyramid.gov: Dairy -- Tips for Making Wise Choices
- MayoClinic.com; Dieting? Beware of Liquid Calories; Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.; November 2009
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