by uebermann » Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:07 am
Lets assume a person is on a 2500 caloric intake per day diet.
If I go to McDonalds and get a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese and a large french fry, its roughly 1250 calories. If I get a 20 oz soda with it, it would be another 240 calories. If I get a 16 oz, its 200. So either 1490 calories total or 1450 calories total.
So of the meal itself, the 20 oz drink is right at 16% of the caloric intake total. If its a 16 oz drink, its about 13.7% of the caloric intake. 2.3% isn't all that much when you consider the food you just ate and how much of your daily intake you just ingested.
1250 calories on a 2500 caloric intake diet would be 50% of your intake in just one meal. Most people eat 3 meals a day so I'll let you do the math to see how much those 40 calories really affect things.
Of course it all depends on what you eat. Personally, I rarely drink soda any more, but even if I did, those 40 calories aren't going to make a whole lot of difference in the end. The bigger problem is the food being eaten for most people.
edit: fixed math