The beginning of another school year sneaked up on us, along with an opportunity to meet new people, join new clubs and do better in our classes (okay well I like to tell myself this, at least).  Unfortunately, it’s also the perfect opportunity to gain weight via late night pizza runs and all you can eat dining halls.

Thankfully, for those of you reading this, I have a suggestion, a small tweak really, that might just save you from packing on the pounds.  You ready for it? Like, really, really ready?

OK, here goes: only drink water (and if you must, the occasional coffee).

No soda, no calorie-laden smoothies, fruit juices, or any liquid edible substance with calories.  You would be surprised how much those added calories from beverages add up!

My advice comes from some pretty gosh darn daunting facts about our country of the overweight and obese. Scarily, as I type this, statistics show that thirty-five percent of Americans are medically obese and two thirds of them are overweight.  Also true? Twenty-five percent of our daily calories come from liquids.  This means that calories coming from drinks may play more of a role in our number on the scale than calories coming from foods.  The folks at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have actually studied and found just that.  They published a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that states that the quickest and most reliable way to lose weight is to cut down on liquid calorie consumption.

Even beverages that appear to be healthy may contribute to weight gain and poor health.  The deceptively named, Vitaminwater, sold on many campuses, is anything but healthy. Despite being advertised as a product equipped to induce a “healthy state of physical and mental well-being,” it’s pretty much just sugar water, to which a penny’s worth of synthetic vitamins have been added.  Well, that and thirty-three grams of added sugar per bottle.  Seems like more of a soft drink than a healthy beverage to me.

So here’s my advice: save yourself money, calories, and unwanted pounds by drinking some good old-fashioned water.  If you must spice it up, add some lemon juice and a small amount of honey or maple syrup.  Even drinking one-half fruit juice, one-half regular or carbonated water will save you some pound-packing sugar. Also, relying on the paltry supply of vitamins in a drink like Vitaminwater for your nutrients is not a wise idea.  A much better way to get your vitamins and minerals is to eat real foods and load up on plenty of fruits and vegetables.  Oh, and don’t forget to read those labels!  Thirty-three grams of sugar in Vitaminwater per serving? Whoa, no thank you.

Anyways, it’s Friday and we’re ready for a night in with some hot chocolate and a good (self-help) book. We would go out and par-tay, but we had a long week (as usual), full of life lessons:

College on crutches? It sucks.
Sex is good, but being wanted is better.
Gavin DeGraw is as funny as he is talented.
All those bad habits are just not worth it.
Vitamin Water is now almost calorie-free!
There are a lot of things guys just don’t know about us.
Pretty people have it really easy.
Lindsay Lohan deserves a break from the paps.
There are a lot of things we won’t miss when we graduate.
There are lots of pros to having a boyfriend…
And lots of pros to not having one…

Whew. We’re pooped. Nothing a big bowl of (free!) granola can’t fix!

I love vitaminwater.  It’s yummy, and the fact that it’s loaded with vitamins makes me feel like I’m doing something good for my body whenever I drink it.  However, what I don’t love so much is that the sugar in it that makes it taste so good also makes it a little high in calories.  This is why I usually try to drink it only when I’m working out, but, to be perfectly honest, that isn’t too often.

That’s why I was super excited when I heard about vitaminwater’s newest creation, vitaminwater10, which has only 10 calories per serving -  that’s only 25 calories per 20-ounce bottle! Being able to enjoy my beloved vitaminwater without having to worry too much about the calories? Sounds perfect.

But could it be too good to be true? Would 10 calories also mean that nasty “diet” after-taste that comes from scary artificial sweeteners? I checked out the VitaminWater10 event in NYC to find out:

The new “water” comes in 4 of the original vitaminwater flavors: energy (tropical citrus), multi-v (lemonade), essential (orange), and xxx (triple antioxidants: acai-blueberry-pomegranate).  I tried all of them, and I’m happy to announce that my worries were unnecessary: the stuff tastes GREAT, just like regular vitaminwater!  This comes from the fact that vitaminwater10 is sweetened by a variety of fruit and vegetable derived sweeteners, which are balanced perfectly in order to make it both low-calorie AND taste delicious.

Seriously, this stuff is good. Most people just sampled each flavor, but I literally drank 4 full bottles. Good thing there were bathrooms nearby…

I can’t wait for them to come out with more flavors, but for now I’m officially a loyal convert to vitaminwater10. Maybe even loyal enough to get to the gym a little more to have an excuse to drink it. Maybe…

Bonus: if you live in NYC, you can head down to the “vitaminwater10 dest10ation store” located at 626 Broadway (between Houston & Bleeker) from April 3rd to the 12th to try the stuff for yourself (for free)!  If you don’t live in New York, a lot of stores are already carrying vitaminwater10, so be sure you grab some to try.  I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it too, like I did!