Deadly Holiday Drinks, Acai Berry Scams and Seasonal Weight Gain Survival Guide
Here is the holiday time of year. Where people are running around shopping, going to social gatherings, and unfortunately adding on some extra pounds.
Why wait till New Years to make some promise to lose weight when you can get back in control right now? Here’s some simple things to be aware of and a free survival guide at the end to keep you on track during the holidays.
Do You Know What You Are Really Drinking?
One of the deadliest calorie bombs around the holidays comes from sources that most people won’t even count, that being what you drink. Yes sad to say that drinks also count towards putting in the excess calories and shutting down fat burning (from the high sugar intake).
Here is just a few samples of the deadliest drinks during the holidays that may be sneaking up on you. All of the stats below are based on 1 serving size/cup (8 fl oz) and taken from www.caloriecount.about.com.
- Eggnog – is about 350 calories with @40g of sugar per serving!
- Hot Apple Cider - While not too high in calories does pack about a 30g sugar punch! (but the real danger comes in multiple servings)
- Pumpkin Spice Frappuchino – will give you 230 calories almost 50g of sugar in the smallest size (with the largest size over 500 calories and 90g of sugar!)
- Hot Chocolate Drink (from a Coffee Shop) – can give you (or your kid) about 250 calories and 40g of sugar.
Keep in mind, these are just 8 fl oz or the smallest sizes. Now imagine going and having a medium/large size that can get to 500+ calories and 90+g of sugar! Or have more than one cup (who really stops at one?) at the party and you are packing in more calories than you would be able to walk off in an hour!
The Weight Loss Scams
Around the holidays and the New Year is when the ads really start to ramp up for weight loss products . As traditional advertising outlets start to decline (magazines, newspapers) and more shift their ad revenue online, you will undoubtedly see more and more weight loss ads on websites.
But there is a new breed of online marketers who are using some tricks to part you from your money. These “slick” marketers are coming up with more creative and believable story lines to disguise what they are really doing. This includes “fake” blogs and news sites popping up to try and trick people into buying something. These sites will make use of:
- Videos about the topic (from reputable sources)…but they are in no way associated with the product, or even talk about it
- Images of celebrities or other well known people (like dropping Oprah’s name on the page for the reader to associate her with this product)
- Use “As seen on” and then images of news/magazines such as CNN, NBC…when in fact their specific product was never seen on it (just maybe a general topic about some part was).
- “Borrowed” before and after images from other places off the web (not theirs at all)
- A blog setup to look like a real person (with fake comments and all), but it is not a real blog and only one page
- Designed to look like an trusted online news site/release about a report on some hot new supplement
Nice huh? Well like they say, if it sounds too good to be true…read the fine print. Such as the following from this fake Acai Berry blog:
You are ordering the Acai Alive 10 day risk-free trial offer for $2.86 shipping and handling. If Acai Alive is not right for you, call 1-866-214-3295 within 10 days from your order date to cancel your trial and you owe nothing more. Otherwise, do nothing and at the end of your 10 day trial, you will be automatically enrolled into our Home Delivery Plan and your credit card will be charged $79.90 for the bottles you received. Approximately 60 days from your original order date (and every 60 days thereafter), you will be sent a new two monthly supply of Acai Alive & your credit card will be billed $79.90 plus $6.95 S&H (CO residents add sales tax).
or from this Colon Cleansing site:
Start your RISK-FREE Trial today and we will send you a full 30-day supply of the Colon Revitalize System. Just pay $4.99 in shipping and processing. You will have 14 days to try the Colon Revitalize System and discover why it is the perfect colon cleansing system for you. If you like how our system cleanses out the colon, do nothing – at the end of your free-trial* period you will be charged the discounted price of $78.88.
So just get suckered in for something “free” as what have you got to lose right? But they neglect to inform you about being billed $80 for that free trial, and being on some auto-billing program from that point on. Good luck getting your money back from those guys. Not too mention who said any of those products really do anything (as you can read more about the exaggerated hype and claims of the Acai berry with this story on MSNBC)
Oh and by the way, anything that looks real is just for show and may not be taken literally such as pictures, comments, or any results….who said marketing wasn’t honest (note sarcasm)….
This website, and any page on the website, is based loosely off a true story, but has been modified in multiple ways including, but not limited to: the story, the photos, and the comments. Thus, this blog, and any page on this website, are not to be taken literally or as a non-fiction story. This blog, and the results mentioned on this blog, although achievable for some, are not to be construed as the results that you may achieve on the same routine. We are not affiliated in any way with, the Rachael Ray Show, or the Oprah Winfrey Show.
FREE Holiday Weight Gain Survival Guide
Lastly we have put together a free holiday weight gain survival guide (PDF) for you, your friends, coworkers, family or whoever you want to share it with. Simple strategies to keep you enjoying the holidays without needing to go up a pant size in the process. You may even lose weight too!
Just click here (or on the picture) to download the PDF at this page. You have our permission to email the page or PDF to anyone and everyone to help them also not gain that extra weight around the holidays (that seems so hard to get off for many and just adds up over the years).
Hope you have a fun holiday season…and keep off those unwanted pounds too!
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great tips in the guide.But say that i have party on Saturday, and starting the Wednesday before, i start banking calories in. My maintenance is 2300 calories so is i eat 1700 for 3 days(600deficit) before the party, are you saying that i can eat a toatal of 4100 calories in the party day with no weight gain? Thannks
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I recently went to starbucks and was shocked at how many calories are in their Holiday drinks! Some tall drinks had close to 500 calories!
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As shifty marketers get more and more desperate I imagine it will be really hard to sift through the real and fake websites. It concerns me that great sites like this one might get lost amongst the garbage turning people off unfamiliar sites.
As for the silly season, if I spend 8 hrs Xmas shopping can I have one hot chocolate pleeeease???
Amelia
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This post made me really want to drink some hot chocolate…
Also, to Amelia – I haven’t seen any fake site come close to replicating a real fitness site with advice. I just don’t think it’s worthwhile for them, so for now we don’t have to worry about it. Just have to spread the word and get people coming sites with good info.
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[...] Nutrition: Not trying to be a holiday downer, but it’s always best to be aware! [...]
@Keith – Note those are just “rough” numbers and not an exact science. Eating all at once especially if it is sugar and fat dominated will end up with more fat being stored. Using lower calorie days around it can help offset the damage but there is never any guarantees as to you being safe 100%. A better idea is if you know you want a higher carb day at the party, is low cal/carb (higher protein) diet a few days prior and the day of the party (or night before) do a glycogen draining full body workout (12-15 reps, all muscles, in a circuit 2-3 times). That way you can help soak up some of the excess glucose into your muscles at the party, but again…too much all at once will just create spillover into fat cells eventually. Don’t use the lower calorie/IF days as an “pass” to just binge/eat more than usual at a party, just use it for damage control and be responsible at the party (while enjoying the food/drink).
Fitbuff – Yes those are calorie bombs for sure. Looking up some…they can go as high as 700 calories and 100+ grams of sugar when you get it loaded with toppings and so forth. Wow.
Amelia – I think most people can tell a real/fake site if they visit more than once, however on first glance these marketers are trying to trick people into buying before they find out it is not a real site. The blogs/sites that are real I am sure will still have readers who know that….but the advertising nowadays may still trick people into learning lessons the hard way. Ha….sure why not have a hot chocolate…although the example above is the “coffee shop” version that they will up with milk, whip, toppings, etc. Making your own at home is always a better bet.
@Rafi – Right on, and great job on your site…keep up the good work!
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im one of those people that find the holidays challenging as i have the biggest sweet tooth. my office is always overflowing with candy, cookies, donuts etc. and as much as i love to mindlessly munch, trying to eat away the stress, i try to avoid it. luckily, im also picky and a great baker. so i’ll make a batch of my favorite holiday cookies and freeze them. i use real butter, pure vanilla – the finest ingredients. then if i successfully avoid the junk at work, i ‘treat’ my self to one homemade cookie. its alot easier to incorporate in to my diet plan an extra 80-100cal eaten at home than a mindless handful of m+ms, store bought cookies and other stuff at work.
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Every one of those high-cal drink flavors can be purchased as a zero calorie tea.
It might take you a few different brands etc.. to find one you like, but the whole box probably cost less than one Starbucks drink. You can get sampler packs too. If you find a good one, stock up.
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acai berry… MAN that sh*t pisses me off. If you really want to have fun, go find one of the acai sites where they have those “online reps” and then ask them for studies on their products and specific questions. Entertaining to the max. For legal reasons EVERY one of their answers is extremely vague.
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The guide is great
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[...] Deadly Holiday Drinks, Weight Loss Scams, and Seasonal Weight Gain Survival Guide over on Fitness Sp… [...]
great blog
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Just want to throw out there how much calories and sugar these drinks pack in especially from a place like Starbucks where the holiday drinks can really pack on the fat. I have customers that come in 3 times a day for the same drink in a large size with extra syrup so it’s unfortunate to see them over the months really start to fill out.
It’s also bad that parents get this stuff for their kids too and as employees we have to suggestive sell pastries and give samples that have just as much if not more calories than many of the drinks.
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Thank you for warning about the hazards of these deadly drinks. One is surely what he eats or DRINKS ! My personal trainer also warned me to watch what i drink. Thanks for the valuable advice guys!
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[...] Deadly Holiday Drinks [...]
[...] Deadly Holiday Drinks, Acai Berry Scams and Seasonal Weight Gain Survival Guide – Fitness Spotlight Finding Balance…OR NOT! – Norcal S&C [...]
Found another “fake-ad”blog out there….and it uses the movie 300 to pimp detox-fat burners with Acia berry and Resveratrol. I don’t think any of those actors from 300 used nor would endorse those product, but that doesn’t stop “slick” marketers from making it appear that way.
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Unadulterated words, some unadulterated words dude. You made my day!!
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Those Acai Fat Burners reminded me of the children’s book Stone Soup. Take a Little Acai Berry add some caffeine and a some other random stimulants to increase your heart rate and burn fat the natural exotic berry way!
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Very interesting piece… Knowledge is truly power… The more people learn, the better thay are to escaping scams like this on the internet!
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Mike OD Reply:
Anyone else see the irony in a comment from a blog promoting Acai berry (link removed) praising this post? Really?
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