Counting calories? Hot drinks a big pitfall

There's nothing like a hot drink to warm us up on a cold winter's day. But your drink of choice may be sending your diet into a "deep freeze."

Laura Jeffers, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic says, "The more flavors and names that you have with that drink the more calories you're going to have. Also, you have the opportunity to have whipped cream, so that's another way to add calories on."

Jeffers says drinks containing more milk than coffee typically have more calories, especially lattes and flavored lattes.

She says before you know it, you're adding mocha, caramel syrup, and topping it with whipped cream- now you're in high-calorie country.

Jeffers says people make the same mistakes with hot chocolate when they use more chocolate than the recommended amount and start adding marshmallows and whipped cream.

And she reminds us that even hot apple cider can get us into trouble. "What happens with that is you take a 100-200 calorie glass of apple cider. You heat it up and all of a sudden you add caramel sauces, and syrups, and cinnamon syrups and whipped cream, you've taken that up to 400 or 500 calories."

Jeffers says if you must indulge, get the smallest size available. You can also switch to sugar-free syrups, skim milk instead of whole milk, and keep the whipped cream in the can.