Low-Carb Starbucks Swap

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We recently recommitted to lowering our daily carb intake. We started doing Keto a few years ago but have gradually drifted into a “Keto-lite” type of thing. 🙂 Not diligently keeping track of daily carb intake.

But a recent bout with a nasty stomach virus jumpstarted some weight loss so I decided to run with it. At my age to drop six pounds in a week is always a gift so I decided to get intentional again. 🙂

I know my issue with maintaining my weight is carbs. If I eat too many, I gain weight. When I keep them to a minimum I lose weight.

So I decided to go back to the O.G. of low-carb living and downloaded the Atkins app on my phone. I really love it because it first asks you some questions about your age, weight, and goals, then assigns you to a program.

My answers placed me on the Atkins 40 plan, which limits your daily net carb intake to 40g.

With the app, you can track your weight, steps, daily water intake, and meals. The great thing is you can search for something you are thinking about eating and see how many net carbs it has. If the food you are looking for doesn’t come up in the search, you can scan the barcode on the product and it will come up.

This app is quite sobering.

Which brings me to Starbucks.

My favorite Starbucks drink has long been the Mocha. It has been pointed out to me by several people that what I really like is hot chocolate with a little splash of coffee, which is kind of what a Mocha is. 🙂

But I was mortified to see on the app that my favorite drink has 41g of carbs!!! More than my entire daily allowance in one drink.

Yikes.

So what was I to do? I really enjoy going to Starbucks, and my neighborhood grocery store has one inside, so I like to start my week off by getting a Starbucks while doing my weekly shopping.

I started looking into ways to still enjoy a coffee from Starbucks yet not torpedo my entire carb allotment for the day in the process.

I came across a TikTok video of a girl showing how she cut carbs from her favorite drink by making her own iced caramel macchiato.

I always get a little nervous about being a high-maintenance orderer at Starbucks. I never want to be one of THESE people:

I mean, COME ON. I’ve always thought you can tell a lot about people by the difficulty of their Starbucks order. 🙂

But this one I saw on TikTok wasn’t complicated. You simply ask for a double shot of espresso over ice in a Venti cup. That’s it. Then you add a Premier Protein Caramel Shake. 4 net grams of carbs. That, I can do. 🙂

So when I went to the grocery store last week, I first went to the health food section and picked up a 4-pack of the caramel and a 4-pack of chocolate Premier Shakes. I took them to the Starbucks inside the store and paid for them there.

Then I asked the barista for the shots of espresso over ice in a Venti cup. She didn’t look at me weird or anything. 🙂 Even when I then poured the shake into the cup.

It was really delicious! I can really get behind drinks that are delicious, yet don’t destroy our waistlines while they’re at it.

The great thing about this drink, in particular, is that it is so easy to make, even at home. I just make espresso or cold-brew coffee at home and add the protein shake and I’m good to go. It’s great for these scorching summer days.

I recently came across a blog called The Diet Chef and he has an entire blog post with low-carb switches you can make to your Starbucks drinks in order to keep your carb intake in check. He has hot and cold options.

I tried out the Iced Blonde Vanilla latte last week and it was SO GOOD.

So I’m going to try quite a few from this list and see if I can build a repertoire of low-carb Starbucks swaps to keep me happy.

If you are trying to watch your carb intake, I hope I’ve given you some motivation to try out some ways to do so while still enjoying the simple pleasures in life, like coffee.