The prospect of cutting calories usually means giving up foods you love. After all, when trying to drop a few pounds, most people focus on banning the big-ticket items, such as cake and french fries. But making small changes to your daily eating habits can have a big impact too. Eating just 350 fewer calories a day can help you lose about 3 pounds a month—that’s almost 40 pounds in a year without much work at all.
50-Calorie Cuts
• Replace your favorite creamy salad dressing with 2 Tbsp vinaigrette.
• Replace 1 cup rice with 1 cup broccoli at dinner.
• Ordering pizza? Ask for a slice of cheese instead of a slice of sausage.
• At the vending machine, choose a Peppermint Pattie instead of an Almond Joy.
• Skip the sugary fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt and make your own by mixing 1/3 cup fresh or frozen blueberries into 6 oz nonfat vanilla yogurt.
• Dip your tortilla chips in 1/3 cup chunky salsa and ditch the spicy cheese dip.
• Peel and eat a medium orange with your breakfast instead of pouring a cup of orange juice.
• Leave the butter or margarine in the fridge and smear 1 Tbsp of 100% fruit spread on your morning toast.
• Enjoy 1/2 cup slow-churned light ice cream (such as Edy’s Mint Chocolate Chips!) instead of 1/2 cup full-fat ice cream.
• Cook up a morning omelet using 1 full egg and 1 egg white rather than 2 eggs.
100-Calorie Cuts
• Rather than the usual doughnut, enjoy an Eggo Nutri-Grain Whole Wheat waffle with 2 Tbsp light syrup and 3/4 cup sliced strawberries.
• Spread sandwich bread with 1 tsp mustard instead of 1 Tbsp mayonnaise.
• Don’t reach for eight french fries; instead, choose seven sweet-potato fries (such as Ian’s).
• Have a whole-wheat dinner roll instead of a biscuit.
• Trade 3 oz dark chicken meat with skin for 3 oz skinless white meat.
• Skip the whip (whipped cream, that is) on a 12-oz mocha Frappuccino.
• Need something crunchy to munch? Grab 11 almonds instead of 3 graham crackers.
• Spritz veggies with five squirts of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Spray instead of cooking them in 1 Tbsp butter.
• When making tacos or meat loaf, use ground round or sirloin (about 95% lean) rather than ground beef (about 73% lean).
• Instead of a sub roll, wrap sandwich fixings in a whole-wheat tortilla.
200-Calorie Cuts
• For a meal on the run, order a McDonald’s Bacon Ranch Salad with grilled chicken and lowfat balsamic vinaigrette instead of the same salad with crispy chicken and ranch dressing.
• Fill a deli sandwich with 3 oz smoked turkey breast instead of bologna.
• At dinnertime, substitute 10 medium-size shrimp sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil for 10 medium-size fried shrimp.
• Order a morning cappuccino with nonfat milk instead of half-and-half.
• Feel a fry attack coming on? Change your usual large order to a medium.
• For an afternoon pick-me-up, spread 2 tsp peanut butter on a medium-size sliced apple in place of 1/2 cup trail mix.
• Satisfy a chocolate craving with 1 cup 2% chocolate milk instead of a medium-size (16-oz) milkshake.
• Fill up on 1 1/4 cups minestrone soup (such as Healthy Choice) rather than 1 1/2 cups New England clam chowder.
• Replace your breakfast corn muffin with a toasted whole-wheat English muffin topped with 2 Tbsp peanut butter.
• Instead of filling the cereal bowl with 1 cup granola, switch to 1 cup Cheerios with 1/4 cup granola sprinkled on top.
5 Ways to Save at a Cookout
Instead of 12-oz wine cooler
Go for 6 oz cranberry-apple juice mixed with 6 oz seltzer
Save 80 calories
Instead of 1/2 cup baked beans
Go for 3/4 cup fresh fruit salad
Save 95 calories
Instead of 1/2 cup macaroni salad
Go for 1/2 cup coleslaw
Save 100 calories
Instead of the oil and eggs called for in a basic brownie mix
Go for 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
Save 120 calories
Instead of 4-oz Italian link pork sausage
Go for 3-oz 95% lean burger
Save 140 calories
