The way we lose weight is more complicated than just calories in / calories out, like once presumed, but eating less and reducing calorie intake does have an impact on losing weight.
For that reason, if you’re wanting to lose weight, reducing calories might be a viable solution for you. It doesn’t have to be as difficult as skipping an entire meal, or eating half portions. Small swaps can be made in your diet that you’ll hardly even notice, but that will add up to a significant deficit.
>> You might also be interested in 5 Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Works.
Cutting even 100 calories a day from your diet can help you lose weight over time and keep it off.
Here are 8 of our best tips for cutting 100+ calories a day from your calorie intake. These 5 things definitely helped me lose weight. I hope they’ll be useful to you too.
1. Replace Comfort Foods With Low-Carb Options
Comfort foods, like casseroles, pasta, pizza, and French fries, all have low-carb substitutes.
You can still enjoy your favorite foods, just in a slightly altered way. Once you’ve eaten these lower carb substitutes for a while, they’ll start to feel like the norm to you.
Here are a few ways to make substitutions.
- Make spiralized vegetable noodles instead of pasta
- Use cauliflower as a side dish (see a few ideas)
- Here are some alternatives to French Fries
- And some alternatives to potatoes
- Use eggplant slices instead of lasagna noodles
- Use whey protein isolate to “bread” things like fried chicken and orange chicken
- Use Fat Head Dough to make pizza crust and bagels
- Buy no-added sugar ketchup and condiments
2. Use smaller plates/bowls
Placing your food on smaller dishes will help you feel like you’re actually eating more than you are. Believe me, it works.
Use your side plates instead of dinner plates for 1 month and see what happens. I guarantee you’ll serve yourself a smaller portion and not even really notice it.
By doing this, you can cut as many as 300 calories per meal!
3. Use less sauce and dressings
Adding mayonnaise or sauces to your food can add more calories than you may realize. Likely you’re pouring on the mayo or dressing without knowing exactly how much you’re adding.
Measure sauces before adding them to be mindful of how much you’re using.
One tablespoon of mayonnaise has 94 calories, so using just 1 tablespoon instead of the typical 2 tablespoons will reduce your intake by 100.
4. Drink a full glass of water before meals
Drinking a full glass of water up to 15 minutes before your meal will make you feel fuller, and almost always results in eating less calories.
Plan to drink a full glass just before each meal, and drink another glass as you’re eating.
5. Eat Low-Carb Desserts
As you start a low-carb diet, you’ll notice that you crave desserts less than you did before, but it doesn’t completely eliminate a sweet tooth, or your desire to have the occasional dessert.
Instead of indulging in sugar-laden desserts, make a low-carb dessert instead. These desserts use a sugar substitute, so they don’t have the calorie or blood sugar impact that regular desserts to.
Try our favorite low-carb mug cakes or this delicious low-carb chocolate mousse. In fact, here are a ton of low-carb desserts you might enjoy!
Learn more about low-carb sweeteners and conversion here.
6. Don’t drink your calories
I know how tempting it is to grab a soda or a Starbucks in the afternoon. It provides a caffeine boost, but it also adds quite a few calories. For instance, there are 230 calories in a grande Starbucks frappucino – even more when you add whipped cream. There are 139 calories in a can of Coke.
Reach for an iced tea or coffee instead. Have a latte with skim milk and sugar-free syrup. This will save you 100+ calories a day.
7. Save some for later
When eating out at restaurants, the portions are often huge. It’s way too much food for one serving. Instead of digging in and eating until your stomach tells you to stop, pre-empt the struggle by cutting the portion in half and asking for a take away box at the beginning of your meal.
Not all portions are huge, so use your judgement and package up whatever you think is too much for one serving.
8. Eat more fat
In a keto diet, fat is one of the largest ratios of nutrients you consume. This has many benefits, but one of the main reasons is because it keeps you feeling fuller longer.
Instead of reaching for a high-carb snack, like French fries or a bagel, opt instead of a high-fat snack, like a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese. This type of snack will make you feel full longer, preventing you from eating more calories than necessary.
CONCLUSION
These are just a few of the many ways you can cut calories from your daily intake and promote weight loss. Give a few of them a try and see how they work for you. Making small changes can definitely add up over time.
Read More About a Low-Carb Lifestyle
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Laura is dedicated to a low-carb lifestyle after losing 52 pounds on the keto diet. As many of us do, she struggles with her weight and has found that one of the only diet lifestyles that allows her to maintain a healthy weight is a low-carb diet. She shares her favorite low-carb recipes here that are both easy to make and full of flavor, so you don’t even miss the carbs.