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Today we're talking simple ways to cut calories every day without ever counting them. As I've mentioned before, it's not always about calories when it comes to weight loss. However, there very simple ways to cut calories every day without ever counting them. These are minor adjustments to how and what you eat that won't leave you feeling deprived or obsessing over everything you put in your mouth.
We're creatures of habits which means we do things without thinking about how they're impacting our weight or our health. Over time, those habits can have a really big impact on your weight.
These are 5 simple changes you can implement now. Changes I made that led to my own 80 pounds weight loss. By making them, you will naturally erase calories from your diet that over time can lead to weight loss and improved health.
Simple Ways To Cut Calories Every Day
Stop Buying Flavored Coffees
We're not only what we eat, but also what we drink. Before I started losing weight, I was blissfully unaware that my beloved daily Starbucks Venti Cafe Mocha had 380 calories. That's a small meal or snack! Not to mention it has 43 grams of sugar. I've mentioned before how detrimental sugar is to weight loss and health. Think about how much weight you might lose by simply giving up your daily fancy brew and the money you'll save too!
Instead of drinking your calories, try swapping it for a nonfat version in a smaller size with less calories. Better yet, switch to regular coffee that has 5 calories a cup. Specialty coffee is meant to be "special." Save it for special occasions.
Swap What You Add To Your Coffee
Think about what you're adding to your coffee. Sugar, milk, creamer, syrup, cake, whatever it is it all adds up. Swap flavored creamers and syrups for unsweetened almond or coconut milk, regular milk, or even buttermilk. If you use milk, measure it before pouring it in so you know how much you're getting.
Instead of using sugar, swap for cinnamon or stevia (this is my personal favorite). Cinnamon is naturally sweet and you get a nice dose of antioxidants too. I also like adding turmeric and collagen to my coffee. Collagen is a sneaky way to add protein. It dissolves in the coffee so you can't taste it. It's great for bone, joint, gut health and more. I use this collagen and couldn't live without it!
Eliminate Sugary Drinks
Sports drinks, juices and sodas are simple ways to cut calories. They're loaded with calories and sugar. Not convinced? Let's use soda as an example. You could cut 240 calories or more eliminating one soda daily.
Coffee, tea, diet soda, club soda, carbonated water or water are better, lower calorie options. Keep in mind diet soda has questionable ingredients, but I'm a firm believer in baby steps. If you're hooked on regular soda, there's no shame in switching to diet until you're ready to let go of soda completely. Try not to have no more than one a day though because long term use has been linked to weight gain from artificial sweeteners.
Portion Servings
How many times have you looked at the serving size on a bag of chips before devouring the bag? I'm guessing never. It's easy to overlook portions. One serving in a bag of chips may only be 11 or 20 chips. Before digging in, read the nutrition label and place 1-2 servings in a bowl so you know how much you're eating. This is especially helpful if you're an emotional eater like me.
Knowing serving sizes, is just as important with healthy foods as unhealthy foods too. Things like rice, beans, hummus, oils, nuts and nut butters are calorie dense. I know plenty of people on plant-based diets who've gained weight eating healthy. Healthy or not, it adds up so measure it up!
Need help with nutrition labels? Checkout these tips on nutrition labels.
Measure EVERYTHING
As a culture, we're used to eating large portions so many of us have to retrain our minds and bodies to eat less. When it comes to food, measuring is a simple way to do that. It's easy to add too much oil, too much rice, too many nuts or to double serve yourself the daily recommended protein size without thinking about it.
Until I started measuring my foods, I had no idea how much I was overeating. Measuring is educational. It teaches you what portion sizes you should be eating, and what foods have the most calories. Invest in a good set of measuring cups and spoons and kitchen scale will pay you back in the calories you erase.
Wan more tips like these? Sign up for my nutrition program to get everything you need to know about eating for weight loss and how to unprocessed your diet for good!
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These are all really great, common sense tips! Drinking more water (mentioned above) is also key. And regardless of whether or not you are trying to lose weight, getting rid of sugary drinks and scaling our portions down to a healthy size are really just plain smart for overall health. We seriously tax our bodies with the constant eating "until full" and subsequent insulin spiking, etc. that have become the American norm.
I would say I do pretty all of these all of the time besides the kitchen scale. I need to try it just for a week to get a better idea of the portion of my meats.
I love coconut milk and use it in my coffee every day. I live in a tropical country and we have coconuts, coconuts everywhere! I have a bag of fresh, shredded coconut in the fridge right now waiting to be made into all-natural coconut milk. It's been a great discovery since I have a sweet tooth and the coconut milk made from fresh coconut has a bit of sweetness in it. No more sugar and creamer for me. 🙂
I am so jealous of your fresh coconut! I use so much of it, I may turn into one. Have you tried coconut creamer? I just discovered it last week and it is life changing.
The coffee thing. You are so right here Megan! 5 years ago my Starbucks daily was a Grande Cappuchino with a whole load of chocolate sprinkles on top. You just don't realise how many calories that adds on a daily basis, until you start thinking about what you're putting into yourself each day!
Nowadays I'm with the 5 calorie daily regular black coffee and that's it. And I can safely say that keeping to this helped to make a difference.
Great tips!
I completly agree! I always measure everything especially nut butter it is so easy to over eat if you don't understand labels! Thanks for sharing
I definitely use the last trick - I love putting pasta or grains into a cereal bowl instead of on a huge plate.
Oh yes! That is one of my personal favorites because I have a tendency to overeat.
Love these simple tips that anyone can easily do! Simple steps like these that you shared can add up to healthy weight loss.
Exactly and sustainable changes!
We have K-cups at work & while most are plain black coffee of different varieties, there are a few flavored coffee pods, I looked at the nutrition info, one has almost 200 calories!!! I see people drink 1 or 2 or those every morning. I'll take a slice of pizza or cake over a sugary coffee any day!
Yes! The flavored coffees have so many calories and sugar and it's easy to overlook them!
All Great tips! I use these with my clients all the time! Also drink water because it is easy for your body to confuse hunger with thirst!
That is a good tip too!