Big calorie impacts through little changes
If you have never watched what you eat and have absolutely no interest in using a food tracker app but still want to take some small steps towards losing weight and eating healthier, this article is for you. These changes are should cause minimal inconvenience and displeasure.
Small changes can have a big impact overtime. It takes a total of 3500 calories to make a pound of weight. So, every time you cut 3500 calories from your diet, whether over one week, one month or one year, that is one pound less on your frame.
Below are ten ideas, along with the potential calorie savings, from making the switch.
- Potato chips, 1 bag (8.8 cups) switch to:
- popcorn, air popped at home, 8.8 cups: 907 calories
2. One bagel, switch to:
- one English muffin: 110 calories
- 2 slices of thin-sliced bread: 179 calories
3. One coffee with 2 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp cream, switch to:
- coffee with 2 tsp 2% milk (with or without stevia): 142 calories
- coffee with stevia: 148 calories
- black coffee: 148 calories
Note, many people detect and dislike the taste difference between sugar and stevia. The secret in switching away from sugar to stevia is to add a small amount of stevia to your coffee along with your sugar and continue to increase the amount of stevia relative to sugar for two or three days. Once you have reduced your sugar by 50 percent, your taste buds should find themselves happy with the stevia. Start with packaged stevia and packaged sugar and use one-quarter package of stevia for every three-quarter package of sugar you add.
4. One slice of Texas style bread, switch to:
- one slice of thin-slice bread: 35 calories
- one slice of very thin-sliced bread: 74 calories (148 calories per sandwich)
5. One cup of high sugar cereal with whole milk, switch to:
- one cup of sugar-free cereal with skim milk: 146 calories
6. One can (355 ml) of regular soda, switch to:
- one can of diet soda: 140 calories
- 355 ml of flavoured water: 115 calories
- 355 ml low calorie energy drink: 112 calories
Switching to diet soda will help control the calories but artificial sweeteners are unhealthy. Switch to diet soda initially if you must but start to envision a life without soda. Flavoured fizzy water or low calorie energy drinks are better options. Neither is ideal (pure water is ideal) but both are better than soda.
7. One package of regular Oreo cookies (14.3 ounce package containing 36 cookies), switch to:
- Seven home cooked cookies (assume 160 calories each although you can certainly find lower calorie options): 807 calories
Purchase raw cookie dough or make cookie dough for your favourite style cookie then freeze it. Thaw and cook just one cookie at a time, restricting yourself to no more than one cookie per day. Take your time and enjoy your one warm cookie. You will eat far fewer cookies than you will if you buy a package from the store.
8. Whole milk yogurt with 1/3 cup granola, switch to:
- Fat-free yogurt without granola: 260 calories
9. Plain croissant (or any other kind of croissant), switch to:
- one medium banana (or piece of another fruit): 130 calories
10. Candy, (e.g., Smarties) 1 kg bag, switch to:
- raisins, 1 kg: 1743 calories
Always check the calorie count and portion size on the nutrition label as calories will differ between brands. You can probably find a lot more items in your diet to switch. Just do not rely on claims like healthy or low calorie to actually make your choice. For items you eat regularly, multiply your calorie savings by the number of times each week you make the recommended substitute and you will see the difference really adds up!
