6 Easy Hacks To Lower Calories
It’s that time of the year when calorie counting seems to be in full swing! Everyone is trying to get ready for the summer and wants to feel good in their own skin. One of my favorite pieces of advice on how to get a bikini body fast is to, 1) have a body and, 2) put a bikini on it. Seriously, you all look fantastic and are so much more than any bikini body… I encourage you to remind yourselves of that each and every day. That being said, I also support everyone who wants to pursue weight loss as long as you pursue it in a healthy and sustainable way. Well, here’s the deal, in order to lose weight you have to create a calorie deficit. In order to create a calorie deficit, you need to lower the amount of calories you consume or increase the amount of calories you burn. Do you want to lower calories without counting calories? Here are 6 easy tips to help lower your calorie intake and get you into a calorie deficit!
Make Half Your Plate Vegetables
This is the number one, easiest tip to reduce your calorie intake. ½ of your plate should be vegetables, ¼ of your plate should be protein, and the last ¼ of your plate should be a carbohydrate. Our body feels full and satisfied based on the amount of food that we eat, not the actual amount of calories we eat! This step may take some time to get used to because we tend to have half of a plate of carbohydrates (chips, fries, potatoes, pasta, etc.) Just take a moment and think about what your plate looks like when you order a burger at a restaurant… how much room on your plate do the fries take up? By making half of your plate vegetables at as many meals as you can, you will increase the volume of food you are eating and decrease the total amount of calories. This will help keep you satisfied throughout the day AND help you meet your goal of at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
Eat Consistent Meals & Snacks
Trust the dietitian on this one. We often trick ourselves into thinking that “less food is better” to lose weight but are actually sabotaging our weight loss by doing this. To begin, eating too few calories throughout the day will open up the door to binge eating at your next meal which will make you consume MORE calories in a day than if you had just eaten regular, calorie controlled, meals and snacks. Also, eating too little for your body means that, yes, you may lose weight but a lot of that weight loss will be muscle loss. When you lose too much muscle, your metabolism will decrease making it nearly impossible to maintain weight loss. I always tell my clients, the more extreme the diet and the more extreme the results, the less sustainable those results will become. A mild calorie deficit created through consistent, balanced meals and snacks is exactly what you need for weight loss and is something that you can create in an enjoyable and sustainable way.
Use a Salad Plate
Sometimes our mind can work with us or against us when we are building up our plates. When you look down on a large dinner plate that has “open space,” your mind may automatically assume you do not have enough food on that plate. Then, we fill all of that open space with more food and end up serving ourselves larger portions than our body really needs. By decreasing the size of your plate from a dinner plate to a salad plate, you automatically decrease portion sizes and lower your chance of overeating because there is less “free space” to fill up with big portions. Then when you have your salad plate ready to go, refer to step #1 and follow that rule.
Eat Your Plate in Order
You heard me right, eat your plate in order. Start at the vegetables, move on to the protein, then finish up with the carbs. By eating your plate in this order, you will fill up on the high volume, low calorie foods first and make it easier to manage your intake of the carb foods that are easier to overeat. Sometimes, you may end up leaving the carbs behind all together because you are full by the time you get to them on your plate! Don’t read something that I did not write, this is not saying that carbs are not important. The reality is that people generally eat enough carbs with their meals and snacks and tend to fall short on their color and protein intake. With this in mind, if you are to leave anything behind on your dinner plate I would prefer for that to be the carb section. Also when eating your plate in this order, what food group will come next after the carbs? The vegetables again! If you decide to go back for seconds, always go back for the vegetables first because that is the next food item in your plate order and will help keep your total calories down.
Watch Your Drink
Drinks fall into the category of “calorie killers” in my book. Alcohol, fun coffees, Gatorade, and other fun beverages tend to go untracked or unnoticed when we are trying to cut down on calories. While one glass of wine at night may seem harmless, one glass of red wine EVERY night of the week is an extra 1,050 calories during your week and that’s not including the nights where you may have more than one glass. What if you are a “grande vanilla Latte from Starbucks every morning on your way to work” person? If you have a vanilla latte every morning on your way to work, you have had 1,250 calories of vanilla latte alone by the end of the work week. Take note- I am NOT telling you that alcohol and fun coffees cannot fit into a calorie controlled diet, they absolutely can. However, be aware of HOW MANY calories you are getting from these drinks as they can often be the extra calories that are keeping us above our calorie range. Can you swap a drink for a lower calorie option? Can you alternate between a fun drink and a glass of water? By monitoring your drinks, you can reduce your calories and save yourself money at the same time.
Ditch The “Cheat Day” Mentality
I’m going to say this as calm and collected as I possibly can…. CAN THE CHEAT DAY CONCEPT JUST BE GONE ALREADY AND NEVER BOTHER US AGAIN?! GEEZ, WHAT’S A DIETITIAN GOTTA DO FOR SOME SPACE?! Seriously, the only thing that cheat days are doing is cheating you out of the progress you could be making. Let’s say your calorie deficit number that you want to hit is 1700 calories. If you eat 1700 calories every day Monday through Friday but then have your “cheat days” on Saturday and Sunday where you consume 3,000 calories both days, your weekly average calorie intake is 2,071. This is way above the 1700 calorie mark you were aiming for and will keep you from losing weight. Not only do cheat days keep you above your calorie range but they also put you into a “binge and restrict” cycle without you even noticing it. The best approach to controlling your calories is to not go into any day with the “cheat day” mentality. Instead, approach every single day knowing that it may not be perfect at every single meal but that no singular meal or day will keep you from making progress.
Weight loss is all about what you are doing consistently. If you consistently follow these six steps, you will be well on your way to lowering your calorie intake and losing weight!
Hey! I’m Lauren
I’m a registered dietitian and my goal is to give you tips and tricks to make healthy eating fun, easy, and even delicious!