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Once you have the psychological dieting tips and tricks down, it’s time to focus on what choices you can make to cut calories. The key is not to look to cut calories from every single meal, as very low-calorie diets can be detrimental to health and wellbeing. By making small changes though, you can gradually cut calories, enabling steady, consistent progress, while still feeling fit, strong and healthy.

5. Switch Your Fruit
There’s no doubt that fruit is a pretty healthy food – it’s packed with vitamins and minerals, and delivers a hefty does of fibre. However, some fruits can be higher in calories.
While this isn’t an issue on its own, the calories can quickly add up, especially if you’re eating a few pieces every day. For that reason, it makes sense to change to lower-calorie fruits, such as blackberries, raspberries, kiwis, plums, watermelon and strawberries.
6. Look to Diet Drinks
Diet drinks often get a bad rap, but in moderation they can be a dieting godsend. Often when you feel hungry, you’re actually just thirsty. Sometimes water just doesn’t cut it though, and the sweetness of a diet drink can cut through your cravings, and help you keep going when things get tough, without reaching for the biscuit tin.
7. Swap Grains for Veggies
Like fruit, grains such as rice, pasta and cereals can be part of a weight loss diet, but you’ll feel fuller and eat fewer calories by swapping them for veg. You needn’t completely eradicate grains and starches, but try cutting your serving sizes in half, and replacing that lose half with green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and asparagus.
8.Stop Cooking in Oil
Healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil, nut oils and even grass-fed butter play an important role in any diet, as fats are needed for hormone production and cell function. But if you’re cooking every meal in oil, the calories quickly add up. Try using a little less oil, grilling or roasting meat instead of frying it, or even using oil from a spray can so that you use less.
9. Skip Breakfast
Skipping breakfast is often cited as cardinal sin number one when dieting, as proponents of breakfast claim that it boosts your metabolism. This claim is false, however.
If your typical breakfast of cereals, toast and juice contains 600 calories (which it could easily, especially if you have butter, jam or honey on your toast, and a sugary cereal) you may eat another 200 to 300 at lunch, but that’s still a saving of 300 to 400 calories.
See Also: Easy Ways to Reduce Your Portions: Cut Calorie Intake and Lose Weight
10. Go Sugar-Free
The sugars in your coffee and tea, fizzy drinks and alcohol, as well as any sugar you add to the food you eat is a surefire way for your calorie intake to soar. Either get rid of sugar completely, cut down your serving sizes, or switch to an artificial sweetener to save calories and drop pounds.
Start using all the psychological tactics straight away, and implement one of two of the food-focused tips, gradually adding an extra one here and there if you find you’re still at a plateau.
- Why I Skip Breakfast to Maintain my Weigh, By Dr. Mike Hart, Published on June 5, 2013, thttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-mike-hart/skip-breakfast-weight-loss-tips_b_3384569.html
- Photo courtesy of AngryJulieMonday by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/angryjuliemonday/5769968871
- Photo courtesy of vmiramontes by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/vmiramontes/3403757140
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