Swaps
_inHisGrace
Posts: 183 Member
I’ve lost about 100 lbs before and gained it back and then some. What I never wanted to wrap my head around was that if I wanted to stay within my calorie goal and not feel deprived, I would have to switch things around.
This time around before I started back on MFP, I wrote down what I ate for a week without changes.
Besides the fast food over indulgences, I realized that most of my calories loads came from Mountain Dew and condiments.
Today, although I’m only down a few pounds so far, my mindset is different. I need to eat this way for the rest of my life.
That means for me to still enjoy food, I need to swap some things.
Below I will begin to list my swaps, and I’d love for you to add yours as well.
This time around before I started back on MFP, I wrote down what I ate for a week without changes.
Besides the fast food over indulgences, I realized that most of my calories loads came from Mountain Dew and condiments.
Today, although I’m only down a few pounds so far, my mindset is different. I need to eat this way for the rest of my life.
That means for me to still enjoy food, I need to swap some things.
Below I will begin to list my swaps, and I’d love for you to add yours as well.
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Regular mayo 100 cal for light mayo 35 cal
Ben & Jerry’s 1100 for party cups 100 cal
Regular feta 70 for fat free 35
While milk 150 for skim 90 cal
Regular salad dressing 140 for skinny girl 5 cal3 -
Regular sandwich bread 120 cal a slice to joes heart healthy wheat pita 60 cal0
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I like the flatbreads for 90 calories each instead of higher calorie breads
Cream cheese 2 T for 80 calories instead of 1 T butter at 100 calories
I will think of more!1 -
I have been substituting Miracle Whip for Mustard. Regular mustard has 0 calories and it helps to make my hamburgers not so dry.2
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I use low fat Greek yogurt in place of mayo and sour cream. I don't really notice a flavor/texture difference anymore, it is low calorie, and gives me a bit of protein.5
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I have always drank diet soda starting back in the 60s when TAB and FRESCA first came on the market....if you drink regular soda, you should switch to diet!....Diet Pepsi is my drink of choice!
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I gave up diet soda back in June when all my health scares hit, even though I can probably still drink them! But, I got really nervous about my kidneys and other stuff, so, I cut out as many artificial sweeteners and stuff as I could. But I've lately been drinking unsweetened flavored sparkling waters (La Croix), and, I'm finding that it hits that "soda craving" for me, since it still has the carbonation! And, like diet soda, no calories and actually counts towards my daily water intake, so, whoo!
So I guess that's my swap?
I've also swapped regular cheese sticks with the Light Cheese Sticks. Regular - 90 calories, Light - 45 calories, and they make a perfect snack2 -
fat free cream cheese or sour cream makes a great substitute for butter in home baking recipes.
when I get a grilled chicken sandwich at Wendy's, I ask them to swap out the artisan bun for a regular bun - it saves over 100 calories on the sandwich; take the mustard off and that gets a 410 calorie sandwich down to about 260 calories.3 -
Don Pancho Carb Control Tortilla wraps for Mission Flour Tortilla wraps 200 calories vs 80 calories.
Balsamic Glaze for Balsamic Vinaigrette 15 calories vs 100 calories.
Lettuce wraps for hamburgers or sandwiches - saves 150 to 200 calories
Oikos triple zero yogurt for regular flavored yogurt -90/100 calories vs 130 calories - not a huge calorie savings, but about 5 more g protein, fewer carbs, more fiber.2 -
@conniewilkins56 - I have always preferred diet sodas for some reason, probably because that is what we had around the house growing up. I think the regular ones are too sweet and syrupy. I LOVE Fresca. Probably one of my favorites. My other favorite was diet cherry coke. But since I don't do caffeine any more, no more diet cherry coke for me. They make diet caffeine free and diet cherry...but no diet cherry caffeine free
@rieraclaelin - I also love carbonated waters. We have a soda stream, so I often just make bubbly water and add some lemon or lime juice to it. I also find it really filling, so is a great way to get to my next meal without mindlessly snacking.
I've also experiment with swapping Halo Top icecream for my beloved Talenti gelatos. 100 calories per serving vs 300+. There is a big difference, and it isn't always worth the tradeoff for me. I do keep both in the fridge though. When I want quantity, I go for the Halo Top. When I want quality (which is more often than not), I go for Talenti.3 -
My biggest problems are pop and candy. I haven't found a good swap for candy but for Soda I buy seltzer water and add those squirt flavorings to punch up the taste. It's no where as good as a Cherry Coke but the fizz seems to do the trick.3
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Sugar free jello tastes a lot like regular jello.
I know it's not clean, but if you need a volume fix.
I like adding little less water plus frozen strawberries which helps it set up quicker.2 -
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@_inHisGrace "clean" eating is a very subjective definition of which you won't usually find any two people who agree. I'm going to guess that because it has artificial sweetener in it, its considered "dirty" food.
"clean" eating is like "healthy" eating; what someone considers to be healthy foods and non-healthy foods is pretty individual.
I love sugar free jello as a dessert because I can eat an entire 4 serving box for 20 calories; comes in very handy when I'm craving something sweet but I don't have calories left in the day.2 -
@bmeadows380 Thank you! I’ve heard the term clean before but didn’t think it had anything to do with CICO. Right?1 -
@_inHisGrace no, its has nothing to do with CICO. It's just a label some people use to categorize foods.
Some people find if they focus on more whole food sources that they have an easier time sticking to a deficit and they need to avoid some foods that they have difficulty moderating. Others are confused by all the nonsense in diet culture and have this idea that some foods are evil and others are virtuous and use that label in their thinking as to what is "good" food and what is "bad" food.
Usually fast food or highly processed foods are considered to be "dirty". some people call foods with an excessive list of ingredients and chemical sounding names to be "dirty".
For me, such a labeling of food is detrimental to my goals. I'm a perfectionist and struggle with these mental concepts of right and wrong or success and failure. Dividing foods into "no no" and "good" makes this worse for me because my mind rebels against the idea of cutting out long lists of food completely which usually leads me to feeling like a failure when I give in and eat something that would be on the "no no" list. I need as much free reign as possible and work instead on compromising with myself by doing what you suggested in this thread - swapping things out to make the item I'm craving lower in calorie but still satisfying - or by telling myself to have a smaller portion. This strategy has worked much better for me; its easier to get my brain to agree to a smaller portion, especially if I get what I want in a smaller portion, than to flat out tell it no, and sometimes, my brain will even decide it can live without the item in question.
For instance: when I find myself wanting french fries, I usually go to McDonald's and get a happy meal with its kid's size fries. I enjoy the 250 calorie hamburger, the apple slices, and the 100 calorie french fry. Yeah, it doesn't fill me up quite as readily as something more substantial would, but it appeases that craving, so I work it in. Fast food is a downfall for me; there's no way I would be able to cut it out completely, so labeling it as "bad" would just compound my guilt problems.
Right now, my mind likes to crave Arby's turkey sliders no cheese and their new sweet potato waffle fries. So I get the fries at a snack size at 250 calories a serving, and get the sliders at 160 calories a serving for the whole slider or if I need to knock the calories down a bit, I'll toss the top of the bun to reduce that down to somewhere around 100 calories, though that took a long time to get myself to accept doing - the whole "you don't waste food" thing pounded into me as a kid......the way I finally could convince myself to toss that top bun was to toss it out to the birds because that way it wasn't just in the garbage and would be eaten.....*rolls eyes*2 -
Additional some people's bodies react differently to the various artificial sweeteners, holding more water weight etc.
I eat artificial sweeteners, just try to limit them. I'm more about the whole foods / close to source approach, but that by my choice. My protein powder uses them as well.
Protein shake in place of chocolate milk or adding to make fancy coffee drink (need to temper if making your protein powder from dry)
In the broader sense, besides starvation / excessively below calories, there is no right or wrong way to lose weight as long as you are eating overall lower calories. One way may work for bit, then may need to shake it up with another approach, but you must remain consistent in your approach to keep going.
Failing down is an accident, staying down is a choice. You "fall" you get right back up at the next meal or snack. You learn your triggers & to plan around them. Fridays are pizza days, you prelog in the morning or ahead of time, etc.2 -
Awesome info folks thank you!1
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Previously I wrote that I swapped out Ben & Jerry’s for a party cup. That wasn’t satisfying me.
I found a solution! I am now taking a vanilla 100 cal cup, and putting it into a bowl, adding 21 frozen cherries. 100 cal
I mix it all together by hand and it really rounds out to make me full and satisfied.
Also I’m eating this with chopsticks because it’s messy but also I like to swish each frozen around in the ice cream. Also since the cherries are frozen I have to suck on them before I can chew them which releases the flavor but also takes that much longer to finish.
This is now my great 200 cal snack to enjoy at the end of the day while watching tv with my husband while also not feeling deprived while I watch his skinny self eat whatever comes to his mind lol5 -
I swapped the 2% milk I used to have in a bowl of cereal with unsweetened almond milk. I don't taste the difference and it saves quite a few calories.
I also will have half a serving of plain greek yogurt with a tablespoon of hershey's caramel syrup for 110 calories instead of 300+ calories for a serving of ice cream.
And I traded my usual two cheese sticks at 160 calories for a serving of full fat cottage cheese at 110 calories. Still satisfies that fatty craving and keeps me full much longer.2
