What are you tricks for cutting down on Calories?

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aaeros
aaeros Posts: 157
in Health and Weight Loss
When it comes to salads, I need salad dressing. So to help cut down on the amount of salad dressing I use I add some red wine vinegar.

What's your trick?
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Replies

  • dosmundos
    dosmundos Posts: 64
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    When I want sweets, I eat sugar free Jello. Love it. With fat free creamsometimes. You can eat a ton and have very few calories.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,400 MFP Moderator
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    The best advice can give you, try to eat stuff in as natural form as you can. The less processed the better. Sugar free, fat free, low calorie, etc all are loaded with chemicals which can make it harder to lose (very high sodium content). For salads, I use olive oil and vinegar. Try to eat lean meats, fruits and veggies and you should be pretty good.

    On a side note, based on your diary, it doesn't appear you have problems with calories. And as long as your are active, you can eat more than you already are. i workout 6 days a week (p90x/insanity hybrid), I am 5'11, 200 lbs and 12% body fat and I eat 2600 calories to lose weight. And try to stay away from fast food.
  • sandhillsmom
    sandhillsmom Posts: 319 Member
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    I use cooking spray instead of oil to pan cook veges.
    I switched from creamy dressings to vinaigrettes and then still add more vinegar or lemon juice.
    I cut out bread products and have starchy vegetables instead
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
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    On a side note, based on your diary, it doesn't appear you have problems with calories. And as long as your are active, you can eat more than you already are. i workout 6 days a week (p90x/insanity hybrid), I am 5'11, 200 lbs and 12% body fat and I eat 2600 calories to lose weight. And try to stay away from fast food.

    just an FYI, for that same 200lb 5'11" man, if you sit at a desk job all day with very little movement, its easy to spend 800+ calories less then you without even trying... more so if you're not active outside of work.
  • Kebby83
    Kebby83 Posts: 232 Member
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    My trick is to eat them and not log them!
    J/k

    I just be careful. Eat half portions etc.
  • snowgrrl83
    snowgrrl83 Posts: 242 Member
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    Seriously, I have my own little "rules" that I try and follow as much as possible. I eat in snacks, every 2 hours.

    250 calories, every 2 hours. The snacks can not exceed 250 cals. They can be anywhere between 150 cals and 250 cals.

    9AM, 11AM, 1PM, 3PM I usually have a "meal" that is about 500 cals at 6PM and then another snack of 250 cals at 9PM. Voila!
    If you want to lower your cals even more...just try 200 cals every 2 hours.
  • Erica27511
    Erica27511 Posts: 490 Member
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    Hmmm, I don't have any, I just watch my portions.

    But, I will be watching this thread for suggestions that peak my interest :bigsmile:
  • shabaity
    shabaity Posts: 791 Member
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    diabetic i live with the calories in the regular dressing cause the fat free has more sugar there is like one gram of sugar in a serving of ranch but in fat free there is like 14 grams:sick:
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Not a trick exactly, but I am paying attention to portion sizes. That has been the trick I needed to cut back to a reasonable number each day. I am at net 1700.
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
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    Salad dressing - I prefer things like salsa for salad dressing. You can also look at creative salad dressings you can make yourself. Like using frozen raspberries (frozen because they are cheaper) blended with a bit of balsamic vinegar, a touch of olive oil and spices.

    Bulking up on veggies - my biggest tip for cutting down on calories. Eat more veggies. Snack on sugar snap peas, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, roasted green beans, etc.

    Braise in broth/water vs sauteeing in oil.

    Bake instead of fry (although I've never fried anything in my life so baking has always been my staple)
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    My trick is to cut out liquid calories or at least cut down.....Otherwise I enjoy my food and work hard to be able to eat it.
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    Planning! Having things around that you know are low calorie and filling, like cheese sticks, veggies and hummus.

    Also, veggies. I get huge bags of frozen veggies and add them to stir fry, soup - pretty much anything. One of my proudest days was when my hubby was making Ramen (no, he's not a college student) and added in some frozen peas and broccoli without me saying a thing - he said he's gotten so used to the taste he likes it with veggies now!
  • _Elemenopee_
    _Elemenopee_ Posts: 2,665 Member
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    I eat less
  • mondesa
    mondesa Posts: 61 Member
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    I add losts of veggies onions and seasoning to my salads i find if there is enough ofa variety you do not need dressing. If its a must i try different salsas or change the seasoning. Lots of pepper helps too

    And as someone else said i bake or grill everything
  • RainingBrooke
    RainingBrooke Posts: 10
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    No real tricks, but....I had my last caesar salad last week, NOT realizing how packed it was. Normally, with most salads I do not have any dressing. I like my salads in plain form, which took me a very long time to do. I watch portion size. I have a plastic pink bowl that I measured water in and I know it holds 2 cups, I use that alot for my portion control. I know if I have a soup, I can fill it alittle over half, for example. I also do not often use bigger dinner plates, I'll use the smaller ones. I drink lots of bottled water and not just any bottled water either. I rarely use salt so I don't drink Nestle bottled water, I have and do buy Walmarts Great Value simply because of the no salt content in it over the Nestle one. We shop mostly at our local Superstore and we try to buy as much blue menu products as possible. It's suppose to be healthier and when we compare them with other brands, they have lower contents of sugar, salt, fat etc. If you have a farmers market or a roadside farmer place, go there for your fresh produce.
  • jfatheree78
    jfatheree78 Posts: 78 Member
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    My little trick for cutting calories is PB2. It's powered peanut butter with only 45 calories per serving (vs. 200 in regular peanutbutter). I put it in my shakes, but apparently you can also bake with it or add water to make it a paste like regular peanut butter.
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
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    My trick is to cut out liquid calories or at least cut down.....Otherwise I enjoy my food and work hard to be able to eat it.

    ^^This! I get very few calories from drinks. Also, portion control.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    When I want sweets, I eat sugar free Jello. Love it. With fat free creamsometimes. You can eat a ton and have very few calories.

    Instead of salad dressing, sometimes I will use salsa, or cottage cheese, or both. Usually though, just adding more fruits and veggies to the day reduces my overall calories.
  • MrsSWW
    MrsSWW Posts: 1,590 Member
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    Portion control

    Add low calorie vegetables to bulk out recipes, yup I'll eat aubergine and courgettes for breakfast, why not?

    Check the calories of everything before you buy it lest you end up eating it rather than throwing it away

    A little spice and dried herbs go a long way to add flavour
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Dropped white foods - rice, bread, sugar, and anything made of flour.

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