Instead of, I eat...

Instead of potato chips I eat seaweed.

My children LOVE eating seaweed instead of chips! I can't get into it myself, but they love it!

Also, instead a chips I eat cheddar or sour cream and onion rice cakes... They taste almost the same..

i use the smaller lunch plates and not the dinner plates.
i use only 1/4 c rice for my chinese that i make
i switched to whole grain pasta
when i crave fries i still get them only i get a ready fries in the freezer section its all portioned out or i make them myself

I used to do regular graham cracker pie crusts, then I went to reduced fat ones, then I found out the reduced fat ones still have a little bit of trans fat, so I did some experimenting, and came out with blending my fiber one graham cereal to a powder, mixing it with some egg whites, splenda, and a little water to make it stick together, baked it, and it turned out working quite well for a high fiber pie crust.

instead of a big serving of whatever i want to eat, I eat a small-to-moderate serving of whatever I want to eat.

Instead of 5-6 pieces of pizza, I have 2-3.
Instead of a Cadbury peanut butter pretzel chocolate bar (omfg), I have Lindt 90% dark chocolate.
Instead of normal yogurt, I have greek yogurt.
Instead of adding sugar to coffee, I just don't add any sugar anymore.
Instead of getting a 9 dollar frozen yogurt + toppings, I get a 3 dollar frozen yogurt + toppings.
Instead of grabbing a muffin at Starbucks, I make my muffins.

Hot sauce as a salad dressing. Or hot sauce mixed with Greek yogurt.

❤ INSTEAD OF milk: i drink & use homemade nut milks (almond, walnut & pecan)

❤ INSTEAD OF white sugar: i use organic coconut sugar

❤ INSTEAD OF cinnamon toast crunch: i eat cascadian farms organic cinnamon crunch

❤ INSTEAD OF sour cream: i use organic greek yogurt

❤ INSTEAD OF M&Ms: i eat homemade organic vegan chocolate covered almonds

❤ INSTEAD OF ground beef: i use organic ground turkey

❤ INSTEAD OF brownies: i eat organic vegan chocolate chip black bean "brownie" bites

❤ INSTEAD OF margarine: i use organic pasture butter

❤ INSTEAD OF store-bought breads, tortillas,fettuccine pasta, & oat flour: i make my own

❤ INSTEAD OF store-bought nut butters: i make my own

❤ INSTEAD OF cookie dough: i eat organic vegan chocolate chip white bean "cookie dough"

❤ INSTEAD OF eggs for baking: i use organic chia eggs

❤ INSTEAD OF pork smoked sausage: i eat organic smoked turkey sausage

❤ INSTEAD OF soda & artificial juice: i drink water & organic teas

Instead of a big portion, I eat a smaller portion.

instead of flour i use bananas (pancakes, 1 nana 2 eggs, crazy hard to flip but tastes great!)

instead of rice i eat cauliflower rice (half defrosted cauliflower, blitz in blender, fry in coconut oil)

instead of tattie chips/fries i eat celeriac

instead of tattie mash i eat celeriac or neep mash (yet to figure out how to make tattie cakes with this tho!)

instead of syrup i have agave nectar

instead of normal pb (sunpat etc) i eat meridian pb (peanuts are the only ingredient)

instead of bread i eat oopsie/cloud bread (occasionally, it's rare to eat 'bread' of any sort)

instead of crackers i eat oatcakes (occasionally)

instead of wheat flour i use a combo of coconut and almond

instead of porridge (hi carbs) i eat fake porridge (pb, flaxseed, all spice, agave nectar)

instead of sweets i eat a couple of bits of dried mango and/or a few dates.

Instead of granola, I eat Kashi Go Lean
instead of cookies I have almonds
Instead of a cheese sandwich I have tuna (or chicken) on salad
Instead of cookies (used to have a lotta cookies lol) I have peanut butter on Ak Mak crackers
I eat larger portions of meat and fish and smaller portions of potatoes, rice.

I have found,as many have, that increasing protein has curbed my appetite for sweets. I don't ever say I can't have something, I just choose not to this time. If I choose a cookie, I enjoy it and move on.

Switched off full calorie soda and sugar instead of the Mountain Dews and sugar in my coffee...loss about 17 lbs with not much else changed...this got me going...I figured if just changing to cherry coke zero and monk fruit in my coffee was that effective over about 8 or so months, I must be onto something here...

Reduced portion size and logged consistently with MFP for a few months instead of being random....off came another 5....it wasn't too hard but I had to be very conscious of my eating...

Added some consistent deliberate exercise (mostly treadmill) instead of sleeping an extra 30 min in morning by hitting the snooze button twice...there went 3 lbs more and counting...have to force myself to go to bed 30 minutes earlier (still learning this habit)

Adding more vegetables and trying with the protein (not too good with protein yet), along with some light tone and strength in addition to cardio for the next year to see if I can get even fitter...but a bit at a time until each step is a regular habit like couch surfing and Mountain Dew were for me...

I figure if I keep making small "instead of" switches, I will get the hang of this for life.

Nice topic OP!

Edited a spelling error

bump! awesome ideas!

My afternoon snack is now a apple with peanut butter instead of chocolate. I don't even miss the chocolate now.

Instead of a couple hot pockets for breakfast. Oatmeal even dressed up with lots of sweeteners and stuff it was a calorie savings because I would be full much longer and would skip a 500 calorie snack.

Instead of a pizza around 2000 calories, two veggie burgers and sometimes a side of chips or crackers for 400-600 calories.

Instead of a bag of chips (14 oz) for dinner I make real food. Sometimes pasta n black beans or sometimes lots of veggies and pasta. For 600-800 calories depending on what I have left in the day.

For the summer I am having my oatmeal cold in a smoothie. I can't quite get myself to eat anything hot in the summer. Pasta is made cold too.