What "tricks" have you found for cutting calories?

Just eat less

Many times we think we are hungry we are thirsty. Drink water.

I have a sweet tooth so instead of cream based desserts I'll eat frozen fruits, instead of full fat cream in coffee or tea I'll have coconut creamer.

Here are a couple of things I do:

1) eat breakfast every day - usually oatmeal - then don't snack or eat again until lunch
2) snack on sugar-free pickles or deli turkey. Pickles are like zero calories and turkey is pretty low too
3) replace lasagne noodles with thin sliced zucchini (spelling???) I can't tell the difference from pasta.
4)eat cucumbers marinated in vinegar. Vinegar is a natural appetite suppressant

- Prelogging & looking up restaurant nutrition info if I know I'm going to be eating out
- If you're a salad person, turn your favorite meals into salads: taco salad with toppings, cheeseburger salad made with a lean
ground turkey patty, grilled chicken/salmon with Frank's buffalo sauce, etc.
- Replace pasta with quinoa: tonight I had cubed zucchini & eggplant with a tomato basil sauce over quinoa - tastes just as good!
- Use eggplant slices/zucchini in place of lasagna noodles, and cottage cheese instead of ricotta
- Replace ground beef with lean ground turkey
- I like turning leftovers into chili: black bean & sweet potato, lentil chili, turkey chili with veggies, etc.
- Water enhancers instead of soda
- Drink tea when I start feeling hungry
- Light popcorn when I get insane chip cravings
- When I want a handful of m&ms or something, I take just a handful, then close the bag, put it in the cupboard, and close the
cupboard - I've found if I can see it, I'm gonna eat it!

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4. Good support system. Do NOT be around life sucking people.
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I like this. When people are nothing but negative around me it also puts me in a foul mood

Almond milk.
Baby Bel Light cheese snacks.
Start every meal with fiber (like an apple or salad), then eat the rest.
Snack on air-popped popcorn with a small amount of real butter.

Some of these have been mentioned , I'm sure... but here goes:

1) Shiritaki noodles in stirfrys. Almost ZERO calories!!
2) Flatouts instead of tortillas (same size, taste great, and only 90 cals ea instead of 200!)
3) Flatouts to make a flatbread veggie pizza, instead of regular crust.
4) Non fat plain greek yogurt instead of mayo, sourcream, etc.
5) same ^^ but to use as a dip base. Add garlic, lemon juice, herbs - greaat for dipping veggies. Add taco seasoning /hot sauce, use to dip tortilla chips. Garlic, cucumber, etc... a nice tzatziki
6) almond milk instead of dairy
7) PB2 instead of peanut butter (great in my chocolate protein shakes)

I'm sure there's more... they've become 'regulars' in our house.

I haven't really cut much out...actually what's helping is adding things, namely veggies. For instance, once a month or so we have sausage and pepper grinder for dinner. They are my favorite, so spicy and yummy! Instead of having 3-4 sausages at 290(!) calories each and putting each one on a 140 calorie roll topped with about 100 calories worth of oil-drenched peppers, making it a 1,820 calorie meal (which is more than what I eat IN A WHOLE DAY, now!) I cut up 1 and a half sausages, no bun, and add a small baked sweet potato and/or steamed broccoli for a whopping 685 calories. For lunch, instead of a nearly 500 calorie ham sandwich that doesn't fill me up, I'll have a mini stone ground wheat pita, cut in half, and each side stuffed with veggies and one piece of lean ham each for about 300 calories, and I'm stuffed.

The most important, life changing one for me is looking up restaurant calorie counts. You can't rely on a restaurant to make great choices for you. I have a go-to meal at most chain restaurants around here for last-minute stops. If you can cut out restaurants and fast food, good on you, but unfortunately my husband's family's social gatherings revolve around food.

I plan on making a little cheat sheet in the future with calories and carbs of some acceptable meals at restaurants that I can keep in my purse. A couple of times I've mixed up my numbers and I was shocked at what I had consumed.

I bulk up soups and casseroles etc by adding veggies, especially spinach. I put spinach in just about everything, eggs, chili, soup, etc. Also, while I don't like all of their products I do like to use Waldon Farms pancake syrup, chocolate and caramel syrups, balsamic, and asian dressings and bbq sauce. I get the flavor without the calories,fat, or sugar. I make my own flavored yogurt without all the sugar by using fat free plain greek yogurt and mixing in fresh or frozen fruit, or flavor extracts along with stevia.

i didn't read through all the replies...but i would suggest stop putting cheese on sandwiches. honestly i can not tell if the sandwich has cheese in it or not most of the time, and that saves around 100 cal for a slice of cheese plus the fat. just a suggestion and no i don't always follow this rule

Only drinking tea, coffee, or water. And making sure I don't eat past 8:00.

Slowly cutting portions. Started out w 1 cup of oatmeal now at 3/4. 1 cup of yogurt, now 1/2 cup w fresh or frozen fruit. Started w 1/2C brown rice as a side now 1/3C. You get used to stuff.....after awhile it's the new norm. AND anything I don't have self control over has to be bought in pre packaged servings. Like chips and ice cream. Start somewhere.... then you you feel you are managing well then figure out that little bit more you can shave off. The theory goes for everything. If you drink 3 cans of soda cut one out and work your way down. I like to have satisfying meals and calories left over for treat..... so I eat a little less oatmeal, or yogurt or brown rice to have a cup of ice cream later. That's my strategy.

Thats wonderful! Thanks

Replaced Mayo in my sandwich by Red hot thick sauce, since I like spicy things (it has a lot of sodium tough)
Also as many other have said, I weight and measure almsot everything I eat, from the cereals to the veggies, EVERYTHING!
It helped me out to really know what is enough.
I also tend to use reduced fat or reduced sugar version of products, but NEVER or almost never the sugar free versions since they *almost* always have splenda in them and the studies aren't clear wether it can have bad effects on our health, so I'd rather stick with moderate amounts of sugar for now.
Drinking skim milk instead of 2% or 3.25% milk, cuts 40-70 calories every cup for the same amount of protein (130/170 to 90), may not seem like a lot but it quickly adds up!
Eating white eggs instead of whole also. Lots of protein, low calories and low cholesterol! :bigsmile: