10 Simple Food Swaps To Cut Calories Every Day

Let me start by saying that I am not a dietician or any kind of doctor, etc but I am a firm believer that the word diet should be used to describe what you eat every day not what you are going to do to lose weight. I believe that when you want to lose weight you must make a is a lifestyle change.

Often times my friends and family will ask me for advice about my diet as I do have some really weird food allergies but known the less, I eat! For years I have continued to do these 12 things below to help me maintain my weight and if done for a long period of time mixed with working out and actually eat more times a day, I have lost weight.

Recently I ask on my Instagram story what lifehacks you would like to see here on The Modern Day Girlfriend and diet hacks were one of them so…….

Here are my 1o Simple Food Swaps To Cut Calories Every Day! I am going to start with one we all know we should do but probably don’t do it as much as we should!

1.Drink Water:

I know this is something we all hear all the time but coming from a girl who hated water, I buckled down and put on my big girl panties and drink one glass of water when I woke up and another large glass of water before every meal. I drank it at those times along with sipping on it throughout the day because it has been shown that drinking a glass of water right when you wake up fires up your metabolism, keeps you hydrated and helps flush toxins out of your body, while fueling your brain and makes you eat less. This is also that case when you drink it before a meal. Often times our brain tricks us into thinking we are hungry but we are actually just thirsty so try next time to drink a large glass of water when you feel hungry and see what happens. Not to say you shouldn’t eat food but it will definitely curb your hunger and make you eat less also water is just good for the body, like I said above it helps clear out toxins, keeps your body hydrated from the inside out and helps keep your skin glowing!

If you are like me and find it hard to drink just water plain check out my simple flavored water ideas to help you get those 8 recommended glasses a day!

2.Order The Burger Or Sandwich With The BUN Rather Than The Salad!

Yup, I said it! Order the burger or sandwich instead of the salad! Although I don’t eat any red meat or poultry if there is an option to have a veggie burger or a veggie sandwich I will always choose that over the salad. Usually, to restaurant sizes salads are 2 to 3 times larger than they need to be, tricking our brain into thinking we must eat it all. Depending on the restaurant as well the toppings can add up super fast by just ordering the burger or sandwich with the bread ( TAKE HALF off the bread off the sandwich and put it on another plate to give to the water or place it on the other side of the table!) you will actually feel fuller faster and not to mention you should have drink the full glass of water already! Think about it we often add protein to our salads on top of what is already on it but if we eat more “protein-based” foods we can feel fuller faster and longer. For the side try to ask for a small side salad NO DRESSING! These salads are typically much smaller and have less ad- on to it. Again ask for no dressing but olive oil and lemon on the side.

3.Ask For Dressing On The Side Or No Dressing At All!

We all know this trick but it is true, typically it isn’t what is in the salad ( depending on where you are ordering it from) but what is in the dressing! Trying asking the server if they could not dress the salad and just bring you some olive oil and lemon and or balsamic vinegar!

4. Love Your Condiments?

Try this instead, spread mustard instead of mayo. Just one tablespoon of mayo can add 90 calories to your ‘wich, but spicy mustard is often zero.

5. Curb Your Soda Intake:

Coming from a self-proclaimed diet soda addict, diet soda, heck soda is probably one of the worst things you can feed your body and to make matters worse! I literally had to trick my body for months to get myself off of soda, how did I do it! With bubbly water, I purchased a soda stream and kept a bottle of bubbles near me at all times!

6. Veggies Over Chips!

Trust me I love a good crunch and I have my chips when I want but I swap out those chips for veggies 90 percent of the time! Not only does it fill me up faster but it is healthier for my body! Vegetables are loaded with fiber and slow down your consumption. Low in calorie, and just as crunchy some of my go-to crunchies are sliced bell peppers, celery sticks, and cucumbers, I love to sprinkle tajani on it!

7. Swamp out your dairy!

I won’t get into why I think among many others that dairy is seemingly one of the worst things you can put into your body but I will tell you if you are looking to cut calories, clear up your skin, help with your asthma, get over a cold faster, feel better generally cut out dairy! A simple way to do that is using nut milk and or oat milk instead by choosing one of those milk instead you are saving not only calories but half your day’s worth of added sugars saved by this effortless swap.

8. You Don’t Have To Give Up Your Drinking!

Again, I am not writing this as a diet plan but a helpful guide for anyone that is looking to save on calories when you go out or whenever you feel like it! Anywho, back to the booze. If you are looking to really lose weight you should definitely cut back or cut out alcohol for a bit but if you want to indulge responsibly try these two options below. You can swamp out the alcohol you like but this is how I make mine “skinny

Moscow Mule: 1/2 club soda ( zero calories) 1/2 The Ginger Beer, Titos.

Skinny Marg: 1 shot of tequila, club soda, splash of lime juice or a bunch of limes ( NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART) You can also do this with vodka!

9. Freeze!

I can’t give up my sour candy so what I do is place them in the fridge. This helps from eating the whole bag because it takes longer to chew them and it satisfies your sweet tooth maybe 3-5 in rather than 15-30.

10. Eat The Fruit Instead Of Drinking it