There are several factors that determine how many calories you need in a day. Your age, gender, activity level, health conditions, and fitness goals all need to be taken into account when meal planning.
For those of you looking to cut calories from your diet, finding healthy and sustainable ways to do so is the most effective way to start your journey. Keep these tips in mind to identify the easiest opportunities to cut calories.
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Know Your Nutrition Labels
Some foods may have high fat and sugar contents while remaining low in calories. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a healthy food substitution. Remember, always read the labels before buying food to make sure it is really low in calories if that is what you’re looking for.
Be Creative
Use low-calorie ingredients to make your favorite traditional dishes. You can easily replace fatty and unhealthy ingredients with healthy low calorie ones in the recipes. Most low-calorie foods taste just as good as their counterparts.
Choose Lean Meats
Choosing lean cuts and trimming the excess fat and skin off of meat can help cut down a lot of unwanted calories without changing much of the taste.
Go Vegetarian as Often as You Can
Swapping out meat dishes once or even twice a week can have a huge impact on your diet overall. Meat contains loads of calories and not to mention raises cholesterol so opting for vegetarian alternatives can help you reduce overall intake tremendously.
Switch to Low-Fat Dairy
You are can cut down calories easily by switching to low-fat dairy. You do not have to change all your dairies to low-fat ones, try different options to see which taste best. One may not like low-fat cheese but love low-fat milk.
Avoid Empty Calories
Empty calories are useless calories, so avoid them. You get empty calories from foods that have no nutritional value at all. A great example of an empty calorie food is soda. Soda contains lots of calories but has no nutritional value. It also contains lots of sugar and flavoring which is unhealthy for the body.
Limit Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol is also an empty calorie food. It is also a food that many consume without paying much attention to the calorie content. This can cause the hidden calories to add up fast!
