Your body needs nutrient-rich calories from carbohydrates, proteins and fats in your food to function efficiently. Of course, eating too many calories --- even if the calories are from apples, carrots and sweet potatoes --- will cause weight gain. Limiting consumption of nutrient-poor foods with excessive amounts of sugar, saturated fats and trans fats helps you reduce your caloric intake, decreasing the likelihood you will gain weight. Monitoring your body weight weekly and tracking your caloric intake gives you a better idea about the number of calories you need for weight maintenance or weight loss.
Step 1
Measure your grains, especially when consuming rice, pasta and beans. These grains have slightly more than 100 calories per 1/2-cup serving, which is one serving from the grain group. Eat only one serving of grains per meal.
Step 2
Fill 1/3 of your plate with steamed or grilled vegetables or salad veggies. Pour your salad dressing into a 1-tbsp. measuring spoon, and then stream the dressing over your vegetables. This reduces the amount of dressing you use, lowering your caloric intake. One serving of dressing packs plenty of flavor without extraneous calories.
Step 3
Prepare your ground meat recipes with 93 to 97 percent fat-free ground turkey or ground beef instead of the fattier selections. Brown the ground meat, and then dump it into a colander. Run hot water over the meat, shaking and rotating the colander to remove as much fat as possible, reducing your caloric intake.
Step 4
Limit your intake of artisan and full-fat cheeses, as they are generally much more than 70 calories per oz. Cheese, though low in carbs, is a rich source of saturated fat. Each gram of saturated and unsaturated fat has 9 calories compared to 1 gram of protein or carbohydrate.
Step 5
Reduce the amount of syrup you pour over your waffles and pancakes. Use 1/2 tbsp. of syrup per 4-inch waffle or pancake, just enough to flavor your food without covering it in an enormous amount of sugar. A 1/2-tbsp. serving of syrup has about 25 calories.
Step 6
Estimate your average caloric intake per day without any changes to your diet. Prepare a daily meal plan of five to six small meals per day totaling 250 to 500 calories less than your old average daily intake. Making a meal plan helps you prepare, measure and package your food for the day, enhancing your capacity to reduce the amount of calories you eat.
Tips and Warnings
- Limit your consumption of nuts and egg yolks, as these foods are very high in calories.
References
- "Personal Trainer Manual"; American Council on Exercise; 1997
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Eat Like You're in Crete: Teach Your Clients the Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet; Janet Bond Brill, Ph.D., R.D.; September/October 2007
- "ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal"; Motivating Change: Modifying Eating and Exercise Behaviors for Weight Management; John Jakicic, Ph.D., and Amy Otto, Ph.D., RD; Jan./Feb. 2005
- "The NutriBase Complete Book of Food Counts"; NutriBase; 2001
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