10 Easy Ways to Lower Your Calorie Intake

1. Cut back on sauce

My husband loves sauce on everything. On everything. And I don’t blame him, sauce adds flavor, but the thing is that sauce packs calories. Tons of them. Try to limit your sauce to the recommended serving size, or see if you can make your own low-calorie sauces.

2. Swap soda for water

They say you shouldn’t drink your calories, and this is what they mean. While you might not think about calories in your drinks, they are most definitely there. Cutting back on the amount of soda you drink is a straightforward way to lower your calorie intake.

3. Downsize your plates

Surprise surprise, most of us eat way more than we need to. Eating on smaller plates helps your mind to recognize the true amount of food you’re eating, thus cutting back on calories; give it a try!

4. Start meals with protein and veggies

Protein makes you feel a lot fuller, and topping up with veggies will stop you eating more than you need of foods you shouldn’t eat.

5. Limit your drink intake

Not soda, alcohol. Yes, beer, wine and cocktails are full of empty calories. Cocktails more than the others. Having just one or two less than you usually do is enough to lower your calorie intake just enough to make a difference.

6. Change the way you cook

Frying adds a lot of extra calories to food that don’t have to be there. Steaming and boiling are easy ways to cook your food without the need for fat.

7. Try intermittent fasting

You already eat breakfast after around 8 hours of sleep, what if you waited a little longer? Say an extra 2 or 3 hours? Intermittent fasting is when you limit your ‘eating’ hours to just a small window each day. It’s a lot harder to eat a lot in a shorter space of time, so this is a simple way to cut back.

8. Focus on your food

The vast majority of us eat distracted; staring at our phones or watching TV. The issue with this is that we pay less attention to what we’re eating and how we feel when we eat. Try to eat with fewer distractions and pay attention to how your body feels, you’ll be surprised by how much less you eat.

9. Go homemade

You know all your favorite ready meals and takeout options? See if you can make them yourself; homemade meals tend to be a lot healthier than store bought kinds, and you have the option to take out things you don’t feel you need.

10. Think in singles

I’m the kind of person who always has one more slice than I need. Sticking with ‘just one’ is an easy way to cut back on calories without too much thought. All about moderation.

Would you use any of these tricks?