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8 Easy Diet Tweaks To Lose Weight Quickly
Losing weight can be frustrating. Many diets require serious changes to your lifestyle, and can be expensive or socially prohibitive.
Here are 8 easy and inexpensive changes you can make to your diet that don't require any radical adjustments to your life. Many of these are well-known, but it’s amazing how easy it is to overlook something that is so simple and beneficial.
The good news? There’s no exercise involved, and you won’t have to eliminate junk food, alcohol, pasta, pizza or pastries, and you can even eat just under a pound of chocolate per month!
1. Ditch The White Bread (Save 6,600 Calories/Month)
Bread is a staple of most Western diets. Many people eat it for both breakfast (toast) and lunch (sandwiches), consuming on average 3-4 slices per day. That’s 21-28 slices per week.
Your average slice of white bread contains anywhere between 80-110 calories per slice, depending on brand and thickness. Switching from regular processed white bread to regular processed wholemeal bread won’t make much of a difference to your calorie intake. The calorie, fat, protein, carbohydrate and fibre content for white or wholemeal is basically the same.
Even assuming the lower end of our numbers, 21 slices of 80 calorie bread per week = 1,680 calories. And it could be as much as 28 slices of 110 calorie (i.e., very thick) bread, which equates to 3,080 calories, or a staggering 13,200 per month!
However, if you switch from standard sliced bread to an alternative such as Nimble Wholemeal (or white) or Warburtons Medium Wholemeal (400g) each slice you eat drops down to 48 and 55 calories respectively (as well as making significant savings in carbs and fat).
This translates to 21 slices of 48 calories, or 1,008 calories per week, or 28 slices of 55 calories, which is 1,540 calories per week, or 6,600 per month.
2. Switch To Medium-Fat Cheese (Save 1,765 Calories/Month)
Cheese tastes great, but it’s calorie and fat dense. Medium-fat cheese used to taste terrible, but it's gotten a lot better and is worth another look. Any time the cheese is melted you won’t notice any difference.
Normal cheddar is about 475 calories per 100g. Half-fat is approximately 275.
How much cheese do you eat? According to some experts, the average person eats 29.4 grams per day.
29.4 x 30 = 882 grams per month, or 4,190 calories.
Make that conversion to medium-fat cheddar, and that number drops to 2,425.
3. Switch From Sugar To Sweetener (Save 3,600 Calories/Month)
If you sweeten your coffee (or tea) with sugar, switching to a non-calorie sweetener is an easy way to ditch calories. A teaspoon of sugar has about 15 calories. Let’s say you have two teaspoons per cup of Joe, four times per day.
4 x (2 x 15) = 120 calories.
Over a week, that equates to 840 calories, or 3,600 per month.
If you switch to sweetener - an inexpensive and convenient alternative - you can reduce that number to zero.
4. Switch To Skimmed Milk (Save 1,920 Calories/Month)
There is no such thing as a perfect food, but milk comes close. A good source of protein and minerals, milk is a great source of nourishment.
Whole fat milk has about 66 calories per 100ml. The average glass of milk is about 250ml. You probably add between 25 and 50ml in an average cup of coffee (or tea). A 30-35g serving of cereal comes with a recommendation of 125ml of milk.
Let’s say you have four cups of coffee/tea per day, four bowls of cereal per week and two glasses of milk.
This breaks down as:
(100 x 7) + (4 x 125) + (2 x 100) = 1,400ml of whole milk per week, which equates to 924 calories, or 3,960 per month.
If you switch to skimmed milk, which is only 34 calories per 100ml, that changes to 476 calories per week, or 2,040 per month.
5. Switch To Low-Fat Mayo, And Use It For All Spreads (Save 2,957 Calories/Month)
Mayonnaise makes nearly everything taste better, but it’s terrible for your waistline. One tablespoon of mayonnaise has 49 calories, 44 of which come from fat.
Conversely, one tablespoon of Hellman’s Low-Fat Mayonnaise has only 15 calories.
However, where you can really score is by stopping all of your butter and margarine use (in your sandwiches, for example) and replacing that with low-fat mayonnaise instead. The savings really add up.
The average sandwich uses one tablespoon of butter, which has an unreal 102 calories.
By replacing that with Hellman’s low-fat mayonnaise you can save 87 calories per sandwich. If you eat five sandwiches per week, that’s 1,865 calories per month.
And this doesn’t even include what you’ll save by not adding normal mayonnaise to those same sandwiches. Let’s say you add one tablespoon to every other sandwich, on average. Which means 2.5 sandwiches per week, or
2.5 x 102 = 255 calories per week, or 1,092 per month.
Remember we’re now saving that, as you won’t need to add extra mayo as it’s already there as your spread.
6. Drink Diet Soft Drinks (Save 4,131 Calories/Month)
Another no-brainer, but it’s amazing what a difference it can make. One can of normal Coke has 139 calories. One can of Diet Coke has 1.3 calories. If you have one can per day of Coke (or any similar soft drink), that’s
139 x 30 = 4,170 calories per month.
With Diet Coke (or similar Diet beverage), that drops down to 39 calories per month. Many people drink far more than one can per day so the difference can be huge.
7. Swap Standard Potato Chips For Low-Fat Ones (Save 1,268 Calories/Month)
The average person eats about ten pounds of potato chips per year. This equates to about 24,621 calories, or 2,051 per month.
183 x 12.5 = 2,288 calories.
Swap those regular chips for Walkers Baked Crisps, which are 98 calories per pack, and that drops to 1,225.
8. Eat Half The Chocolate You Eat Now (Save 2,291 Calories/Month)
According to The Guardian, the average Briton consumes 11kg of chocolate per year. One imagines this volume is a constant throughout the rest of the Western world!
Chocolate is around 500 calories per 100g, so that works out about 4,583 calories, per person, per month.
You don’t have to give it up. Life’s no fun without chocolate. Just eat half of what you eat now. If you buy a Mars Bar, eat half of it. Give the rest to a friend, or put it away until tomorrow.
The Results
Total all the potential savings above, and it comes to a pretty amazing 24,532 calories.
3,500 calories make up one pound of bodyweight.
24,532 / 3,500 = 7 pounds.
That’s in just one month. In two months, just by making these basic changes, you could lose 14 pounds (one stone, or 6.35 kilograms) without doing any exercise, and pretty much eating and drinking whatever it is you normally have outside of the modifications above.
Naturally, if you threw in a few trips to the gym each week, the benefits could be extraordinary.
In all the examples above, brands are mentioned purely for illustrative purposes and are not an endorsement. Other brands are available. Check with your local supplier.
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Worst Advice ever, these are all non-foods..gross
Actually, replacing regular sugar with sweetener is not good for you.
Telling your body sugar is coming in - and then not getting it - is not a good thing, so I have read in many other Health websites.
Diet drinks aren't any better than regular. Switching those with your favorite fruit juice and then gradually switching to water would be MUCH better than ANY diet drink.
All those chemicals in the artificial sweeteners and "low-fat" foods are bad for the body... this list isn't all that it's cracked up to be. :(
diet drinks are AWFUL for you. on almost any other health website they would tell you drinking regular soda is better than diet. however, no soda is the best route, just have water guys
Thank you. This is one of the most realistic information I've read in a while. I know the food Nazis believe we should live on water and celery but I can't. I switched from regular soda to diet soda and then took that down to one a day, I also did the mayo thing (I love sandwiches)and I switched to wheat bread. I also went to the baked potato chips. Since then I've lost 20 pounds. I'm actually exercising more and I feel better. So for us brought up on a standard American diet this is a great first step. One day I'll probably be eating more like a food Nazi but not right now.
I'd have to agree with you. I did something just like this and have gone from 440 to 368 pounds since June 2007. That's 72 pounds.
Congrats you you thats great
this is horrible. All of it. Why would you recommend this garbage? It is sad there is no filter or content blocker for stupid.
great recommendations for people who are eating all or some of these items. I removed these from my diet long ago.
People seem to have a real problem with this post. I can't understand why, it all makes sense. Whilst swapping from normal white to low calorie bread might not seem worthwhile, the facts speak for themselves. People trying to loose weight understand that every little helps.
Good advice in my opinion.
My diet:
no cola or whatever
no chips, crisps or whatever
almost no chocolate
definitely no candies
as much as possible veggies (not potatoes but I eat them sometimes) and fruits
not much meat - I like it less and less anyway
in the morning, I eat always but not much (if I am in a hurry then a bottle of liquid milk-based breakfast would do); during the day, I have a light lunch and in the evening, I eat more but not after 10 pm. If I feel like eating something in between, I see if fruits would do.
I have lost 13 kilos in a year (from 68 to 55 kilos with 160 cm height) and I try to exercise as much as possible - at least 15 minutes of active movements every morning (I have invested 145 euros in a very simple crosstrainer to use at home) + some cycling everyday on my way to and from work + some climbing every week. Everybody says I started looking much better than a year ago...
it is not expensive at all, and makes life funnier!
Fitness magazine has some great diet tricks in it in the September issue. THere's a superfoods story I like a lot and the workouts show real women. How refreshing!!!!
With the chocolate thing, there are three other methods I would suggest:
1) switching to homemade chocolate fudge. It's high in sugar, but low in fat, and if you only have one or two pieces, it's only 40-80 calories, compared to a chocolate bar with 200-300 calories.
2) buy the 99 calorie single serving chocolate bars - ideal for those of us who find it difficult to say no to the second half of the chocolate bar.
3) switch to 70% cocoa (or higher) dark chocolate. It's better for you, and because it's less sweet and has a stronger flavour, it's easier to be satisfied by one or two pieces.
Has nobody stopped to think about the math performed in this article? How many people really eat 3 slices of white bread a day, every day, while on a diet? Does the average person really drink FOUR cups of coffee a day, each with two sugars? How many people on diets are drinking whole milk? Another thing that confuses me: does the average person really put butter on all their sandwiches, and a full tablespoon at that?
The tip to eat half the chocolate you eat now is very valid: eating slowly, you can get more enjoyment out of half a chocolate bar than a gobbled-up whole one.
The real point here is that while the majority of these are good tips, it would probably be difficult to find a person who consumed the full above amounts of more than two of those products, let alone all 8. So while it's good to make these changes, it's ridiculously unrealistic to expect a deficit of 24,532 calories by making these changes.
The suggestions are purely for the benefit of comparison. If you don't think they will work, then don't do them. If you eat all of the higher calorie foods and make the switch to the lower calorie alternatives, it is very likely that a change can occur. If you are 170lbs, eat a low-fat, optimal calorie diet then you probably wouldn't make a notable change. However, if you are substantially overweight and make these changes, then YES there is likely to be a marked change. The author also noted that a "few trips to the gym" a week would help. If you already hit the gym 3+ times a week, then this obviously does not apply to you. This is solid advice for those that need solid advice.
The person in the pictures weighs 120 and is still trying to lose weight???
oh my god the whinging in these comments. ugh.
water, exercise, salads... sounds crappy but hets results
people do eat like this .... practical advice ... a good start , sounds like some of tne people on this post would need be plugged into the mains to get any kick out of them .... you know who are
Kind of sad that someone posts some tips to help others, granted not perfect, but overall good advice, and all people can do is pick the damn thing apart. Again if you only weigh 170, eat perfect, and exercise 4 times a week - DON'T BOTHER POSTING, YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE. For everyone else this is a good general GUIDELINE.
Hey thanks, and dump all these awful comments above. It is a great guideline to get you started. I stopped drinking soft drinks a few years back, and I switched white bread to 5 grain bread. It's bread made out of 5 types of grains and is very healthy. I don't eat cheese unless it's on a burger or pizza, and ya, I've heard that a simple switch from regular mayo to low-fat makes a hell of a difference! I'm going to have to try that one out though.
I like how you spell out the calorie consumption. Many people do not really consider how food calories can add up so quickly. Making just a few changes really does make a difference. The diet soda and the chips advice make me unconmfortable though. I would prefer to see healthier choices being made. For example, water with lemon, cold green tea, and fruits and vegatables with dip instead of chips.
Although these are wonderful advices for those who are eating normal food, I am very sad to know that I am already following these advices but not losing much. ;( However, I guess it's always good to know how many calories you would have had if you ate normal food instead of diet food.
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