10 Ways To Cut Down On Calories: Part III

Here are our remaining tips for cutting down on unnecessary calories. Check out the last four tips below!
 

Eat more REAL food
 
I know some of you have your diet staples of PowerBars and Clif Bars. But did you know just one chocolate chip Clif Bar contains 250 calories? Look at how tiny that bar is. Just look at it. It is so. Dense. For the same number of calories, you can eat a chicken breast and half a cup of brown rice. Which do you think is going to fill you up more?
 
Stick to wholesome, unprocessed food as often as you can. It’ll likely have more nutrients and will save you more calories than a Big Mac.
 
Read the label
 
Along the lines of the above tip, have you ever read a bag of chips labeled “low-fat” and just devour the entire bag without a second thought? Many of us reason that because something is low-fat, it must be okay to eat the whole thing. Hold your grease-smothered fingers for just a moment. One ounce of Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar chips packs 150 calories and eight grams of fat. That’s a measly 20 chips. And there are four one-ounce servings in each bag. That’s 600 calories of a high-fat snack that’s gone in a matter of minutes.
 
Okay, so you’ve got the munchies. If you’re really craving ice cream, get the real thing, not some pseudo-frozen-dairy-fat-free crap. Chances are, you’ll be much more satisfied with the true, unadulterated version – eaten just as it should be – and you won’t be left biting your nails and pacing the kitchen because it just wasn’t good enough. (This ties in with tip #7.) But again, read the label. Not after you’ve finished the whole pint (or quart even) but before you open the container. Decide how much you want to eat first, and then dig in.
 
Exercise: You burned SOME calories, but not as many as you think
 
You’ve just finished a grueling hour-long workout, and you deserve something. Something good. After all, you’ve burned off soooo many calories that your body is now starving for nutrients, right? Stop yourself before you reach for those chicken fingers. Hate to break it to you, but you’ve probably burned far fewer calories than you think. Did you know that the calorie burn count on those cardio machines are grossly exaggerated? Back when I was an endurance runner, I’d regularly go for long runs on the treadmill. After an hour, the machine told me that I’d burned 2000 calories. Uhh, I don’t think so. Better put down that junk food.
 
This is known as the compensation effect. Simply reading or thinking about physical activity leads individuals to compensate by consuming more snacks (Werle et al., 2010). Now imagine what happens when people actually do exercise. People tend to underestimate the calorie content of food after their fair share of hamster-wheeling and iron pumping, thereby serving themselves larger-than-usual portions of food (Martins et al., 2007). Just (don’t) do it.
 
Eating out: Dressing/sauce on the side, please!
 
I know a lot of us like eating out, especially at the top-notch restaurants. Unless you’re celebrating a special occasion (in which case I would discourage this), it’s wise to have a plan of attack. Either scan the restaurant’s menu online beforehand or quickly skim the list for healthier options. I won’t say that you should always order a salad (because that gets boring after a while, and really, did you go out to pay for a salad?), but if you do, ask for the dressing on the side. Hold the cheese, perhaps. If you’re getting some sort of protein, ask for it steamed or grilled without the added oils; greasy fare may only make you feel worse. Try to limit whatever added oils and sauces you can because they increase the calorie count of your meal by hundreds. But at the same time, don’t forget… bon appétit!
 
Don’t miss out on Parts I and II of “10 Ways to Cut Down on Unnecessary Calories”!
 
Sources
 
Werle CO, Wansink B, Payne CR. Just thinking about exercise makes me serve more food. Physical activity and calorie compensation. Appetite. 2010 Dec 24.
 
Martins C., Morgan LM, Bloom SR, Robertson DM. Effects of exercise on gut peptides, energy intake and appetite. Journal of Endocrinology. 193 (2007): 251-8.