When it comes to losing weight, you can spend hours and hours in the gym, but if your diet isn’t right, you’ll struggle to see the results you want.
Conversely, if you get your diet pitch-perfect, you’ll see huge rewards in a reasonably short span of time. It all comes down to food swaps.
This simply means taking your typical snacks and meals and finding healthy food alternatives for weight loss. If you do it right, you can still retain maximum enjoyment within your diet, but cut your calories and sugar intake massively!
The benefits of food substitutes for weight loss
Smart food swaps, quite simply, reduce the number of calories you’re taking on each day. Broadly, 3,500 calories are equivalent to one pound of fat.
Therefore, if you can cut your weekly calories down by 3,500, you’ll lose a pound of fat in a week—or thereabouts. It’s an inexact science, as every person’s body is built differently.
However, what is abundantly clear is that a little extra diligence in your diet can see you reaping large rewards.
In short, smart swaps allow you to eat more of the flavours you enjoy, while keeping a trim waistline!
15 food swaps for healthier eating
Swap sandwiches for open sandwiches
You can save up to 120 calories simply by ditching the top piece of bread! And let’s be honest, you don’t really need it anyway.
Make sure to eat slowly and drink plenty of water to help you feel fuller for longer.
Change cheese for seasoning on your scrambled eggs
We all know how tasty scrambled eggs can be with a little added cheese.
By cutting the cheese and substituting it with a little bit of chilli, chives or hot sauce, however, you can maximise the flavour and cut 100 calories!
Swap sour cream for Greek yoghurt
Ah, Greek yoghurt, staple of diet menus everywhere—and for good reason!
By switching sour cream for Greek yoghurt, you can save 30 calories per sitting. And believe us, it all adds up!
Switch mayo for mustard
Save 90 calories per serving by swapping your classic mayonnaise for a spicy French mustard, which amazingly contains almost zero calories.
You’d be shocked at how simply changing the condiments you use on a daily basis can see weight dropping off in no time.
Switch to a healthier ice cream
You might not have seen the healthy ice cream options; usually, when most of us clock the ice cream section at the grocery store we dive straight for the brands we know (Phish Food, anyone?)
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However, by switching to a low-fat or low-sugar ice cream, you can cut up to 200 calories from your diet, just like that.
Switch to olive oil spray
Rather than pouring liberal measures of olive oil into the pan every time you cook, instead try an olive oil spray, which spreads far more evenly and finely, meaning you can save up to 120 calories per cooking session.
Swap flour tortillas with corn tortillas
Everybody loves tacos. Now you can love them even more, by alleviating some of the guilt that comes with eating a stack of them.
Eat two corn tortillas rather than two flour tortillas and you’ll save yourself almost 200 calories!
Swap brie for goat’s cheese
Sure, it may not sound quite as French and glamourous, but one ounce of goat’s cheese has approximately 30 fewer calories than brie.
Plus it’s super tasty, and goes with basically everything.
Swap fried eggs for poached
Yes, we know poached eggs are a little bit trickier, and sometimes in the morning, you feel groggy and just want to crack an egg into the pan and get on with it.
It’s worth the extra effort to poach your eggs! Two poached eggs have on average 100 calories fewer than two fried or scrambled eggs, due to the olive oil and butter required in frying.
Swap lattes for black coffee
…or a flat white, if you just love milk too much. Basically, if you can just cut a little milk and cream from your morning coffee, you’ll be able to save up to 100 calories per drink.
It’ll be cheaper too!
Go for veggie noodles
Pretty much anything can be spaghetti these days if you own a spiralizer. Zucchini, squash—you name it, you can make spaghetti out of it and save on calories.
A single cup of zucchini noodles, for example, contains 180 fewer calories than the same amount of spaghetti.
Swap your burger buns for lettuce
Think about it: when you eat a burger, where does the true joy lie? Is it in the bread, or is it in the delicious, mouth-watering sauces, the succulent beef patty, the fresh dished tomato? Exactly. So swap the bread bun for a humble lettuce leaf and save yourself 130 calories!
Switch out potato chips for veggies
Having friends over to watch the football? Sitting in a park for a picnic? There aren’t many places where chips and dips aren’t packed with calories, however, you can go one better by switching out those oily, unhealthy chips with carrot sticks and sliced bell peppers.
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All the crunch, none of the calories, with 110 saved each time!
Opt for red sauces
It may only seem like a minor calorie saving, but by using a half cup of tomato-based sauce over a creamy one, you can cut 20 calories each time.
Over the course of the year, this can equate to whole pounds of fat being shed! Plus, everybody knows red sauces are tastier anyway.
Go thin crust
While it’s sometimes tempting to dive straight for the deep-pan pizza, it’s worth remembering that pizzas are generally very fatty and calorific in the first place.
In order to indulge without having to repent, shoot for thin-crusted pizza—and avoid loaded crusts entirely! You’ll save up to 330 calories per pizza.
Ready to cut calories the smart way?
If you can make all of these healthy food swaps just once per week, you’ll have saved a massive 1860 calories already.
And that’s while still enjoying snacks like pizza, ice cream and tacos!
Throw in a solid exercise regime, and with these food swaps for weight loss you’ll be seeing the benefits to your body in no time. Now go smash it, guys.
