The Magic of 100 Calories

Did you know that if you eat 100 fewer calories each day, you could lose 10 pounds in a year?  Did you also know that if you eat 100 calories less and burn another 100 calories through activity (to create a 200 calorie deficit), you could lose 20 pounds in a year?  It's really amazing how small, consistent changes in the foods we eat, portion sizes, and activity level can make a big difference when it comes to managing our weight.

Here is a list of easy ways to cut 100 calories from your eating.

Breakfast
• Replace your morning glass of regular juice with a glass of lite or reduced-sugar juice
• Switch out 1 ounce (oz) of cooked pork bacon for 1 oz of Canadian bacon
• Trade ¼ cup (C) regular pancake syrup for ¼ C lite pancake syrup
• Try replacing 2 fluid ounces (fl oz) of flavored coffee creamer with 2 fl oz of 2% milk
• Choose three medium-sized pancakes, instead of ordering an 8″ round waffle

Lunch
• Replace 1 C of a cream-based soup with 1 C of a broth-based soup
• Use diet bread to make your sandwich
• Skip the cheese on your burger, sandwich, or salad
• Choose carbonated fruit-flavored water, instead of regular soda
• Trade a 6-oz cup of yogurt with fruit on the bottom for a four-oz cup of lite yogurt blended with fruit

Dinner
• Make your tacos with 3 oz of grilled chicken breast, instead of 3 oz of 85% lean ground beef
• Choose one slice of thin-crust cheese pizza, instead of a slice of pepperoni pan pizza (one piece is measured as one eighth of a 14″ pizza)
• Replace either smoked pork or beef sausage with either smoked turkey or chicken sausage
• Replace 2 tablespoons (Tbsp) of salted stick butter with 2 Tbsp of a reduced-calorie margarine spread
• Choose ½ C of black beans, instead of refried beans, when preparing Mexican food

Snacks
• Choose a ½ C of sorbet, instead of premium ice cream
• Munch on five reduced-fat vanilla wafers, instead of one big chocolate-chip cookie
• Use ¼ C fat-free ranch dressing, instead of French onion dip, for your raw vegetables or pretzels
• Replace half of the oil in your favorite recipe with unsweetened applesauce
• Trade your regular buttered popcorn for Orville Redenbacher’s® SmartPop! Gourmet® microwave popcorn

Think you're already portion savvy?  Take this fun quiz to find out if you know what 100 calories actually looks like. 

Here is a list of easy ways to burn 100 calories.

15 Minute Activities - Aerobic dance, racquetball, jogging

20 Minute Activities - Gardening, washing the car, walking the dog, pushing a stroller

25 Minutes Activities - Bicycling

40 Minute Activities - Light household chores

What Does 300 Calories Look Like? At Home vs Eating Out

We talk about calories all the time but it's often hard to translate an abstract number into what that looks like in terms of food. Here is a great article from the website Sparkpeople that not only demonstrates what 300 calories looks like on the plate but compares how much food you get when eating at home versus eating out. Not surprisingly you get a much bigger portion of food for the same amount of calories when you make it yourself versus at a restaurant. This is especially important if you're trying to manage your weight. You would typically have to eat a lot more calories at a restaurant to get that same feeling of fullness if you prepared it yourself. I've added some of the images here but check out the article for more great comparison pictures.

Need help deciphering how many calories you should be eating? Contact me to schedule an appointment.

How Sweet It Is!

Would you eat a stack of 16 sugar cubes? If you're saying "Heck no," you might not realize you already are. According to the Sugar Stacks website, drinking a 20 oz soda provides you with 65 grams (about 16 sugar cubes) or about 240 calories just from sugar alone.

This is a fun and informative website as it shows you visually exactly how much sugar is in the food you're eating - everything from beverages to breakfast foods to sauces. Find out surprising facts such as eating 1 tablespoon of ketchup is the equivalent of eating 1 cube of sugar or that eating 6oz of yoplait light yogurt has 3.5 cubes of sugar.

Check it out at http://www.sugarstacks.com/

Let me know what you think and if find out anything that surprises you.