If you are about to start or currently in an effective weight loss program, you may be wondering how to give your taste buds a little extra help.
It seems like many lower-calorie foods have great intentions of delivering something that both tastes good and fits perfectly in your macro tracker, but seems to miss the mark at times.
It’s not that you need a party in your mouth during your entire weight loss process, but living in the doldrums of “diet” food seems to slowly etch away at your consistency.
This short blog post is going to give you some lower calorie food hacks to supplement your food life during your effective weight loss program. After reading this you will have several more tools in your tool belt to maintain nutritional consistency and get to your weight loss goal because you deserve it.
Lower Calorie Food Hack 1: Coffee Cream(er) That Doesn’t Suck
This may be insulting to all of you in the Walden Farms phase of your weight loss program, but those calorie-free/sugar-free/fat-free cream(er)s seem to be terrible. Yes, they get you through, but nothing’s better than the real deal. Even if you’re shaking your head at this right now, deep down, you know it’s true.
Here’s the hack
4:1 whatever cream(er) you currently use: full calorie cream(er) you love
It’s amazing how concentrated those candy cream(er)s are. Whether it’s Coffee Mate, International Delight or whatever, a little dab in conjunction with your regular cream(er) will do wonders for your tastebuds, won’t break the caloric bank, and help keep you more consistent.
Lower Calorie Food Hack 2: Breakfast Cereal Infrastructure Upgrade
Long gone are the days of Saturday morning cartoons and eating an entire box of Cookie Crisp. Moreover, it looks like as you progress through your normal weight loss plateaus the volume of food on your plate gets less and less.
How much more the cereal in bowl? (If you’re into that kind of thing).
Here’s the hack
3:1 whatever cereal you currently eat: Fiber One Original Cereal
Even if you’re at the point of your weight loss program that only allows for one serving of breakfast cereal, it will go a great deal further with that extra fibrous infrastructure upgrade.
*Side note: if you don’t know how small that is yet, stop reading this right now, go put 30g of Fruity Pebbles on a food scale, and seethe…
If you’ve been reading the Cornerstone Weight Loss Blog for a time, it’s probably irritating how much fiber is discussed, however, it seems like it can’t be overstated. Substituting that small amount in your normal cereal will do wonders to the volume of food you get to munch on, which leads to more consistency for you.
Lower Calorie Food Hack 3: In the End, Dressing is for Making Your Salad Wet
As you progress through your effective weight loss program, you will eat less and less if you wish to get to your weight loss goal. The trick is to reduce your daily caloric intake without mentally missing those calories as best as possible. It sounds funny, but at a certain point you’ll most-likely want to keep as much food you need to chew as possible. This means reducing things like salad dressings before removing solid foods.
This sucks if one of your tactics to maintain food volume is eating salad.
Here’s the hack
Cottage cheese is your dressing now
In the end, if your salad is not dry and tastes good to you, it’s a win. Cottage cheese with 2% fat has about ten times less calories than olive oil. If you’re used to eating a good amount of dressing on your salads, this could mean a dramatic boost in weight loss for you, as well as a greater mental edge. You will be able to increase your food volume while still reducing your total caloric intake. Additionally, cottage cheese is a blank canvas, add whatever seasoning you wish and it will take the flavors well. Consider this one the best tools you now have in your consistency tool belt.
Lower Calorie Food Hack 4: Popcorn
This one is simple, however it seems not to be used as often as it could be. How many time have you seen Orville Redenbacher’s Mini Smart Pop Popcorn? Popcorn is a great lower calorie option that also has the added benefits of high food volume and dietary fiber. Now they’ve managed to make it even lower in calories and taste even better. Furthermore, they have made convenient 100 calorie bags so you can track it with minimal effort.
Here’s the hack
100 calorie popcorn bags, kettle corn, buttered, or plain
When you’re deep into your effective weight loss program and you can take a 15 minute popcorn break, it can make all the difference in the world. Your mental game gets a great boost by being able to eat a whole bag of something and the dietary fiber keeps you fuller, longer. This is a deposit into your consistency bank.
Lower Calorie Food Hack 5: Move over Crystal Light…
If you’re a Crystal Light loyalist it’s going to sound like this food hack is bashing your favorite no-calorie drink. Crystal Light has saved many people from over-drinking their calories, totally get it. Additionally, Crystal Light is a great lower calorie hack for your effective weight loss program.
BUT
There’s another lower calorie drink mix that absolutely rocks and tastes just like the real thing.
Here’s the hack
Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red On the Go drink mix
There are times in your effective weight loss program when you’ll have to further reduce your caloric intake to maintain a consistent weight loss rate. The more calories you get to eat versus drink the better the chances of your longterm success. This 5 calorie drink mix tastes just like the full calorie version and satisfies your sugary-drink craving. If you’re one who may need a sweet tasting beverage to stay consistent in your weight loss program, this is the hack for you.
Conclusion
These hacks are suggested tactics to be used in conjunction with your longterm weight loss strategy. None of these tactics alone will get you to your overall weight loss goal, however they will help you get over the normal humps that come with effective weight loss, if you choose to utilize them. The end goal of all these lower calorie food hacks is to help you stay consistent when your weight loss program allows for less and less calories.
At Cornerstone Weight Loss we help you better understand how food affects your body in a common sense way that will put you in control of how you look. In order to get in touch with a professional who can help tailor your weight loss plan to you, click below, fill out the information, and a member of the Cornerstone Weight Loss team will reach out to you to get the results in weight loss you deserve.