Calorie-Cutting Tactics

Starvation and deprivation diets simply don't work. Instead, the little things are what matter. Here are seven ideas to get you started:

1. Eat breakfast.

A study published in the February 2002 journal Obesity Research found that eating breakfast was a key behavior among people who averaged a 60-pound weight loss and kept it off an average of six years. Participants told researchers that skipping breakfast made them so hungry that they overate during other meals and snacked on unhealthy, high-calorie foods.

2.Measure that cereal.

The average serving of cereal is 1 cup. Yet most adults pour out at least twice that.

3. Scoop and save.

Every now and then someone comes up with such a cool kitchen utensil that you just have to rush right out and buy it. That's the Lê Scoop. Its function: to scoop out the inside dough from a bagel, leaving you with the outer crust (and, of course, less fat and fewer calories). Fill the inside with nonfat cottage cheese sprinkled with ground flaxseeds for an easy, low-fat, low-calorie breakfast.

4.Buy the smaller size.

The larger the portion in front of you, the more you'll eat. It's a proven fact. When researchers sent 79 parents home with a video and either 1- or 2-pound bags of M&Ms along with either a medium or jumbo size tub of popcorn for each family member, they ate more M&M's from the 2-pound bag than the 1-pound bag, and about half a tub of popcorn, regardless of the tub size.

5. Make smart switches.

See how much you can save by switching from high-fat, high-calorie indulgences to lower-fat, lower-calorie options. Just by making the following substitutions, you could lose 25 pounds a year:

Instead of eating this once a week	Try this once a week	Calorie savings
Large fries	1-ounce snack-size bag of potato chips	383 calories a week, or 5.7 pounds a year
Fried chicken breast	Roasted chicken breast and wing and thigh without skin	243 calories a week, or 3.6 pounds a year
Burger	Veggie burger	216 calories a week, or 3.2 pounds a year
Three slices bacon	Two slices deli-style ham and two eggs and egg substitute	199 calories a week, or 3 pounds a year
Chocolate ice cream	Nonfat fudgsicle bar	240 calories a week, (1 cup) or 3.6 pounds a year
Pasta carbonara	Pasta with tomato sauce (1 cup)	246 calories a week, or 3.7 pounds a year
One slice cheesecake	One slice angel food cake with strawberry topping	130 calories a week, or 1.9 pounds a year

6. Skip the soda.

If you drink non-diet soda, you can cut 160 calories (per 16 ounces) out of your day just by switching to diet soda. Better yet, drink green tea or water flavored with a squeeze of lemon or lime.

7. Start with soup.

Studies show that people who start a meal with soup--especially broth-based soup--end up eating fewer calories by the end of the day without feeling hungrier.