19 : The 7-Category Cheat Sheet for Your Calorie Deficit

7 categories. Dozens of swaps. One goal - making your calorie deficit feel a whole lot less miserable. Tune in and walk away with a practical list you can start using today.

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Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of the Daily Penny Podcast. I am going to cut right to the chase today. If you want to lose weight, you must eat in a calorie deficit. That is both a simple and difficult thing to master. I say simple because the science is the science. The science reigns supreme. Since the term calorie was first coined, this is still true. You eat less than you burn, and that results in you losing weight. But it's also difficult because habits are hard to break. Food is incredibly palatable. And we even have habits around just the timing of things and when we eat them. Those habits are really hard to break. But one of the biggest tips that I have to experience success in a deficit is to find various ways to still eat a high volume of food, but for it to equate to fewer calories. So in today's episode, I'm going to walk you through seven different categories to help you more easily navigate a calorie deficit. So here are those seven categories that we're going to talk about today. Number one, things that very quickly eat up your calories. Number two, simple ingredient swaps to lower your calories. Number three, carb and bread swaps that will lower calories. Number four is probably the easiest one, which is condiments, sauces, and dressings. Number five, snacks and dessert swaps. Number six, drinks, and number seven, behavior and strategy tips, which kind of wrap all of this up together. So if you take one single tip away from today's episode, let it be me being a broken record when I say this. If you just ate in a calorie deficit, you would lose weight. I'm going to say that one more time for it to sink in. If you just ate in a calorie deficit, you would lose weight. And this means a true calorie deficit, not a mystical one, not that we have in our heads, but an actual calorie deficit where we are putting the food that we eat on a food scale because one gram is one gram, one ounce is one ounce. One tablespoon does not always equal one tablespoon. It's not the same every time. Same with cups. One cup is not the same every single time. If you get out of food scale, grams and ounces don't lie. And as one of my favorite creators, Michael Smoke, says, it's simple, but it's not easy. Don't overcomplicate it. But today we are going to make it a little bit easier for you. So let's dive in. I'm your host, Carly Kaikendal, and this is The Daily Penny, the podcast about building sickening consistency through everyday habits. Being occasionally great does not get you very far, but being consistently good is what moves the needle forward. Every time you follow through for a workout, a meal in motherhood, in your finances, in your business, or in your life, you're putting another penny in the jar of the person you want to become. One penny doesn't feel like much, but those daily deposits compound over time. This show is about fitness, nutrition, motherhood, money, business, and the systems that actually hold your life together in seasons when motivation is gone. Whether you're building habits, rebuilding confidence, or just simply trying not to quit, you're in the right place. Let's add another penny in the jar. Category one, things that very quickly eat up your calories. So I'm going over this first because before we get into the swaps, I need to start here. Because if you do not know what is quietly blowing your calorie budget for the day, the swaps are really not going to matter much because these are your already existing biggest offenders. I'm going to dive right into this list. And these are things based off anecdotal experience, meaning clients that I have worked with, after going through their food logs, these are things that eat up so many calories that people are just consuming on a daily basis. But once they start tracking, they're like, holy cow, I was just getting a big old tablespoon of peanut butter, having no idea how many calories I was eating. And I was thinking I was eating fairly healthy. But then when you actually track things, like when you put the peanut butter jar on the food scale, you zero out the food scale, you scoop out the peanut butter, and you see how many grams that is, you could be eating several hundred calories of peanut butter and thinking I'm eating quote unquote fairly healthy. So once again, here's that list. And of course, the very first thing on that list is nut butter. So this is your peanut butter, your almond butter, your cashew butter. Those things are so calorically dense. And personally, I love almond butter. I love peanut butter, but I put it on the food scale and I weigh it out in grams so that I am not having some exorbitant amount and then adding up a ton of calories. So that is a number one rule to put these kinds of things on the food scale before you portion them out. Another thing is butter itself. Butter makes food taste amazing. But a little bit of butter really can go a long way, especially if you're using it as a topping on maybe a dinner roll or a baked potato. A little bit goes a long way. But butter adds up so quickly when it comes to calories. Another thing is dressings and specifically ranch dressing. Y'all, full-fat ranch dressing, holy cow, so many calories. Another thing is cheese. Cheese is another thing that a little bit goes a long way. You can put just a little bit of cheese on something and get that taste without using 50 grams of cheese on something every time that you eat it. But I'm going through this list, and here's the thing: if you want 50 grams of cheese, go for it. Just track it and remember that calories are king. So you can have 50 grams of cheese on one salad, but just know that you're using up a lot of your calorie budget for the day. But if that's your choice, that's fine because as long as you're sticking to your calories, that's all that matters. I'm just saying, if you want to have lots of bites of food, it's gonna be hard to fit 50 calories or sorry, 50 grams of cheese on a salad for one meal. That's all I'm gonna say. Another thing is olive oil. I use olive oil daily, but those calories add up very quickly. Another thing is just a general category of fried foods. Once again, everything in moderation, and that's so annoying to hear, but it's so true. But when you log a fried food item, it is very eye-opening how many calories those foods contain. And then this kind of goes all into one category of like eating out at a Mexican restaurant. So chips, queso, and sour cream. Oh my goodness, those add up so quickly. So one thing that I do, especially if I'm in a deficit, I look at the back of a tortilla chip bag that I have at my house. And generally it's going to say like nine chips is one serving, and that equates to, you know, about so many grams. So when I'm at home, I literally use a food scale even for my chips, especially when I'm in a deficit, because nine chips are not always going to be the same size, and you're thinking that is so petty. I'm like, nope, that's just being accurate. So I weigh my chips on a food scale to make sure that I'm having a serving or less, and I'm just making sure that I'm being accurate there. But because that not that chip bag says nine chips are a serving, that's a good point of reference when you're eating out at a restaurant. Now, granted, the restaurant chips are potentially more deep fried than the bagged chips that you get at the grocery store, but it's still a point of reference. And so I've actually used that in the past, knowing that about nine chips is one serving. And so if I am trying to track a meal out at a restaurant, I might count out nine chips and know that, okay, this is a serving of chips. I'm gonna log this the same way I would log my tortilla chips at home. So that's just a point of reference. But tortilla chips add up so quickly. And then queso and sour cream. Once again, super calorically dense. Maybe you could just choose the salsa over the queso, especially if you are in a calorie deficit. Now, if you're at maintenance and you have some more calories to spare, sure, choose the queso over that. All that all we're trying to do at the end of the day is get you more bites for less calories. So the salsa is going to be significantly less calories than the queso. Salsa is actually very low calorie and it's something that I use all the time because one, it tastes good. Two, it allows me to make room for other things throughout my day versus blowing a ton of calories on a topping or a sauce or something like that. And then if, unless you absolutely love sour cream and you want it, sour cream is just such an easy thing to skip, especially if you are using things like salsa or avocado that can help kind of add some texture and moisture to the meal. I would potentially skip the sour cream just because it is so calorically dense. Moving on from that, traditional desserts like cake, ice cream, and donuts, I think we all know those are very calorically dense. We need to choose when those really matter to us. We cannot expect to have these every single night or, you know, multiple times a day and still hit our calories. Now, if you're the type of person you're like, no, I love ice cream, I want real ice cream, the real thing every single night before bed, cool. Just log it in advance, but just know that you're gonna have a few hundred calories that you need to be setting aside for that to make room for it, which means less calories on other things throughout the day, especially if you are in a deficit. And then when you're eating meals out, things like pizza, oh my goodness, a slice of large, like a large slice pizza, one slice, several hundred calories. Same thing with Chick-fil-A. A Chick-fil-A number one meal, several hundred calories. And now I love me a number one. Number one diet lemonade is to die for, or with a diet coke, it's to die for, but it's a lot of calories, especially if you get the fries. So just keep those things in mind. They are potentially blowing your calories. Like I think we've always seen Chick-fil-A as like the healthy fast food. Okay, those meals are still hundreds of calories when you're getting the fried version. And then we're moving on into some drinks that probably blow your calories, your Starbucks lattes. Now, I am a whole milk latte girl, but choosing something like a sugar-free option is a great way to go. Also for appuccinos, those those things when they are full fat, full sugar, those are four to five hundred calories easily without even thinking about it. So if you just started logging that as you order it, your eyes would be opened and you would realize, oh, okay, this is where my calories are going. Another thing that blows calories is granola because we we see granola as like just this healthy thing, but it is incredibly calorie dense. And once again, this is something that you can still enjoy the taste, but you just need to watch the amount that you have here because the calories can add up so fast. If I have granola, it's generally going to be on like a little pre-made yogurt cup, not like the big tug of tub of yogurt, but the little individual portions of yogurt, I will put granola on top of that because it helps me control the amount that I have. Because if left to my own devices, I mean, I'm gonna be eating half a cup to a full cup of granola, and that is going to be a lot of calories. And also, once again, use the food skill for this. Don't be using a measuring cup, measuring spoon, don't be using those because we are our own worst enemies, okay? And we can be heavy-handed more than we can be light-handed with those pores when we're using cups and tablespoons. Okay. Another thing, our beloved protein bars. A lot of these are just candy bars. Because of the amount of calories, they're just candy bars, and they actually lack a good amount of protein. Like if a protein bar has 20 grams of protein, I'm like, oh, okay, that's not bad. And then you flip it over and you see how many calories. It's insane. I know that, like my husband, he used to have these Gatorade protein bars that they would keep at the football field house. And he brought home one home one day, and I flipped it over and I said, Eric, this yeah, this bar has 20 grams of protein. Do you want to know how many calories this thing had? 360 calories. I'm like, just go eat a Snickers bar. Like, just go eat a Snickers bar. If you're gonna enjoy 360 calories, the 20 grams of protein is not worth it for that many calories. Other bars that have not a ton of protein, but quite a bit of calories are Cliff bars and kind bars. Now moving on to other things that are kind of healthy, like avocado, but yes, this is a healthy fat. The calories, however, add up very quickly. So, once again, something that we're just gonna use the food scale for, but I love me some avocado. It's also a great source of fiber as well. But because it is a healthy fat, dietary fats are nine calories for every one gram. So just keep that in mind. Croutons and candied nuts on salads, those add up so fast. Like if I'm ever at a Chick-fil-A and I order a salad or really anywhere and I order a salad, I don't use the crouton or the nut packets that they give. Generally, those are gonna have their own nutrition labels on the back. And I'll flip it over and I'm like, okay, one, this only tastes like semi-decent. And two, I don't want these additional calories. So I'm just simply just not gonna add this to my salad. Very easy X out for me. And last but not least, probably one of the number one categories I see my clients absolutely blow calories on is cocktails and alcohol. Like it's just so easy to drink 500 or more calories on one night out. And another thing is if you do drink those calories, please, for the love of all that is pure and holy, be logging it correctly in my fitness pal. When you do log alcohol in my fitness pal, you need to make sure that the macro math adds up correctly. If you are logging a glass of wine and that glass of wine, just for example, I'm literally doing a calculation on my phone right now. Let's say that glass of wine is 150 calories. You either need to log that as 37.5 grams of carbs, or you can log that as 16.6 grams of fat. Or you can do a combination of the two, a few grams of fat, a few grams of carbs. It just needs for the macros to add up to those calories because oftentimes when clients first start working with me and we haven't quite gone over how to log alcohol properly in my fitness pal, I will go into their food logs and they will have chosen an option in my fitness pal that shows, okay, yeah, I drank this glass of wine and it was 150 calories. And I will go in and it will say zero carbs, zero fats, zero grams of protein. And I'm like, okay, you think you logged this, but you logged zero, like you didn't log anything for this because we are tracking macros. We are not just tracking calories. Like what they are reporting back to me on a weekly basis are their macros. So because they are keying in the macros that they had for the week, for me, they're not even counting that alcohol because they only chose a My FitnessPal log that showed calories and no macros attached. So, what I personally do, I create my own logs in my FitnessPal. I honestly don't really drink alcohol at all anymore. But when I do, I just create my own logs because I'm like, whatever, I'm just gonna manually log this. So I will go in there and I will type in the word carb and I will find the entry that has four calories for every one gram. And then I will change that number so that the macro math adds up to the amount of calories of alcohol that I had. That is an easy way to not be accounting for several hundred calories. This just happened last week with one of my one-on-one clients. She had alcohol two nights, and she's like, That's very unlike me to have alcohol two nights in one week. She had a few drinks out every night, and every entry that she chose was incorrect. So she had several hundred calories that were unaccounted for, and she thought she hit her deficit numbers and she didn't. She ate above her deficit because the alcohol was logged incorrectly. Category two is simple ingredient swaps, and these are the easiest wins because we're trying to equate the same food but with fewer calories. And I promise you're not going to notice a big difference when you make these swaps. One easy one is to cut back on the amount of whole eggs and use some liquid egg whites in place. Now, one thing about me, I'm always going to have, even in a deficit, a minimum of one egg at breakfast and then supplement the rest with liquid egg whites. When I'm not in a deficit, I eat two whole eggs plus some liquid egg whites. But liquid egg whites are pure protein, no carbs, no fats, just pure protein. Whereas a whole egg is going to have a lot more grams of fat. So just keep that in mind that yes, a whole egg is so good. You know, they say eggs are like some of the best brain food out there. And they're just so satiating, they're delicious. However, when we are trying to watch calories, we can still have one whole egg or maybe even two, whatever you want to fit into your day. But just know that eggs themselves are going to be more calorically dense, and then subbing some egg whites in place of that is going to significantly cut back on calories while still keeping your protein high. Another thing is low-fat or non-fat cottage cheese. Now, when I'm not in a deficit, don't be putting any fat-free cottage cheese in front of me unless I'm using it in a recipe. If I'm using cottage cheese in a recipe, I almost always use fat-free because really all I'm going for in a recipe is the texture of the cottage cheese or just the additional protein. So if I'm adding things in a recipe, it's just such an easy swap for me to use non-fat or low-fat cottage cheese. Whereas if I'm adding cottage cheese to something where I'm actually going to taste it, I want the full fat version. It's more creamy, it's thicker, it just tastes more satiating. But in a deficit, it just makes sense. Low fat or non-fat cottage cheese versus full fat. You're going to save calories, but keep your protein high. Same with milk. You can sub Fairlife Core Power or Fair Life milk instead of regular milk. So you're going to get more protein but fewer calories. Another substitution is Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedges instead of regular cheese because this is going to give you that creamy fix that cheese gives, but it's going to be only about 35 calories for a cheese wedge. And then light sour cream or plain Greek yogurt instead of regular sour cream, this is what I do by default, whether I'm in a deficit or not in a deficit, I always use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream because the soury taste is still there, but you get more protein and fewer calories. Another option is plain canned tuna or rotisserie chicken breast. If you're going to use the rotisserie chicken breast, just take the skin off. And there's actually entries in my FitnessPal that say rotisserie chicken without the skin. That's what I always use. You can use those as protein bases. So the rotisserie chicken and the plain canned tuna. Use those as your protein base because they're so filling and they almost have zero dietary fats. Obviously, we want to have dietary fats, but being able to cut back on dietary fats in some areas so that we can leave them for others is crucial, especially if you're trying to abide by a deficit. And then I've already touched on salsa a little bit, but I swear salsa is a cheat code, especially when you're trying to save calories, because you can use this as a dip. You can use this as a topping instead of something like queso or sour cream or hummus or other dressings or toppings that are very calorically dense. Salsa is such a cheat code. And then you could use PB2, which is powdered peanut butter, instead of regular peanut butter because it's going to get you the flavor for a fraction of the fat and the calories. And another option is just maybe use half the amount of regular peanut butter that you would normally use to keep that taste still there. But you can sub out the remainder by mixing some powdered peanut butter with water so that you can get that same volume of peanut butter, but for significantly less calories. Category three is carb and bread swaps. So this is where the same volume but for way fewer calories concept really comes to shine. There are some English muffins. So that Thomas brand English muffin, they make a 100 calorie version. I think it's just called the Light L I G H T English Muffin. It's in the exact same place that the regular Regular English muffins are at Walmart, but it's 100 calories versus I don't remember how much the other ones are, like, but they're between 120 to 140. So you're thinking, Carly, that's just 20 to 40 calories. Trust me, if you've ever stuck to a calorie deficit, those 20 to 40 calories they matter, especially at the end of the day when you're trying to add some toppings onto your late night dessert, or you're just simply trying to see if you have enough calories left over to have anything. Every little bit helps because we're trying to keep, like I said, the same volume of food, but on less calories. Another good option is Dave's Killer Bread. They have a thin sliced bread version, which is essentially half the bread calories as a normal bread. And then whole grain or low carb tortillas instead of flour tortillas. This is one thing I love. And I know that a lot of people just kind of poo-poo on like the high fiber wraps, but I'm like, girl, I'll be eating those. Those things are good. Like, one, the texture is great. Two, I'm saving me some calories. And I do think if you're relying on wraps like that to get all of your fiber intake in for the day, okay, we should probably pump the rakes air, eat more vegetables, eat more fruit, eat more whole grains. But if you love a tortilla, like a high fiber tortilla, like I do, all more power to you because I love them. I love those extreme wellness wraps. That's a great option that's going to be significantly less calories than a flour tortilla. And one thing I've been having a lot lately is spaghetti squash. Oh my goodness. I don't know how many weeks. At this point, it's been a few months, that I have been loving me some spaghetti squash. So I'll use it in place of noodles. And if we're having spaghetti or we're having some type of Italian dish, or I've just been having it with my lunches. I've mentioned several times that I've been having spaghetti squash, broccoli, marinara, and I've been swapping out the protein. I love it so much. And you can have, like, I think I've been having 200 grams of spaghetti squash, which is once again, lots of bites. And I want to say it's like 60 to 70 calories for that much volume. That is killer. I love me some spaghetti squash. And by the way, I've been asked a few times how I make it. This is a little off topic. So I cut the spaghetti squash in half. I drizzle some olive oil on it, and then I spread out the olive oil evenly. I also scrape out the seeds before I do the olive oil. So I scrape out the seeds, drizzle olive oil, and then I season it with garlic powder and onion powder and some salt. And then I put it face down on the pan and I cook it for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. It is so delicious. And then you just scrape out the noodles and they fall out so perfectly, and it's just so good. So that's one cheat code. I keep using the word cheat code. Oh, so cringe. But really, so much volume for so few calories. Another thing that is high volume is cauliflower rice. If you don't love the taste or the texture of cauliflower rice, then cut the normal portion that you would eat of white rice or brown rice and use the other half to fill with cauliflower rice because it's massive volume for almost no calories. Another thing that's massive volume is a rice cake as a pre-workout snack versus something like a cinnamon raisin bread, like I normally have. So if I'm gonna cut, I pretty much always default to a rice cake as my pre-workout. Sometimes the longer I'm in a deficit, I actually need more for a pre-workout. So I kind of front load my calories just a little bit more earlier on in the day because I wake up pretty hungry when I'm in a deficit. But rice cakes are a great option because that's gonna bring your calories down to like 100 to 120 calories versus 140 to 150 calories if you were having regular bread. If you really need to save calories, but you still want like a higher fat, tasty meal out at a restaurant. This is an option for a burger, okay? You can order a lettuce wrapped burger instead of a burger on a bun. Now, some of y'all are probably gonna pass out at that suggestion because you're like, no girl, I need my hamburger bun. And I feel you, I feel you. But once again, just equate for those calories in advance and you'll be fine. But some people want to keep their breakfast and their lunch pretty similar without having to cut back calories there to make room for dinner. So this is just a way to still have that dinner but cut back on calories, a lettuce wrapped burger instead of a burger on a bun. Don't turn me into Skinny Talk Police for that suggestion, please. Category four, condiments, sauces, and dressings. This is just a little bit repetitive, but there's tons of other ideas in here too, because this category is so underrated. The right condiments can save you hundreds, hundreds with an H hundreds of calories per day. This is also an area that people can absolutely blow their macros. If you think you are eating relatively healthy, but you're not tracking anything, let me start that over. If you think you are eating relatively healthy, but you are overweight and you are not tracking anything, you are, no offense, oblivious. You are oblivious because you are not eating, like you might be eating high quality ingredients, but if you are not tracking anything and your weight is getting out of hand, I'm sorry, but you are not that healthy. You are not as healthy as you think that you are. And I hope that you don't take offense that whatever, you can take offense to that, but I'm just being so for real right now. People are like, oh, I eat relatively healthy, and then I'll go in and I'm like 100 grams of ranch dressing? Girl, be for real. Like, be so for real right now. That is not that not managing things like that, you are not not being as healthy as you think that you are. So condiments, sauces, and dressings is an underrated category. Most of these are things that I personally use or do or swap out, but some of these are just suggestions that my clients have tried and have loved. So, one, mustard as a condiment by itself. I swear, because I started using mustard when I was in a deficit one time, I grew to love mustard so much because it adds flavor to the food, even though it is a little tangy sour. I've like, it's like an acquired taste for me now. And I prefer mustard over just about anything. And it is so low calorie. Another thing that I use is this cucumber dill taziki sauce from Aldi. Really, Tzeki sauce in general, for the most part, is gonna save it at least more calories than like a ranch dressing wood or then a full frat fat, whatever kind of dressing would. But Taziki sauce is a great option too. And then G Hughes is a great brand because they have sugar-free sauces that are significantly less calories. And then just finding lower calorie swaps at restaurants. So, like if you go on Chick-fil-A's website, they list all the calories for all of their sauces. So just go and take a look at what is high calorie and what is lower calorie. You might be choosing the high calorie option without even realizing it. So I already did the research for you. But if you want to in the future, whenever you're deciding what you're gonna order there, just look at the calories attached to their dressings and their sauces. Okay, so like the light Italian dressing and the fat-free honey mustard and the light balsalmic are going to be the lowest calorie dressings. Whereas the ranch dressing, the avocado lime, and the creamy salsa dressing are going to be their highest options when it comes to calories for just their basic dressings. And then when you're looking at their sauces, the low calorie sauces they offer are the barbecue sauce, the sriracha sauce, and the honey mustard, whereas the high calorie options are going to be the Chick-fil-A sauce and the Polynesian sauce, which unfortunately, in my opinion, are the best tasting sauces. Category five are snacks and dessert swaps. This is where a lot of people struggle at night. And here's how you might want to handle it: rice cake bites from Aldi, the caramel ones, it tastes way better than the full rice cake. These little rice cake bites, I swear, they just have more flavor, they have more crunch. I snack on those whether I'm in a deficit or not, because I promise you it feels like a cookie, but it's such few calories. Another thing is popcorn. I use this as what I call a fidget snack, maybe in the afternoon. When I say fidget snack, I'm meaning, okay, I know I'm not actually hungry, but like my hands need to stay busy with something, which we're gonna get to drinks in a minute, but I keep my hands busy with zero or low calorie drinks all throughout the day. But another thing is popcorn, especially things like skinny pop or boom chick-a-pop. Those are going to be lower calorie because they really don't use a ton of butter. I know that they use oils on the popcorn, but they're so tasty and you can have a ton of bites for very few calories. Another thing that I love is a Greek yogurt cup as a nighttime snack, but you can add a fun topping like a little bit of granola, maybe some honey drizzled on there, maybe some honey nut Cheerios, which is something I like to add to my yogurt, maybe some chocolate chips or some berries or even some Oreos or some chocolate teddy grams, something fun to add to the top of a Greek yogurt cup, which I love Greek yogurt, so I don't see that as boring, but maybe you see that as boring, but you're like, whatever, I'll get a vanilla one to get some more protein in, and then I'll add a fun topping on top. And then ninja creamy. Ninja creamy is another volume hack because you can have so many bites of what genuinely tastes like ice cream. And some people are gonna be like, you cannot tell me that I actually taste like ice cream. No, I promise you, everyone who buys a ninja creamy is like, why did I not get this sooner? And I have had one for a few years now, and I go through seasons where I make ninja creamies all the time, and then for some reason I get out of the habit, I just forget to freeze with the stuff overnight, and I'm like, dang it, I forgot again. But then when I start making them, I'm like, why did I ever stop? These are so delicious, it's so high volume, it actually tastes like ice cream, and you can eat an entire tub for like 250 calories. I'm not even kidding, probably less than that, and that is just another volume hack. And what I do for that, my ninja creamy is I actually add almond milk as the mix-in to get to the consistency that I want whenever I am making it. And sometimes I will add whole milk, but as we know, the almond milk is significantly less calories, and since I'm just using it as a mix-in, it doesn't really add to the taste, but it does add a ton to the texture. So I choose almond milk because you can use so much almond milk for hardly any calories, and that's what I use as a mix-in for my ninja creamy. And then Halo Top is a great ice cream brand if you're looking for something that also tastes like the real thing for significantly less calories. And I will say this about desserts and snacks. Okay, just hear me out, please. Please, please, please. I simply do not keep traditional desserts in my house on any type of regular basis. Now, obviously, if we host something at our house, I try to get rid of the desserts as everyone is leaving. But sometimes you just inevitably have stuff left over. Also, for just special family nights, sometimes we'll make something or some type of event, we will have something that might come home with us. But I really just try to get rid of it because if it's in my house, I'm gonna eat it. But here's my mindset. And this doesn't have to feel restrictive. This is just, hey, I am creating an intentional barrier because I can't trust myself to say no to the dessert. Because if it's in my house, I'm just gonna eat it constantly until it gets gone, and then I'm gonna feel ick, I'm gonna feel bloated, and I'm gonna be like, why did I eat all that? So I just create an intentional barrier because to me, saying no at the grocery store one time is easier than saying no every single time I open my fridge or I open my pantry. Category six is drinks. I'm not gonna use the word hack, except I just did, but really, this is a hack for me because it keeps my hands busy and it makes you feel like you're consuming a lot without actually consuming calories. So obviously, drink a ton of water. That's priority number one because we don't want to just be relying on things other than water to keep us hydrated throughout the day. So drink a lot of water. I always recommend a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. So just for round number purposes, let's say you weigh 150 pounds. I always recommend as a bare minimum 75 ounces of water, which is half your body weight in ounces per day. Once again, that's a bare minimum suggestion. However, I love me some energy drinks. My go-to is an Alani. I've also tried Bloom Energy, which I think those taste great too. And then zero calorie soda. My favorite zero calorie sodas are Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Dr. Pepper. Absolutely love those. Here's what I suggest to you find some that you love. Now keep your caffeine reasonable, which this is the pot call in the kettle black. There are many days where my cat my caffeine goes above what I would like for it to be at. So don't just be going crazy. But if you have items that help you break up your water intake throughout the day while also keeping your hands busy versus in the snack drawer, that is going to save you so many calories. Just trust me on that. And another one I forgot to mention is obviously my coffee in the morning. I've just started drinking black coffee because when I did my deficit last summer, I was like, look, this is just an easy way to cut back on calories. I'm just gonna start drinking black coffee. And then I actually grew to actually really like it. And I don't know what it is, but when I add creamer to my coffee, especially first thing in the morning before my workout, it creates this film on the inside of my mouth that is so ick to me. And I just cannot stand having that film from the creamer on my mouth as I go into my workout. So black coffee does not leave the film on my mouth, which is why I always drink that first thing in the morning. But keeping your hands busy, prioritizing water, but then adding things in like energy drinks and zero calorie soda or just zero or low calorie drinks in general is going to be a huge hack for you to not continue snacking and therefore cut back on calories as well. The last category is just some behavior and strategy tips. So this is category seven. These are the habits and mindset shifts that really make everything else work. So first I want you to pre-log your meals in my fitness pal before you eat them. And you've heard that a hundred times, but are you doing it? You hear these basic instructions where you're like, this is what the most successful people do. They log things in advance so that they tell their macros where to go versus wondering where they went. You hear that all the time. I sound like a broken record. However, stop and ask yourself, am I actually doing this on a regular basis? Because if you're not, that is number one priority is for you to start pre-logging things and actually seeing the calories that you plan to consume that day and then following through. Because when you see the numbers first, it really can change what you choose in the moment because you've taken the time to log things in advance, and therefore, maybe hopefully the goal is for it to encourage you to then stick to the plan. Another thing is to use smaller plates and bowls because it's gonna make the same amount of food look like more. Once again, we're going for high volume, low calorie options, but sometimes you still need to just cut back on the portions. And so if you use smaller plates and bowls, it's gonna feel like you're eating a little bit more. Also, when you order sauces and dressings at restaurants, try ordering it on the side because you're going to end up using way less than if they were to just pour it on there for you. And it's also gonna help you visualize how much you are consuming versus it just being on the top of your meal. And that's gonna make logging it way easier because you can say, okay, that looks like about one fourth of a cup of XYZ, whatever it is that you're consuming. It's just gonna help you better visualize it. And the last tip for this category is to eat slowly because it can take your while your brain a while to register fullness. I even see this in myself. If I go into a meal very hungry, I find myself eating so much faster. And then immediately after that meal, I'm like, I'm still hungry. But if I force myself to wait for like 20 minutes, my brain then registers, oh, okay, like I'm now caught up. I'm actually full and I'm satisfied. So one, try to not go into every single meal absolutely crashing into it to where you're gonna eat super fast and then still not feel full. Try to either space out your meals or have each meal be a lot bigger than it potentially currently is, so that you can go into that next meal not absolutely famished. Another thing that some people like to do is instead of three big meals, they like to have four moderately sized meals. And ultimately, the size of the meal and the and how you eat your spread your calories out throughout the day, it does not matter as long as you are staying to your calorie goal within a 24-hour timeline. Now, I do love having meal times that I try to aim at each day. I'm generally gonna eat bit breakfast between six and seven. I'm going to make myself wait until at least 11 a.m. to eat lunch, and then I'm gonna eat dinner between four and six. Those are my time blocks, and it generally happens and shakes out around the same times every day with very little variety. Keep in mind our kids are little, we're involved in some things, but we're not just like Uber shuttles, you know, at the end of the day going from sports to sport. So obviously, my life might look a little bit different than yours does, and your meal times cannot always be predictable. And that's okay because, like I just said, all that matters is what you are consuming within a 24-hour period and sticking to your calorie deficit for a long period of time to actually experience fat loss and weight loss. And I know that I've harped on a calorie deficit a lot during this podcast. Obviously, these same rules can apply to a maintenance period as well. You just have more calories to play with in maintenance, so you don't always have to be grabbing for high volume, low calorie options. So a lot of these tips are going to be best applied in a deficit, but in maintenance, it's not just a free-for-all either. And that is one common misconception. People think, oh, if I can just get through this deficit, I can enjoy all the foods I love again at maintenance. No. If you go back to maintenance, the same person you were before you entered your deficit, you will gain your weight back. So just keep in mind that these high volume, low calorie options can also really help you in maintenance seasons as well. Okay, that's a wrap on today's episode. I hope this gives you a really solid list of swaps and strategies to pull from the next time you are in a deficit or honestly, even when you are at maintenance. Like I said, these are just great habits to have. And if you are someone who needs a layer of accountability added into your week, if you're someone who has fat loss or weight loss goals, I currently have two spots open for one on one nutrition coaching. So I will put a link in the show notes where you can find out more information about that.