Ten Easy Ways to Cut Calories

The difference between gaining and losing weight is simple math. By creating a deficit of 3500 calories you can lose one pound of fat. On the other hand, consuming an excess of 3500 calories will lead to a gain of one pound of fat. There are three simple ways to create a calorie deficit:

• Cut 3500 calories out of your diet
• Burn 3500 calories from exercise
• A combination of both (*best choice*)

Here are some easy ways to help you cut calories from your diet and other unhealthy components like cholesterol and saturated fat.
Easy Ways to Cut Calories

1. Switch to Low-Fat or No-Fat Dairy Products: Milk and other dairy products provide benefits for the body in the form of calcium; however, these products can also be high in cholesterol, saturated fat, and calories. Choosing a low- or no-fat product will allow you to reduce all three unhealthy components. For example an 8-ounce servings of whole milk contains 150 calories, but the same amount of skim milk contains only 85.

2. Substitute Sugar Substitutes: Sugar substitutes (ie. stevia, truvia, agave nectar) have much fewer calories than pure sugar, and some even contain zero calories. One teaspoon of sugar has 15 calories. Think this small amount doesn't add up? Say you add 4 tablespoon of sugar into your coffee each morning. After one week you've accumulated 420 calories, and in just over 8 weeks you have added enough calories to your diet to gain 1 pound.

3. Serve Stew Instead of Steak: Many cuts of red meat are high in calories, cholesterol, and saturated fat. You can decrease the amount of fat that you consume with certain preparation methods. Cutting off visible fat before preparing the meat will save you 100 calories per tablespoon of fat. Preparing beef as stew rather than broiling or roasting it will allow you to remove high-calorie fat as well. Stew is prepared by cooking the beef in large pan then a variety of vegetables are added. The juices from the cooking process are often used to create a gravy for the stew. By cooking the beef ahead of time and storing in the refrigerator for a few hours, the fat in the juices will harden on top. This fat can them be skimmed off the top of the pan and discarded. Removing fat this way will also save you 100 calories per tablespoon of fat.
4. Choose Low-Fat Desserts: Completely cutting desserts out of your diet rarely works for anyone. Instead choose low-fat desserts like sorbet, dark chocolate, yogurt, or fresh fruit. Remember moderation is key!

5. Peel the Poultry: Most of the fat in poultry is found in the skin. A fried chicken breast with skin has 217 calories; without the skin, only 160. Save yourself and remove the skin!
6. Choose Salad Dressing Wisely: Salad can be a low-calorie meal if prepared with the right ingredients. Even throwing in a couple croutons and a pinch of cheese won't entirely cancel out the healthy ingredients in your salad. These ingredients may not do you in, but the dressing you choose just might! Choose oil based dressings like italian or greek over a creamy dressing such as caesar or ranch. Using a low-fat or no-fat dressing will also allow you to save on calories and fat. No matter which dressing you choose, be sure to stick to the serving size listed on the bottle or recalculate if you use multiple servings.
7. Make One-Slice Sandwiches: Depending on the brand you choose, one slice of bread can pack up to 150 calories. By preparing your sandwich with just one slice of bread, you can save on calories and possibly unneeded carbohydrates.

8. Eliminate the High-Fat Ingredient: Many restaurant foods contain at least one high-fat ingredient that can be eliminated to cut calories. For example, a Half Chipotle Chicken Sandwich at Panera Bread has 420 calories. Remove the bacon and you can save yourself 70 calories. The same can be said for other sandwich toppings such as cheese and mayo.
9. Season with Spices: Using spices to prepare food can help you save on calories. By using spices for flavor instead of fattening ingredients like butter, margarine, or oil can help you save about 100 calories per tablespoon. Some good combinations include dill on potatoes, chives on corn, and oregano on green beans. Try out your own combinations to make a tasty low-calorie dish that is full of flavor.

10. Eliminate Fat from Meat: When browning meat for dishes like spaghetti sauce or tacos be sure to remove the excess fat before completing your preparation. To remove the most fat, boil a pot of water while your meat is browning. When browning is complete pour off the excess fat, turn the meat into a strainer and pour a cup of hot water over it. Repeat two times. Just as with our other meat preparation methods, every tablespoon that melts of drains from the meat saves you 100 calories, plus cholesterol, and saturated fat.

Holiday Weight Gain in College Students

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. The next five weeks are filled with family, friends, finals, and lots of food! It's no wonder that the average American packs on a few pounds during the holidays. I believe that college students are even more susceptible to weight gain over the holidays for several reasons.

First of all is Thanksgiving. For some students this is the first time home since August and you're dying for some home cooking. And who doesn't love a good Thanksgiving feast? Most people overindulge at Thanksgiving with foods that are full of butter, sugar, and fat. Enough about Thanksgiving, I'll expand more on that in my next post.

After Thanksgiving college students return to school and are faced with final projects, final papers, and final exams. This is a very stressful time especially for the first year students who are experiencing their first final exam week. Finals time often means late nights at Willy T, skipped workouts, and increased stress levels. All of these are contributors to weight gain. Most students who stay up late to study or finish an assignment will end up consuming an extra 250-1000 calories than they normally would each day. These calories usually come from energy drinks, snacks, and added meals. Skipping workouts means that calories are not being burned, and spending more time studying decreases daily calorie burn. Instead of consuming extra calories during finals, most students should actually cut back on calories because of decreased activity. And stress often leads to eating when you're not hungry. Stress eating combined with the distraction of studying can lead to some very dangerous mindless eating. Ever grab a bag of something to snack on while studying, and next thing you know the entire bag is gone!? That's mindless eating. I'll post more about mindless eating before we get into finals week.

Once winter break arrives college students head home to their family and friends. Just like Thanksgiving, Christmas break is filled with lots of food and drinks that can lead you to consume extra calories. Christmas cookies, pies, and other pastries are fine in moderation, but you should not eat multiple servings each day around Christmas. Also be careful of liquid calories. Many of the warm, creamy beverages we love when the weather is cold can pack about 350 calories per 12 oz. serving. Drink just 10 servings and you will have consumed enough calories to gain one pound.

Not only do we often consume extra calories over winter break, but many college students also get out of their regular exercise routine. When you're at school it's fairly easy to go to the Johnson Center to workout. When you head home it's not always as easy to access a fitness facility, but you can find other ways to stay active without a gym. Go back to the basics and do some calisthenics in your living room. Jumping jacks. high knees, and butt kicks will still burn calories. If it happens to snow where you are over winter break, go shovel some snow. Not only will you burn about 400 calories an hour, you'll also have happy parents!

Don't let yourself be someone that gains weight over the holidays. Stay active and make smart dietary choices! I'll post several more times about staying healthy over the holidays, so stay tuned!

Managing Your Hunger

Listen to Your Body
About 60 to 75% of your daily calories are expended just keeping up your bodily functions (refer to my post of calculating calories for more info). They're used to maintain your body's temperature, for regulating your nerves, for breathing, and to keep your heart beating. Calories are also important for nourishing and repairing your muscles and cells. A simple rule to keep in mind is to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're not.

Don't skip meals
Avoid slowing down your metabolism by eating 5-6 small meals a day. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and snack on healthy choices throughout the day. Skipping meals doesn't help you to cut calories. People who skip meals actually end up overindulging at the next meal. Smaller portion sizes and choosing healthy foods will help you to cut calories, not skipping meals.

Water helps the burn
A majority of people don't drink enough water. Without enough water in your system, your metabolism slows down and you end up burning fewer calories. Always drink at least 8 glasses or 64 ounces of water each day. Not sure if you're drinking enough water? When you're awake, you should be taking a bathroom break at least every 4 hours. If you're not, it's time to hydrate.

Catch more Zzzzzs
Getting too little sleep triggers hormonal changes that lead to an increased appetite. Also, sleep deprivation will cause your body to have more cravings for foods high in sugar and fat. If you're tired, you often won't have enough energy to workout to your full potential. Your body will thank you for getting enough sleep each night, 7 to 8 hours is best.

Don't Let Your Hunger Manage You
When you're hungry, it's easy to let your stomach to the talking. Make sure you take control over your hunger before it gets out of control. Here are a few tips to help you manage your appetite:

Drink water 30 minutes before every meal

• Sometimes the effects of thirst are disguised as hunger pangs. Water will not only ease the hunger temporarily, it will also help you to reduce the amount that you eat at your next meal. Drink water instead of soda, fruit juice, or  sugary drinks during your meals and you won't be adding empty calories.

End your membership to the clean plate club

• Avoid overeating just because it's there. Yes there are starving children in Africa, but that doesn't mean that you have to overeat. Pack leftovers and eat the next day. When eating out, ask the server to brink a take-home container with your meal and pack half of the meal before you even start eating. That way you can enjoy the same delicious meal twice and get more bang for your buck.

Hold the dessert

• Don't eat dessert right after finishing your main course. Wait at least 20 minutes and then if you're still hunger choose a healthy dessert like fresh fruit or sorbet.

Eat slowly

• Your taste buds can savor the flavors longer and you'll avoid filling up quickly. Thoroughly chewing your food will also help your body to digest it properly. Try to chew eat bite 20 times before you swallow.

Powerful Protein

Protein is found is many cells throughout the body - muscle, skin, hair, bone, etc.- and is essential for human function. Protein is used in your body to build, maintain, and repair cells and tissues. All proteins are made up of amino acid building blocks. Your body requires a wide array of these amino acids for different functions but not every protein sources contains every amino acid. To build all of the protein that your body needs, you require 22 different amino acids. Ten of these amino acids are essential, meaning that your body cannot produce them so you must get them from food sources. The other twelve amino acids are considered to be nonessential because they can be produced in your body. Three more amino acids also exist, but they are only needed by the body in times of illness or injury.

High-quality and Low-quality Proteins
Proteins from animal sources - meat, fish, poultry eggs, and dairy products - contain similar combinations of amino acids as needed by humans therefore making these high-quality proteins. These high-quality proteins are processed more efficiently by your body and have a limited amount of waste. Low-quality proteins - grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds - have fewer amino acids making their nutritional value lower than that of animal proteins.

Complete and Incomplete Proteins

Proteins can also be described at complete or incomplete. Complete proteins are those that contain sufficient amounts of all amino acids; incomplete proteins do not have the necessary amounts of all amino acids. The quality of incomplete proteins can be improved by pairing them with another incomplete protein that has the missing amino acids. Complete proteins come from animal sources. The following foods have incomplete proteins: grain foods, legumes, and nuts & seeds.

How to combine incomplete proteins

• Pair whole grains with legumes (ex. rice and beans)
• Pair dairy products with whole grains (ex. whole grain pasta with cheese, grilled cheese sandwich)
• Pair legumes with nuts and/or seeds (ex. vegetarian chili with caraway seeds)
• Pair dairy products with legumes (ex. chili beans with cheese)
• Pair dairy products with nuts and seeds (ex. yogurt with mixed nuts)

Incorporating Protein in your Diet
It is recommended that healthy adults get 10-35% of their daily caloric intake from protein. A good number to aim for is 45 grams per day for women and 52 grams per day for men. Also, a quick calculation that you can do to calculate your personal protein needs is to multiply your weight in pounds times 0.36. These amounts of protein can be easily incorporated into your diet as two to three 3-ounce servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry. Vegetarians can get their protein from 2 eggs, 2 slices of fat-free cheese, 4 slices of whole grain bread, and one low-fat cup of yogurt.

Examples of Lean Protein

• Beans of all kinds
• Beef tenderloin
• Bison
• Canned salmon, packed in water
• Canned tuna, packed in water
• Chicken breasts
• Chickpeas
• Eggs
• Fat-free plain yogurt
• Fresh fish (cod, salmon, tilapia, etc.)
• Lean ground turkey
• Lentils
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Natural nut butters (almond, cashew, peanut, etc.)
• Non-dairy beverages (fat-free almond, rice, or soy milk)
• Pork tenderloin
• Tempeh
• Tofu
• Unsalted raw nuts and seeds

Protein values of common foods

• Egg white 3.5 gm/1 large egg
• Egg 6 gm/1 large egg
• Cheddar cheese 7 gm/1 oz.
• 1% Milk 8 8gm/8 oz.
• Yogurt 11 gm/cup
• Cottage cheese 15 gm/0.5 cup
• Haddock 27 gm/ 4 oz.
• Hamburger 30 gm/4 oz.
• Pork Loin 30 gm/4 oz.
• Chicken Breast 35 gm/4 oz.
• Tuna 40 gm/6 oz.
• Almonds 3 gm/12 nuts
• Peanut butter 4.5 gm/1 tbsp
• Kidney beans 6 gm/0.5 cup
• Hummus 6 gm/0.5 cup
• Gardengurger 6 gm/2.5 oz. patty
• Refried beans 7 gm/0.5 cup
• Lentil soup 11 gm/10.5 oz.
• Tofu 11 gm/3.5 oz.
• Baked beans 14 gm/ 1 cup
• Boca burger 13 gm/2.5 oz. patty

*Actual values may vary depending on brand*

Information adapted from: Nutrition for Dummies, 4th ed., The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno, and Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 4th ed.

Curious about Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are our body's main source of energy for intense physical activity. Carbohydrates can basically be broken down into 2 groups: simple carbs and complex carbs. The classification of simple or complex depends on the chemical structure of the food and how quickly the sugar is digested and absorbed by the body. Simple carbs provide the body with a quick burst of energy, they break down easily, and tend to send blood-sugar levels out of control. Simple carbs have either one or two sugars and include:

• Fructose (found in fruit)
• Galactose (found in milk products)
• Lactose (found in dairy)
• Maltose (found in certain vegetables and in beer)
• Sucrose (table sugar)

Simple carbohydrates are found in a variety of foods, some good and some bad. Simple carbs that are good for us provide the body with vitamins and minerals and include fruits, milk & milk products, and certain vegetables. Simple carbohydrates can also be found in candy, carbonated beverages and sodas, syrups, and table sugar as refined or processed sugars. These processed and refined sugars contain calories but do not provide the body with vitamins, minerals, or fiber.  Foods like this that we consume that have little or no nutritional value and a high number of calories are considered to be calorie dense. We can also say that these foods have empty calories.

Complex carbohydrates are high in fiber and improve digestion. They provide you with energy, keep you satisfied after meals, and stabilize blood-sugar levels. Complex carbs are more complicated molecules and need to be taken apart by the body before being fully digested, making you fuller for a longer period of time. Complex carbohydrates contain 3 or more sugar molecules linked together in a chain. Complex carbs are found in a variety of foods including legumes (beans/lentils), starchy vegetables, and whole grains.

How to Include Carbohydrates in your Diet
40-60% of your total caloric intake each day should be provided from carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates and natural sugars should make up the majority of these calories. Complex carbohydrates will provide your body with the energy, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that it needs to be healthy. To increase your intake of complex carbs include more fruits and vegetables in your diet, eat more whole-grain breads, cereals and pastas, and include more legumes.

Here's Some Examples of Complex Carbohydrates

• Apples
• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Bananas
• Beans (kidney, navy, pinto, soy)
• Berries
• Broccoli
• Brown Rice
• Brussels Sprouts
• Buckwheat
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Chickpeas
• Citrus Fruits
• Cucumbers
• Cream of Wheat
• Eggplant
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Kiwi
• Lentils
• Lettuce
• Mango
• Melons
• Oatmeal
• Okra
• Onions
• Oranges
• Papaya
• Passion Fruit
• Pears
• Plums
• Pomegranate
• Potatoes
• Quinoa
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Split Peas
• Sweet Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Watercress
• Wheat germ
• Whole-grain pasta
• Zucchini

Information adapted from MedlinePlus and The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno

Calorie Balance

As a fitness professional, the 2 questions that I get asked the most frequently are both centered around calories. How many calories should I be eating? And, how many calories do we burn from this workout? Having the answers to these two questions is essential to finding the correct calorie balance. There are 3 factors that determine your calorie requirements.

1. Basal Metabolic Rate: This is the minimum amount of energy needed by the body at rest. It includes basic body functions such as respiration, cellular metabolism, circulation, gland activity, and body temperature control. It is affected by such things as age, gender, pregnancy, body composition, nutritional status, sleep, climate, and fever.
2. Physical Activity: The amount of calories needed for physical activity depends on the type of activity or work, the intensity and the duration.
3. Specific Dynamic Action of Food: This is the amount of calories needed to manage food intake and includes digestion, absorption, and metabolism of food.

Balancing the calories you take in with those you put out is the safest, healthiest way to control your weight – for the next two weeks, or the next 20 years. Finding the correct calorie balance is important whether you are someone trying to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight. When calculating your calorie intake, make sure to calculate with your ideal weight. So if you are currently 160 pounds but are trying to lose 20 pounds, make sure to use 140 pounds when you calculate. Same thing if you are trying to gain weight, just add the weight you want to gain onto your current weight.
A word of caution for anyone who needs to lose more than 60 pounds; don't calculate your calorie needs with your final ideal weight. You should instead calculate your calorie needs in phases to ensure that your body is getting enough energy so that it doesn't enter "Starvation Mode" (i'll get to this later). Start by calculating your initial needs with a 30-40 lb. weight decrease from where you currently are. Then when you have 10 lbs. to go in phase 1 recalculate your calorie needs for the phase 2. Continue this process until you have reached your ideal weight.

Calculating Calorie Needs
Step 1: Calculate BMR  (W = weight in kg, H = height in cm, A = age in years)

For Males, BMR= 66 + 13.7W + 5H - 6.8A

For Females, BMR= 655 + 9.7W + 1.8H - 4.7A

W(kg) = W(lb.) x 0.4536          H(cm) = H(in.) x 2.54

Step 2: Add in calories for purposeful exercise. Since most people do not track their calories during exercise choose your activity level from the following:

• If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
• If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
• If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
• If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
• If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

So now you know how many calories you should be consuming eachday. If you are trying to lose weight, here's some advise.  It takes about 3500 calories to make one pound of fat. So to lose one pound, you can:

• Burn 3,500 excess calories (if you have a few hours to kill) 
• Eat 3,500 fewer calories (starvation diet, anyone?)
• A combination of exercise and diet (the best option)

For example, to lose one pound in a week, you could simple create a calorie deficit of 500 per day (7x500 = 3,500). That could be as simple as cutting out one donut (280 calories) and jogging for 25 minutes (240 calories) each day.

Starvation Mode
There is a common misperception that to lose weight, the lower the calories the better. Ironically, the key may be eating more calories. You can actually hurt your body's ability to lose weight by going too low. Here's why. The body has a protective mechanism, and when calories drop too low the body reacts as if it is starving and tries to conserve energy. It will lower your metabolism, conserve calories and fat, and you will not burn calories as quickly. This results in a slower weight loss or even no weight loss. This is what's know as "Starvation Mode". When calorie intake falls below 1,200 (females) to 1,500 (males) calories a day, it is also extremely difficult to follow a balanced diet and obtain all the nutrients that are needed by the body to stay strong and energetic and prevent disease. These very low calorie intakes can also lead to other health problems such as eating disorders, gout, gallstones, and heart complications.
No matter what your ideal weight, you should never go below 1,200 calories a day for females and 1,500 calories a day for males. Remember, your body is still burning calories for energy not matter what you are doing. You just burnt calories as you sat here reading this post (approximately 68 calories per hour for a 150 lb. individual). I will be adding some resources into the Fitness tab at the top of the page to estimate calorie burn during activity. So if you're curious approximately how many calories you burn while exercising, check out those resources for a quick estimate!!

And as always, if you have questions or comments about anything I have posted here or even something that I haven't posted about, please reach out to me! Either comment below, post in the Wildcat Wellness Support Group on Facebook, or email me.

All About Calories

You know by now that eating and physical activity affect your weight. Eating provides your body with the energy it needs while physical activity uses calories for energy. So whatever your goal - weight loss, maintenance, or weight gain - the key to success is finding the right ways to balance the calories you take in with the calories you burn off.

What is a Calorie?
The calorie is a unit of energy. When you eat something, the number of calories it contains is actually the amount of energy that the food provides the body. The calorie is also the measure that your body uses for energy output. The body uses calories for many fuctions such as breathing, sitting, and exercising. So the calorie is used to measure both the amount fo energy contained in foods that you consume, as well as the amount fo energy that your body uses during activity.

Where do Calories come from?
Calories come from 3 of the 6 classes of nutrients - carbohydrate, protein, and fat. The other 3 classes of nutrients (water, vitamins, and minerals) do not provide the body any energy.

• 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

Calories are also found in alcohol but  because it can't be used in the body to promote growth, maintenance, or repair, it is not considered a nutrient. Alcohol is a toxin that is broken down as an energy source and can be converted into fat.

• 1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

How are Calories used and saved?
While the function of each calorie producing nutrient is different, the result of excessive intake is the same - FAT STORAGE!!
Carbohydrate is broken down into glucose for immediate energy needs, and the surplus is stored as glycogen for long-term energy needs and brain function. However, after the glycogen stores are filled, the excess carbohydrate is stored as FAT. The nutrient Fat is initially broken down and used for its primary functions, such as providing cell structure. However, any excess fat fragments will be reassembled and stored in the FAT cells. Protein will also encounter the same fate. Once protein has met immediate energy needs and provided the body with other building and repairing functions, the excess will be converted into FAT and stored away.

All foods supply energy in the form of calories; however, some provide more calories than others. No single food or class of food is “fattening” by itself. When the calories provided in food are not needed by the body, the excess is stored in the body in the form of fat. This storage process happens no matter what food the calories came from. And while the storage of most cells is limited, fat tissue is able to store an unending amount of fat. So all that being said, finding your personal balance of calories in to calories out is very important. Read my next post for strategies you can use to find that correct calorie balance!