How To Cut Calories Without Starving Yourself

In addition to regular exercise, the best way to lose weight is to cut calories. But, how can you do that without starving yourself? Let’s talk about that.

Use this calorie calculator to determine how many calories you should be eating a day. If the recommended calorie intake is significantly lower than what you are currently eating, do not jump straight to the recommended calories. Reduce your calories a little bit at a time. This will prevent your body from going into diet shock. If you are used to eating 3,500 calories a day, you will, of course, feeling starving if you suddenly drop to 1,800 calories a day.

Reduce your intake 200-500 calories every week or two until you have reached your goal caloric range.

Also remember, it is normal to be a little hungry at the start of a diet. If you feel no change when eat less, you may not be calculating your intake correctly. Give yourself a week or two on a diet before you decide if you’re eating the right amount. If you are starving everyday beyond the first week of a diet, it is time to make some changes. Either increase your caloric intake or try my tips below.

Cut The Garbage

If you are limiting your calories, you need to fill your diet with foods that will keep you feeling satiated. Junk food, baked goods, and candy will not do that. These things have no nutritional value and they won’t keep you feeling full for very long. If you are starving on your diet and consuming junk food regularly, it is time to make a change. If removing all junk food from you diet seems overwhelming, limit the amount you eat and work on finding healthy swaps that make you happy.

Stop Drinking Your Calories

If you are trying to lose weight, liquid calories have got to go! Juice, soda, alcohol, energy drinks, and basically any drink that has calories should be removed from your diet. Just like with junk food, these things will not keep you full. They are a waste of calories. On a low calorie diet, you should never waste calories. Drink water. You can drink coffee if you need to, but be aware that anything you mix into your coffee has calories. If you want some flavor in your water, try mixing in some flavored BCAA’s.

Eat Low-Calorie Dense Foods

Low-calorie dense foods have a low number of calories relative to their weight. This means you can eat a lot of them and still be low in calories. Vegetables, legumes, certain fruits, and beans fall into the low-calorie dense food category. If you want to feel full on a diet, eat these foods! You can actually eat a lot of them on a low-calorie plan. Let me give you an example. Leafy greens are about 70 calories per pound. Bread is about 1,700 calories per pound. This means you can have nearly 25 times more lettuce than bread to reach the same amount of calories. This is just one example, check out this chart for more.

For more diet help, sign up for one of my MFit home workout plans. Each plan comes with the MFit Diet Planner, which will help you craft the perfect diet for your body, goals, and taste.