Avoiding Calorie Traps

Transcript

While talking about losing weight, or eating healthy, you’ve probably heard the term ”calorie” mentioned a lot. But what is a calorie?

Remember, a calorie is just a way to measure the amount of energy you get from the food you eat. If you eat more calories each day than you use for energy, you’ll gain weight.

Talk to your healthcare team about how many calories you should eat each day to manage your weight. Then start to count those calories!

When you eat, or drink your favorite beverage, make every calorie count. Choose to use your calories on nutritious things that fill you up and make you feel satisfied.

There are a number of high calorie traps we fall into. One is soda. Can you guess how many calories are in a can of regular soda? Take a look at the food label. Yup, there are 150 calories in every can. How many cans do you drink a day?

You can lower your number of calories everyday by trading the sugary regular soda for a diet soda. There aren’t any calories in those. Or better yet, make water the drink of choice for you.

Certain foods are another high calorie trap. Some types of foods have more calories than others, like foods with fat. Popular snacks like chips, crackers and ice cream are high in fat, and will have a high number of calories per serving size.

Try to keep the amount of fats you eat as low as possible to avoid gaining weight. Why not try snacking on fruits and vegetables instead? Most don’t have any fat.

But you don’t have to cut out all these foods at once. Try making these changes one at a time. When you feel comfortable with one change, try another.

"Once a month I’ll go and get one of my favorite old foods, but then I’ll exercise after I have it. Just as long as I don’t eat it everyday."

If you crave something high in calories or high in fat, have it in smaller portions once in a while so your cravings are satisfied. Or, try a low-fat food like frozen yogurt instead. When you crave high-fat, high-calorie snacks like chips, try low- fat popcorn or baked pretzels.

Just be careful to read the label for the amount of fat and number of calories per serving, and see if it’s a nutritious option for you.

"Often times things are advertised as sugar-free or fat-free. You have to look at the calorie content too, that is it really a low calorie food? Is it really nutritious for me?"

Counting calories and watching out for calorie traps are important ways you can help meet your weight loss goals. If you need help, ask anyone on your healthcare team – your doctor, nutritionist, exercise coach or counselor.

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