Eat Twice As Much, Keep Calories The Same (Eat These Instead)

Bacon trail mix, pasta, turkey bacon, strawberries, and this big thing. Would you have guessed that each of these portions contain 200 calories? Probably not. And as you can see, this can be a problem. When people first start out with a diet, they are totally unaware of just how calorie dense typical food options that they're used to eating really are. And this is one of the main reasons why many who eat clean or work hard still struggle with losing fat and seeing results. This is Kelly. She is our lead dietitian, and I wanted her to share some of the common problems that she finds working with clients who are struggling to lose fat.

So most people think that when they go to a dietitian that we're going to change everything that they eat, and that's not true. Part of our job is actually to figure out exactly what you enjoy eating and then make a plan for actually how you can incorporate. Incorporate it into your day while still hitting your goal. So one of the biggest things that I found with working with hundreds of our clients is that people make poor food choices. This makes it extremely difficult to not only achieve a calorie deficit, which is the thing that you need to lose fat, but it also makes adhering to that deficit even more challenging, especially when hunger and fatigue sets on later in the diet.

So to help you out with this, in this video, we're going to showcase what 200 calories looks like in the most commonly reported problem foods found from our team of dietitians, so you can see just how easy it is to overeat with these foods. We'll then show you what 200 calories looks like with much better options so that you can see visually just how much more food you could be eating and calories you could be saving with the right swabs in place. So we'll start off by looking at some of the most common problematic protein sources that were reported from clients of our dietitians. We have ground beef, pork chop, bacon, and fattier cuts of steak, such as New York Strip. These protein sources are packed with a ton of additional fat and hence bring up their calorie counts quite a bit. You can see that for 200 calories, you're not getting much at all and is what makes these meats very easy to unknowingly overeat with. Some better options would be to sub the ground beef for something like extra lean ground turkey, sub the pork chop for chicken breast, sub the bacon for turkey bacon, and just be mindful of how many calories fattier cuts of steak can quickly add up to. In addition, some other excellent leaner protein options are egg whites and most seafood like shrimp, for example, which both bring in a ton more volume for just 200 calories. You can see just how much more of these leaner protein sources you'd be able to eat for an equivalent amount of calories, and can definitely be made just as tasty with the right seasoning and cooking methods in place. Next are carbs. Some of the most problematic snacks that we found with clients were foods like Oreos, potato chips, and cereal. For 200 calories, you're either getting a few Oreos or a smaller serving of chips than you've probably ever had in your life, or a very minuscule bowl of cereal. When used in moderation, these foods are perfectly fine. But let's be honest, when you're snacking on these foods, there is no way that you're stopping at these serving sizes, which just goes to show you how quickly the calories can add up without you being aware of it. Not to mention that the impact that these foods will have on your hunger will be minimal. If anything, they're just going to make you even more hungry after eating them. In comparison, here's what 200 calories of strawberries look like. Here's what 200 calories of carrots look like. Here's what200 calories of air popped popcorn looks like. And here's what 200 calories of puffed wheats looks like. You can see just how much more volume you're getting with these foods instead, and why they're much better options to actually keep you satiated and prevent you from overeating. And yes, while these swaps may be bland on their own, there's endless ways that you can make these just as satisfying if you just get creative with it. Which leads me to another big problem. Food that most clients had trouble giving up with ice cream. And I don't blame them. It's delicious. But the calories, they add up very easily. For example, Here is what 200 calories of Ben and Jerry's peanut butter cup ice cream looks like. Again, this serving of ice cream is likely smaller than any serving of ice cream that you've ever had. In fact, this right here, which looks like a normal serving that most people would go for, amounts to about 750 calories. And with the whole tub, which isn't very much at all, it'll amount to a whopping 1500 calories, which for many would almost be a full day's worth of their required calories. Instead, a much better option that's my personal go to and still actually satisfying would be something like 2 servings of fat free Greek yogurt sweetened with cinnamon and a sugar free sweetener. For 200 calories you're getting not only more volume but a ton of protein as well. And here's what a 200 calorie bowl of Greek yogurt with strawberries, puff wheats and sugar free syrup looks like as well, which adds even more volume and flavor. Which just goes to show you how much better the volume and quality of calories can be when you make these smarter food options. In addition to these snacks, some other notable carb sources that can be problematic for some are foods like pasta and rice. Now these food sources aren't quote unquote bad at all, but they are very easy to unknowingly overeat. For example, when I'm personally trying to gain weight and add more size, I'll incorporate more rice and pasta into my diet since it makes eating enough calories easier and doesn't impact my hunger as much. But when I'm dieting and watching my calorie intake, I'll have less of these foods because you don't get much volume at all relative to the amount of calories and fullness that they provide. I mean, me being half Filipino, I grew up eating rice every single day and whenever I'd have it, there is no way that I'd willingly be stopping at 200 calories worth of rice. I would and could easily consume triple that amount very easily and still not be very full for very long. For example, here's 200 calories of rice and here's 200 calories of cooked pasta. And in comparison, here is 200 calories of cauliflower which you could very easily chop up or grind up to make cauliflower rice. And Here is what 200 calories of zucchini noodles looks like, which even surprised me. Again, you can see just how much more volume and fullness these swaps would provide even if you just replaced half of the original with half of the swab, which is what many of our clients are doing. Lastly, we have the most problematic food group fats. Now, all fats in general, even healthy sources, will be very dense in calories, but this doesn't mean that you should avoid them since we do need a minimum amount of fat for our bodies to properly function. But it does mean that you need to be more mindful of your portions whenever you eat them because of how easy they are to overeat. For example, Here is what 200 calories of avocado looks like. Here is what 200 calories of peanut butter looks like. And Here is what 200 calories of trail mix looks like. Good sources of fat, but as you can see, very easy to overeat with, especially when you just eyeball how much you're actually eating or or casually snack on these throughout the day. Chances are that you're eating way more than what you thought was just a serving of peanut butter or a serving of trail mix. Which is why for these foods, it's important to not only get yourself familiar with their serving sizes, but actually spend the time to weigh out these foods when you consume them, just to ensure that you're not overeating. Similarly, Here is what 200 calories of olive oil looks like. And Here is what 200 calories of butter looks like. Many clients of our dietitians would regularly add what they thought was an insignificant amount of oil and butter to their foods when cooking them, without realizing that this was adding up to several hundreds or even thousands of calories every single day. Instead, some better options would be to use cooking spray, which contains minimal calories, or use a paper towel to coat your pan with a dab of oil or butter instead of dousing it. Another option is to even invest in an air fryer, which is an awesome and quick way to make crispy, tasty foods while using minimal fat when cooking. Now, one more problematic fat I want to talk about is salad dressings. As you can see, oil based dressings don't provide much at all for 200 calories. In fact, many of you likely use twice or even triple this amount whenever you have a salad which turns what you thought was a low calorie meal into the equivalent of a couple slices of pizza instead, either again measure these dressings when you use them, or just opt for lower calorie salad dressing options. For example, this calorie wise dressing from Kraft is just 5 calories per serving compared to another very similar dressing by Kraft. That's 40 calories per serving, which is honestly on the low end as far as calories go for salad dressings. But it just goes to show you how easy it is to save a few hundred calories from salad dressings alone by making wiser choices. And some other almost calorie free options to use for dressing are things like mustard, lemon or lime, or even rice vinegar. So to wrap everything up for you, Here is what 2000 calories or a full day's worth of calories for many of you watching would look like with the more calorie dense options. Whereas on the other hand, Here is what 2000 calories would look like with the more calorie friendly food swaps we just went through. You can see just how much more food you're able to eat and how much easier it would be to suppress hunger and adhere to your diet by simply making smarter food choices. You can also see just how easy it is to essentially sabotage all the progress that you may have made dieting throughout the week by letting loose on the weekends and unknowingly consuming thousands of additional calories from these more calorie dense foods. So consider these swaps, but more importantly, just be mindful of your portions with certain foods. There's no real good or bad foods, just smarter food options depending on what your goal is. And to help you guys out with making some of these swaps into your diet, our dietitians have created a Free Fat Loss Foods Index guide for you guys to download and use for reference. It goes through what some of the best options are for your proteins, your carbs and your fats, and also provides a list of similar calorie alternatives that you can simply swap in for the original recommendation. To download it, just head over to builtwithscience.com forward/fatlossindex and we'll send it right over to you. And I'll also leave a link to this in the description box down below. And for those who need more guidance and are looking for a complete all in one step by step program that shows you exactly what to eat and how to train week after week to transform your body in the most efficient way possible. And simply head on over to builtwithscience.com and take our analysis course quiz to determine which of our science based programs is best for you and your specific body. Anyways, that is it for today guys. I really hope that you enjoyed this video. Please show your support by giving the video a like comment down below, subscribing to the channel and turning on notifications for the channel as well. This really helps me out. Thank you so much. See you next time. And I'm about to enjoy all this food. Cheers guys.