7 Small Changes to Melt Off 10lbs of Fat

Sometimes it feels like you have to work hard to lose weight. And don’t get me wrong—I know that fat loss takes effort.  But sometimes we make it more complicated than necessary, don’t you think?  If you’ve got bad food habits, you can shed 10 pounds easily just by making small changes in your daily diet regimen. Make some of these small changes and watch the weight peel off.

Change #1: When cooking, quit using fatty oils to flavor up and moisten your dish. Instead, steam your food or use a pressure cooker. Cook it in broth and you’ll still get the flavor without all of the calories. Oil can house 39 calories teaspoon. Steam or pressure-cook your food and you save 273 calories a week (and this is if you only use one tsp, which most people actually use much more)!

Change #2: Ramp up your exercise during the day. Most people walk, on average, between 5,000 and 7,000 steps per day. It’s been said that in order to lose weight, you need to get in 10,000 steps per day. Add an additional 3,000-4,000 steps per day and you’ll rack up an extra 1.5-2 miles each day. If you weigh 180 pounds, you would burn about 97 more calories per day if you walked a 15-minute mile. That burns 679 calories more per week!

Change #3: Say goodbye to full fat salad dressing and introduce a leaner option to your greens and veggies! Full fat salad dressing like Ranch has a whopping 148 calories for every two tablespoons. If you get Kraft Lite Done Right – you’ll slash it in half, putting only 77 calories on your salad instead. Eat a salad every day and you’re preventing 497 calories from hitting your hips!

Change #4: Choose lean meats from now on. Whether it’s on your sandwich or something from the grill, the fat that flavors your meat selections adds extra calories to your weekly intake. If you like Oscar Meyer, instead of eating their 88-calorie per slice bologna, try their fat free smoked turkey option for just 42 calories per slice. Save 322 calories per week!

Change #5: Switch from a Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappachino at Starbucks (470 calories) to a Mint Mocha Chip Frappachino Light for just 210 calories and save 260 calories a day – which totals 1,820 calories per week! Coffee – especially at chain stores – that’s iced and laden with sugar can really pack on the pounds.

Change #6: Swap alcohol for a different kind of bubbly. Red wine can deliver 150 calories per 6-ounce glass each time you drink it. Many people like to enjoy a glass of red wine at the end of a long, hard day. But switch to sparkling water and you have zero calories. If you want to, add a splash of cranberry juice for about 17 calories (for one ounce). You’ll save anywhere from 931 to 1,050 calories a week if you only have one per day! Change #7: How do you dress up your sandwiches when you take them to work or eat them at home? Is mayonnaise your best friend? Tell him you have a new BFF – mustard. While the white spread is packed with fat and calories, mustard has a ton of flavor and it’s much more diet friendly. Mayo has 49 calories per tablespoon and mustard only has 3 per teaspoon. You can save 322 calories per week making this simple change!

These small changes add up to a minimum of 4,844 calories saved or burned each week. If we know that a pound equals 3,500 calories, then you should see those 10 pounds gone in just over 7 weeks!

Even if you don’t eat any of the foods up above, look at what you’re eating during the week and find ways to find versions that have less calories (always watching for added sugars though!).

For more ideas for switching out the foods you eat for healthier versions, check out

“Eat This, Not That!”

Eat This, Not That! Thousands of Simple Food Swaps that Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds—or More!