Losing weight is no picnic, especially if you’re trying to get rid of a lot of it. But by cutting just 100 calories a day you could lose 10 pounds a year. Double your efforts and you could drop 20. Here are some ways to do it through your diet.

At Breakfast

• Flavor your coffee with skim milk and sugar-free sweetener rather than whole milk and sugar.
• Use a smaller bowl for your breakfast cereal.
• When you make an omelet, substitute four egg whites or half a cup of egg substitute for two whole eggs.
• Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking juice.
• Trade regular syrup on your pancakes for the light or sugar-free variety.
• Substitute Canadian bacon for regular bacon.

At Lunch

• Use mustard instead of mayonnaise on your sandwich.
• Put low-fat or nonfat salad dressing instead of regular on your salad.
• Have a thin-crust pizza rather than a pan pizza.
• Drink club soda with lime, not a regular soda.
• Order minestrone or chicken noodle instead of cream-based soup.
• Make a grilled sandwich with nonstick vegetable oil spray instead of butter.
• Order a regular hamburger instead of a cheeseburger.

At Snack Time

• Dip raw vegetables instead of tortilla chips into salsa.
• Select a granola bar instead of a fudge nut brownie from the vending machine.
• At celebrations, ask for a piece of sheet cake from the middle instead of the edge. You’ll get less high-calorie icing.
• Snack on an orange or a banana instead of a candy bar.
• Eat 35 pretzel sticks instead of an ounce of dry-roasted peanuts.
• Eat air-popped popcorn instead of caramel-coated popcorn.
• Reach for 1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt instead of custard-style yogurt.

At Dinner

• Choose red sauce instead of cream-based sauce on pasta.
• Split a meal with your dining companion.
• Order lunch-sized portions instead of dinner-sized when eating out.
• Eat half a cup of steamed fresh broccoli instead of half a cup of frozen broccoli in cheese sauce.
• Choose two roasted drumsticks instead of two breaded and fried drumsticks.
• Eat two meatballs instead of four with your spaghetti.
• Order vegetarian lasagna instead of meat lasagna.

For more information, visit the American Dietetic Association at www.eatright.org.

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