Smart Ways to Slash 100 (or More) Calories

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Prevent holiday pounds from creeping up on you with these effortless switches.

by Sharon Liao

1 Leave behind three or four bites of your meal. Research shows that people usually polish off everything they're served, even if they're not hungry.

2 Skin your chicken after cooking it. You'll retain moisture yet still strip away 148 calories and 13 grams of fat.

3 Blend your smoothie for at least five minutes. According to a Pennsylvania State University study, people who drank a breakfast smoothie mixed to twice its initial volume ate about 100 fewer calories at lunch than when they drank the same smoothie at the original volume. The extra air makes you feel fuller, say researchers.

4 Eat your sandwiches and burgers open-faced, with one slice of bread instead of two.

5 ORder a cup of soup as an appetizer. People who fill up on soup (that's broth- or tomato-based, not cream-based) consume about 100 fewer calories during the rest of the meal, says a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

6 swap your chocolate bar (235 calories) for a glass of light chocolate soy milk (120 calories).

7 use butter-flavored nonstick spray, not a tablespoon of margarine or butter, to make grilled-cheese sandwiches and eggs.

8 Order a white-wine spritzer (80 calories) instead of a mixed drink (about 180 calories).