From popcorn to cereal to salad dressings, here’s ten pantry swaps to help you lose weight

Because it all adds up, according to our dietitian.

Jun 23, 2021 - 06:15

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From popcorn to cereal to salad dressings, here’s ten pantry swaps to help you lose weight

Are you trying to lose weight? Rather than going hell for leather on *another* diet overhaul, I think it’s far more productive to work on small tweaks that save kilojoules and add up over time.

That way, you don’t feel like you’re always ‘on a diet’ and instead, you’ll be building healthier habits that will stick long term. Doing it this way won’t mean you lose five kilos in a week – but as the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race.

In case you’re wondering, the average adult intake is about 8,700 kilojoules (2,000 calories) per day. If you’re trying to lose weight, this daily quota should drop to about 6,300 kilojoules (1,500 calories).

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For most people, this 2400 kilojoule (500 calorie) per day deficit equates to half to one kilogram of weight loss per week. While that’s not as fast or impressive as a lot of trendy weight loss programs and diet pills, it’s far healthier and means you’re more likely to keep it off in the long haul. Plus, losing weight too quickly means you’ll lose lean muscle mass and subsequently slow down your metabolism – and you obviously don’t want to do that.

To give you a helping hand with simple, do-able diet tweaks, here are ten pantry swaps that really work. They mightn’t seem notable, but over a whole day, these tweaks cut almost 2000 kilojoules (500 calories) – and hey presto, there’s your kilojoule deficit without even trying.