Losing weight is easy if you follow these steps

How to reduce your daily calorie consumption by adopting healthy lifestyle changes and swapping foods.

Losing weight requires you to consume less calories than you burn. Does this mean you will have to survive on salad and protein shakes? After successfully transforming hundreds of people, I can tell you that the answer to that is "absolutely not". In fact, most people consume extra calories throughout the day in ways that they don't even realise. A few healthy lifestyle changes and food swaps can therefore play a significant role in reducing your daily calorie consumption.
Don't drink your calories
Your favorite fizzy drinks may be adding around 200 calories and 40 grams of sugar to your diet. Similarly, artificially sweetened fruit juices, tea and coffee with sugar and full fat milk are all high in calories. Try avoiding fizzy drinks or opt for diet versions, eat whole fruits instead of drinking juice and switch to tea and coffee with unsweetened almond milk and no sugar.
Cook your own food
You may be eating a chicken breast at a restaurant, thinking it is the same as a chicken breast at home. What you may not be aware of is how much oil or butter has been used to cook the chicken, the sauces used in the marinade and the amount of sugar added for additional flavor. Just one tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories and the restaurant might even be using more. When you cook at home, you know exactly what is going into your food.
Cut down on sauces

Sauces including ketchup, mayonnaise and sweet chili sauce are high in calories. You may be using these in large quantities for flavor without realising the calories. Instead, opt for sugar-free ketchup, mustard and low-calorie hot sauce.
Make healthy swaps
Small changes throughout your day could have a massive impact on your calorie consumption. Opt for lettuce wraps instead of a bun when eating a burger, remove the top slice of a sandwich to make it an open face sandwich, order a side of vegetables instead of French fries and choose tomato-based sauces instead of creamy ones.

(Yasir Khan is a Dubai-based transformation expert with 17 years of experience in fitness and mind coaching.)