4 small eating changes to help you lose weight

When you think about managing your weight, do you worry you’ll have to eat foods that taste like cardboard or say no to sweets altogether?

In fact, making drastic changes like these to your diet—especially changes that are difficult to keep up over time—could set you on a harder path. If you want to slim down or maintain your current weight, check out these simple, science-backed tips that can help you cut calories and make healthier food choices.

Clean your plate and still lose weight

If you’re like many adults at mealtime, you’ll eat whatever’s in front of you. Portion sizes have grown substantially in recent years, which means you may consume more calories than in the past without even knowing it. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can clean your plate and perhaps drop pounds if you portion your food wisely.

Tip: To better control portion sizes at meals, try filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Keep serving dishes off the table when you eat and keep them in the kitchen. That way, you’ll be less tempted to go for seconds.

If you’re at a restaurant, order an appetizer instead of an entrée. If you do order an entrée, as soon as it arrives from the kitchen, place half of it into a takeout container to take home with you.

Be smart about fruit

Many fruits are high in natural sugars and carbohydrates, but that doesn’t mean you need to remove them from your diet. Studies show that eating whole, fresh fruit can help you maintain your weight—and may even contribute to weight loss. Why?

For one thing, fruit is packed with key vitamins and lots of fiber, which can help you feel fuller, longer.

Tip: To reduce your overall calorie intake, try eating some fresh fruit before a meal or in place of a rich dessert. If you stick to fruit with a high water content, you can have a nice, large portion. Enjoy 1 1/2 cups of grapes, 2 cups of strawberries, or 2 cups of chopped watermelon for just 100 calories each.

Don’t forget about vegetables

Eating more vegetables is a great way to manage your weight. Many veggies are naturally low in fat and calories. And like fruit, they’re full of water and fiber to help you stay satisfied.

Another big benefit: Vegetables offer a wide range of essential vitamins and minerals that are critical to good health.

Tip: Replace rice or pasta in your favorite dish with a cup of cauliflower or zucchini. You’ll get the same basic amount of food for fewer calories.

Look for veggie-based snacks, too. For just 100 calories, you can munch on 1 cup of carrots, broccoli, or bell peppers with 2 tablespoons of hummus.

Replace white bread

White bread—made with refined flour—lacks the healthful nutrients found in darker, whole-grain breads. But there’s another reason to say “no thanks” to the refined stuff: Bread made with whole grains has more fiber, keeping you fuller and making you less likely to reach for quick, high-calorie snacks. What’s more, the fiber in whole-grain bread can help your digestive system function better, too.

Tip: Swap your white bread for whole-grain bread for 10 days to see how much you really miss it. When you’re purchasing the new bread, check its packaging to make sure the word “whole” appears as part of the first ingredient. If the word is missing, you may not have a true whole-grain bread.