I was thinking about this the other night actually. How on earth did I drop 3% body fat and 12 pounds while eating a ton of food? If you want to know how to eat more and lose weight easily, there are some very simple things you can do right now that don’t even require much effort at all on your part.
A large majority of what I’ve written about up until now revolves around eating at a calorie deficit to lose weight. That is the 
most important concept you need to understand if you really want to lose weight while eating whatever you want.
The way I teach it is so that you lose approximately 4 to 5 pounds per month. Visit this page to learn about it.
However, I’m going to write this article in a way so that you can actually start implementing some very simple ideas by swapping out current foods you may already have in your kitchen, with very similar foods.
These quick fixes will literally save you hundreds of empty calories per day and at the same time, you’ll be able to eat MORE food and lose weight if you follow my calorie deficit plan.
I love to eat large hearty meals, and by following the rules I lay out here, I get to eat way more food every day than I would if I didn’t follow this. My best friend lost 30 pounds making simple swaps like you’re about to learn below. It’s so easy to do. Let’s get to it.
Meats
I eat tons of meat but I’m very conscious of what cuts of meat I choose. If you pay close attention to the calorie content of the meats you buy, you’ll be saving yourself a ton of calories, and still be able to lose weight while eating more.
CHICKEN
If you eat a lot of dark meat chicken, like thighs and drumsticks with skin on them, just know that they have way more calories than eating a chicken breast. I mostly eat chicken breast and I actually enjoy it more than dark meat chicken anyway.
Here’s the breakdown (approximate) of a 3-ounce piece of chicken:
- Dark Meat Chicken- 174 calories
- White Meat Chicken (chicken breast) – 100 calories
You can eat more chicken breast and save yourself calories with that swap.
BEEF
If you’re going to prepare tacos, or chili, or anything that requires ground beef, take a look at just how many calories you’re saving by switching from 80% lean ground beef to 96% lean.
Honestly, I cannot tell the difference whatsoever when I make tacos, chili, or meatballs. Just one of these has WAY more fat & calories than the other.
Here are the details in a 4 ounce serving of ground beef.
- 80% Lean Ground Beef – 280 calories
- 96% Lean Ground Beef – 140 calories
80% lean ground beef literally has twice as many calories as 96% lean. So, why not just make 2 half-pound burgers with the 96% lean beef if you’re really hungry? You could only make 1 half-pound burger for the same amount of calories with the 80% lean beef.
PORK
There are so many different cuts of pork so it’s best to look at the nutrition labels when you go to the grocery store, but here’s what I found with a bone-in pork chop versus pork tenderloin.
This is the nutritional information for a 4 ounce cut of meat.
- Bone-In Pork Chop – 260 calories
- Pork Tenderloin – 189 calories
I love to eat pork chops, so what I actually do, is buy a huge pork tenderloin from Aldi and slice it up into about 15 pork chops that I later cook in my air fryer.
Drinks
When I say drinks, this includes just about anything from juices, milk, sodas, beer, and anything else I may be leaving out. I feel that drinks are some of the easiest calorie dense items we can swap out to make room for other foods we’d enjoy eating.
Swap out high-calorie drinks for low-calorie alternatives and you can eat WAY more food throughout the day and not gain a single pound.
MILK
I understand if you don’t want to swap out the 2% milk if that’s your thing. I couldn’t do skim milk for years. But I do now, and actually I love it.
If you’re okay with swapping out 2% for Skim, you really are saving a ton of calories, and you can drink more of it. Even if you don’t want to move to Skim milk, I have friends that moved to 1% and they didn’t even notice a difference in taste.
Here’s the breakdown of calories in an 8-ounce glass of milk:
- 2% Milk – 120 calories
- 1% Milk – 100 calories
- Skim Milk – 80 calories
So, let’s say you’re a milkaholic and you drink 6 glasses of milk a day. If you drink 6 glasses of 2% milk a day, you’re taking in 720 calories. If you drink 6 glasses of Skim milk, you’re taking in 480 calories.
If you just made that simple change alone, you’d be on track to weight loss.
JUICES
Whether it’s orange juice, apple juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, or any other kind of juice, they all have tons of extra sugars and calories that will cause weight gain. So, if you drink a lot of juices, you can swap them out with lower sugar alternatives.
I’ve noticed that most Orange juice brands have reduced sugar versions of their drinks. Reduced sugar versions of drinks will cut calories in half. There are also diet juices that have about 5 calories per cup.
Here’s the breakdown of calories in an 8-ounce cup of juice:
- Cranberry Juice – 117 calories
- Light Cranberry Juice – 50 calories
- Diet Cranberry Juice – 5 calories
If you want to drink 3 glasses of cranberry juice, just know you’ll be hitting 351 calories. If you’re okay with drinking Ocean Spray Diet cranberry juice, you’ve saved yourself over 335 calories that you could use to eat something delicious that you want.
SODAS
This is a big one. Are you willing to swap out full sugared soda for diet soda? If you’re not a fan of the sucralose in Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, there are alternatives with natural sweeteners. Actually, I’m starting to go with a new brand that sweetens with Stevia. But that’s beside the point I’m trying to make here
Look at the numbers here for a 12 ounce can of soda:
- Coca-Cola – 140 calories
- Diet Coke – 0 calories
The calories in full sugared soda are insane. If you really do drink a lot of soda and make this one change, you’ll absolutely notice a difference in your weight very shortly.
You could drink 3 Coca-Colas and clock in 420 calories…or you could drink 3 Diet Cokes with 0 calories and save those 420 calories for a burger and fries or a slice of pizza or cake, or whatever you want.
If you want to eat more and lose weight, swapping out the sugary soda for a diet soda is going to make a huge difference in your progress.
BEER
My best friend LOVES to drink beer. But one of the major changes he made when he learned that losing weight is all about following your personal calorie deficit, is he swapped out his favorite beer, Tecate, with Tecate light.
Since then, he’s started drinking various other light beers. It’s amazing actually how many premium beer companies are now manufacturing light versions of their beers, from Blue Moon to Goose Island and many others. And these light beers taste amazing BTW. So, you won’t be missing much by making a simple change.
Here’s the calorie breakdown in popular beers:
- Tecate – 141 calories
- Tecate Light – 110 calories
- Blue Moon Light Sky – 95 calories
- Goose Island So-Lo – 90 calories
My point here is you could drink 3 regular Tecate beers and you’ll be taking in 423 calories. But you could drink 5 Goose Island So-Lo beers which clock in at only a few calories more at 450. You can enjoy drinking more without worrying about all the extra calories.
Oils
One thing my best friend who lost 30 pounds in just a few months told me is this:
“Paul, why would I even bother using all that oil I used to use when I can just use an olive oil spray and save myself 120 calories so I can use those 120 calories to eat something else I really want?”
And that’s pretty much the gist of this entire article. It’s all about swapping out high-calorie foods for lower-calorie alternatives so you can enjoy other foods and eat more.
I’m not saying to NOT use oil. I still use olive oil regularly, especially to coat food in my air fryer, but I don’t use nearly as much as you’d have to in a pan for instance.
Also, whenever I can, I use cooking spray, which has zero calories. I make eggs with cooking spray for instance.
Here’s the breakdown of olive oil versus cooking spray:
- Olive Oil (1 tbsp) – 120 calories
- Olive Oil Cooking Spray – 0 calories
Oil is sort of similar to diet soda in the sense that the swap to cooking spray is SO simple, you are literally saving yourself 120 calories by doing just that alone. For instance, if you’re making eggs, do you really need to cook them in tons of butter? Won’t they still taste great in a nonstick cooking pan or using butter-flavored spray?
By making the swap, you’ll literally make room to eat something else you really want.
Intermittent Fasting
This isn’t totally necessary. However, I must stress that I feel intermittent fasting has completely changed my life and made 
eating food more fun than it ever was before. This has allowed me to eat HUGE meals that I couldn’t eat in the past. So, food now is something so much more enjoyable than it used to be. I pretty much have a huge feast every single night, and it’s because of intermittent fasting.
I used to eat 5 to 6 small meals per day because I was always on these restrictive low-carb diets that told me to eat smaller meals in order to burn fat and get into shape. I was constantly having to think about what I was going to prepare for the day every few hours, and it was just annoying.
On top of that, I never really got into any kind of ideal shape that I envisioned and could never escape having a soft body…that is until I started implementing intermittent fasting into my life along with my very simple calorie deficit formula. It’s when I did this that I dropped 3% body fat and 12 pounds in just a few months without really trying. It all just happened seemingly without effort.
If intermittent fasting sounds scary to you, I can assure you, it’s just the term that looks kinda scary, but the actual process of implementing it into your life is very simple to do. You can read up here on a day in my life in intermittent fasting in order to learn more about it.
Air Fryer Cooking
I’ll mention this cause I think that using an air fryer is an amazing tool for helping people lose weight while allowing them to 
eat amazingly delicious foods at the same time. The thing is, you don’t need to use nearly as much oil as you would when frying in a pan.
I was actually at the grocery store recently and noticed that they even sell already prepared air-fried chicken in these individual bags. I noticed that their calorie count was super low, and at the same time, they look super unhealthy and delicious, cause it looks like regular fried chicken. I’m sure it tastes amazing.
But you can get that same delicious flavor that you make from frying foods in a lot of oil, by simply using an air fryer with very minimal oil. I do this just about every single night, and I absolutely love the foods I make in this thing.
I use a Ninja that has a variety of functions. This is the air fryer I personally have, and it has been amazing.
Make The Swap – Eat More & Lose Weight
I hope you know now how to eat more and lose weight quite easily. Most of what I’ve mentioned in this article is so easy to do. Get diet juices and diet sodas. Get rid of your heavily sugared drinks and save yourself a ton of calories right there.
Swap out high-calorie super fatty meats with lower calorie versions that taste equally amazing. It’s such a simple swap, 
and the weight loss benefits you’ll get from doing this are fantastic.
This goes the same for dairy, oils, and anything else that has a lower-calorie alternative. But if you really want noticeable fat loss, then you need to also understand the concept of eating at a calorie deficit. It’s very simple to do. Just read this article here, follow the instructions, and you’ll see yourself drop 4 to 5 pounds in just a month of time.
You’ll be able to do this while eating whatever you want also. That’s the best part of following my plan. It’s not a diet. It’s just a simple lifestyle that allows you to drop weight with ease.
I hope this article was helpful. I know that some of this information might be slightly confusing, cause there’s a lot of numbers I’m throwing around, and if you don’t fully understand the calories and numbers, I completely understand. Just leave me a comment or question below and I’ll be more than happy to help you and I’ll get back to you asap. Thanks so much for reading. I really appreciate it.