“If I could at least lose the first 5 pounds…”, is something that you may have said to yourself at one point or another. There are some breakfast foods that you love that could be getting in the way of getting the numbers on the scale to go in the right direction. Well, I’m going to give you some alternatives that won’t disappoint your taste buds while getting you to a healthy weight. I will give you side-by-side comparisons so you can make the best decisions the next time you’re in the kitchen.
Breakfast Trade Ins
It’s no secret that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, BUT with so many delicious breakfast foods available, you can easily overeat. Let’s start with some breakfast favorites:
1. Bacon for Turkey Bacon
It’s probably safe to say that bacon is one of the most favored meats for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. With bacon wrapped this and bacon wrapped that, some say they could never make the switch to turkey bacon, but let’s see how it could add up, or down I should say, on the scale:
For a serving of 2 slices:
Bacon is 80 calories
Turkey bacon is 30 calories
If you ate 4 slices (let’s keep it real, hardly anyone eats just 2 slices) of bacon every morning and switched to turkey bacon, that’s a difference of 100 calories a day! Let’s move on to the next breakfast time favorite!
2. Cheese Grits for Plain Grits
If you’re from the South, grits can find their way to your breakfast, lunch, dinner bowl. The warm, creaminess of grits give you a feeling of comfort, but let’s see how your scale feels about them:
For 1 cup of grits:
Plain, salted grits are 182 calories
Cheese grits are 282 calories
Making this trade will save you 100 calories a day! This doesn’t sound like much, but let’s wait until end of this article for the final total.
3. Pancakes for Whole Grain Toast
Soft, fluffy pancakes have been present on breakfast plates for years, but are you carrying extra weight because of them? Let’s see:
2 Pancakes with Syrup are 330 calories
1 slice of Whole Grain Bread is 110 calories
Giving up your short stack for whole grain toast can save you 220 calories per day and provide a healthier bread option for you at breakfast time.
4. Orange Juice for Water
You may be thinking, “Well, what’s wrong with orange juice? That’s the one good thing I have going for breakfast!”. Well, orange juice has more calories than you may realize. Let’s take a look:
For a 16 -ounce kitchen glass
· Orange juice has 220 calories
· Water has 0 calories
That’s a difference of 220 calories per day if you make to switch to drinking water instead of O.J.!
How Much Weight Can I Lose With These Trades?
If you commit to making the breakfast trades that were discussed in this article.... drum roll pleaseeee!
You can lose 5 pounds in just 4 weeks! Weight loss is not an easy thing to do, but making small, healthy changes can really add up and show up on the scale!
Let’s keep taking it one small, healthy step at a time!
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