You've been successfully sticking to your diet and you're justifiably proud of yourself. Then out of the blue, you just have to have something chocolaty or lemony and sweet, or any of a number of cravings that you know will wreck your progress. But it doesn't have to!
Calories are optional. Yes, that's right; you don't have to have a lot of calories in order to satisfy your cravings. If you don't feel like spending huge amounts on special dietary desserts that are in your grocer's freezer, you can make your own for much less and with a lot more flavor.
Is sour cream your weakness? That's good, because it's a great substitute for margarine or butter. You can replace these fats that are commonly used in making brownies and other baked goods with no-fat or low-fat sour cream. A tablespoon of margarine or butter is roughly 100 calories, making a single brownie very, very expensive calorie-wise. Replacing that with a tablespoon of no-fat sour cream only contributes 13 calories to that luscious brownie! You can't taste the difference and the consistency is nearly identical. Applesauce is also a good substitute for fats in baking but it will make a slight difference in the texture of the food. But what about the eggs needed for baking? Yolks aren't necessary; egg whites are perfect for baking and if you don't like the mess of separating the eggs there are egg substitutes in groceries that are nothing more than egg whites with yellow coloring added.
Salad dressing is another stumbling block for those of us trying to lose weight. Let's face it, two tablespoons of dressing on a bowl of salad doesn't go very far! You can try dipping your fork in the dressing before spearing the salad but that's just not the same as a generous service of dressing. So what do you do? Making your own is a great option and very simple! No fat mayonnaise has only ten calories per tablespoon, not the 90 of regular mayonnaise. A quarter cup of mayonnaise mixed with a couple drops of sesame oil, some rice wine vinegar, a bit of Dijon mustard and artificial sweeter is just as tasty as the higher calorie and fat offerings of popular restaurants' Chinese salad dressings. Likewise, a package of taco seasonings added to a bottle of fat free Ranch dressing will add a wonderful tangy spice to your salads.
A little creativity and thinking outside the box can make your weight loss delicious, healthy and enjoyable instead of a miserable chore. And once you make these substitutions and creative solutions part of your lifestyle, you'll be able to keep that weight off forever.
