The top 8 things you're wasting your calories on

Are you spending your calories in all the wrong places? Not sure which foods are worthwhile nutritional investments and which foods are empty calories all dressed up as delicious? If you need to cut corners, look no further than your day-to-day eating habits and you'll probably find large holes in your diet pockets.

The liquid diet
If your daily drink repertoire includes orange juice in the morning, a latte to get you going, a pop at lunch and wine at dinner, you're adding over 500 calories to your diet. Registered dietician and certified diabetes educator Jean LaMantia says, "Your body doesn't compensate well for liquid calories," and cites pop as one of the worst offenders. Quench your thirst with water and keep a reusable bottle on hand to avoid temptation.

Whipping it
Just when you thought your Starbucks order couldn't get any wordier, there are a few more adjectives you should throw at your barista: non-fat, sugar-free and no-whip. Skip the extras and you'll save up to 200 calories on your coffee concoction. But the best way to keep the calories at bay is to order coffee or tea – each under five calories before the fixings.   

The wrong side
Soup, salad or fries? A daunting question, to be sure, but fries are never the answer. A standard restaurant serving adds more than 500 calories to any meal, while a serving of soup or a garden salad with vinaigrette dressing usually adds closer to 100. Restaurant meals are excessively high in calories on their own, so choosing the right side is a matter of damage control.

Topping up
Since we no longer live in a world where Hawaiian is the most exotic thing at the local pizzeria, a tasty pie doesn't have to be dieter's kryptonite. Choosing a thin or whole wheat crust with grilled chicken or fresh vegetables will help cut the calories and up the nutritional value. Case in point: grabbing a few slices of a large vegetarian thin-crust pizza over a few slices of a large stuffed-crust Meat Lover's pizza at Pizza Hut will save you 200 calories.

Page 1 of 2