3 Crucial Food Swaps That Helped Me Lose the Last 5–10 lbs

It was about four years ago when I made a goal to lose 25 lbs. Surprisingly, I lost the first 10 lbs pretty easily. By walking every day and making more sensible food choices, the weight just came off within a few months without me needing to do much else.

The next 7–8 lbs was a bit harder. I started strength training three times a week and counted my calories more carefully to keep the scale moving.

When I had less than 10 lbs to lose before reaching my goal, my weight loss came to a screeching halt for the better part of a year. It was frustrating.

I finally came up with a good strategy to lose those last 7 lbs, which involved stepping up my training and intermittent fasting.

But diet changes also played a large part in my success. In particular, three food swaps made a huge difference in losing those last few pounds of fat.

1. Keto Coffee Instead of Coffee with Milk

I don’t follow a strict keto diet (I call it the “quasi-keto” approach), but adding keto coffee to the menu was one of the best things in my weight loss journey.

I started drinking keto coffee because it pairs well with an intermittent fasting schedule. Intermittent fasting can help with fat loss. It also mitigates oxidative stress, improves gut health, and may even slow the aging process!

Drinking milk in my coffee was hampering my intermittent fasting attempts. Milk contains a fair bit of carbs, and even if I wasn’t drinking enough to break my fast, it wasn’t satiating enough. I would be starving by the time I had my first meal at 11 am.

Keto coffee works because you’re flavoring your coffee with fats instead of carbs, so your body stays in the fat-burning zone while boosting energy and satiety levels enough to get through to your first meal.

It’s really easy to make, too. I use ½ tsp of butter, ½ tsp of coconut oil, and a pinch of cinnamon. Throw it in a blender with your coffee for 10 seconds, and it comes out like a creamy latte — and tastes just as good!

2. Lemon Water Instead of Alcohol

Curbing my alcohol consumption was easily the most crucial of the three swaps I made. It was also the hardest.

I used to love my 5 o’clock martini, and it was something I looked forward to at the end of the day.

But drinking every day isn’t optimal for your overall health, and alcohol is pretty much your waistline’s arch-nemesis.

Alcohol is a known risk factor for obesity. When ingested, your body burns alcohol first, meaning that fat loss stops until the drink is out of your system.

It also doesn’t help that alcohol lowers your inhibitions and can result in becoming more snacky. (I, for one, feel way less concerned about calories after a couple of drinks and won’t think twice about diving into a bag of chips.)

With perhaps the exception of red wine and some dark beers, alcohol is a dense source of calories that offers no nutrition in return. And those calories add up fast; a 2014 study found that heavier drinking days took up 19% of the women’s total calorie intake and 27% of the men’s.

If you’re eating 2000 calories a day, that works out to 380–540 calories! It’s practically a meal.

I found my desire to drink came from habit more than anything else; I didn’t think about drinking until 5 p.m. every day. So I kept the practice but lost the alcohol.

I would fill a martini glass with water, ice, and 2–3 wedges of lemon juice. The lemon gave it enough tartness that I would sip it slowly like I would an alcoholic drink. Lemon juice also infuses the beverage with a bit of Vitamin C, a nutrient that can improve fat burning during moderate exercise.

It sounds silly, but it really does work.

Also, I didn’t eliminate alcohol completely; I still had a few drinks on the weekend, but I’d stick to either gin martinis or red wine. (Red wine is a good choice because it has resveratrol which may be healthy for your heart.)

3. A Dark Chocolate Square Instead of Other Desserts

I still allowed myself treats every night right after dinner, provided it was under 200 calories, but on most nights, that dessert would consist of a square of dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate works on several levels.

Because they come prepackaged by square, there’s no danger of you accidentally eating more of it. (For example, I went through a chocolate-covered almond phase where it was all too easy to pour out 1/2 cup instead of the intended 1/4 cup serving.)

From a fat-burning perspective, dark chocolate can increase your insulin sensitivity, which allows the sugar in your blood to be used more efficiently (i.e., not get stored as fat).

Studies also suggest that dark chocolate can thwart cravings and suppress appetite.

If that hasn’t sold you on dark chocolate yet, know that it’s also chock full of polyphenols, which can improve circulation, boost heart health, and mitigate cell damage.

To harness the power of dark chocolate, aim for a higher percentage of cocoa. I like Lindt’s collection of dark chocolates, which range from 60% to 99% and contain few ingredients. Keep in mind the higher the percentage, the more bitter the chocolate will be.

The 99% is a bit too overpowering for a snack, although a tiny square of it with coffee is lovely. I find the 70–90% range is the tastiest for dessert.

Final Thoughts

Tracking calories and getting plenty of exercise is the recipe for a successful weight loss journey. But the fewer pounds you have left to lose, the more you have to refine your strategy to reach your goals.

And those changes usually come down to the more granular details of your diet.

But I didn’t make all these swaps at once. I started with one change first, and once I’d stuck with it for a couple of weeks, I made another one. I learned the hard way that trying to rush a lifestyle change is a good way to feel overwhelmed and revert to old habits.

Plus, making even one of these changes might be enough to jumpstart your weight loss again.

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Originally published in In Fitness And In Health on Medium.