In our desire to lose weight, we often look for tips and tricks that can help us eat right and exercise when we don’t really want to do either of those things. Finding small ways to help us stay on track is actually pretty crucial to weight loss, because we know the big things—diet & exercise—but how do we get those done on a day by day basis?

The things we do daily are what will determine how successful we are at reducing calories and living a more active lifestyle. Finding ways to implement these into daily life will require cheats, or tips to help convince you to do the right thing.

[Take a daily walk to burn calories and reduce stress.]

Keep reading for easy losing weight tips that you can use to cut calories.

Downsize Dinnerware

Although you probably spent a lot of time choosing just the right dinnerware to fit your personality the truth is that those huge modern plates aren’t doing your weight loss efforts any favors. Whether we realize it or not, we tend to try to fill up a plate so it looks like ‘enough’ food, so when we use big plates we tend to pile more food onto them.

With that in mind, consider that studies have shown that when we put a lot of food in front of us the chances are greater that we will eat more food without regard to actual hunger. But by using smaller dinnerware, you will eat less food because a salad plate for example, will look piled high with food when it’s actually a proper serving.

Downsize your glasses and mugs as well. The ever increasing size of plates has shifted to drink ware as well. Except when it comes to water you should be drinking juice and coffee from 6-ounce mugs and 8-oz. glasses to make sure you adhere to traditional portion sizes.

Walk More Each Day

In general it is recommended that you get about 30 minutes of exercise each day, particularly walking if you’ve been sedentary for a long period of time. Thirty minutes of walking can prevent weight gain, but not necessarily help facilitate weight loss which is your goal at this point.

The good news is that by walking as much as 15 minutes more each day, that is 45 minutes or more each day you can actually lose weight rather than maintaining weight loss. By walking more every day you can stop weight gain and start to lose weight, especially when combined with a reduced calorie diet.

Walking 45 minutes each day can help you burn additional calories, that when combined with cutting calories can lead to healthy and sustained weight loss.

Low Calorie Alternatives

One of the easiest losing weight tips to follow is to choose low calorie alternatives to any food products you can. By cutting calories whenever possible you don’t have to eliminate quite so many foods from your regular diet. If you enjoy Mexican or Italian cuisine for example, choose reduced fat cheese and sour cream so you can still enjoy those foods without quite so many calories and fat.

It’s important that you learn to look at nutrition labels so that you know what is in your food. By familiarizing yourself with the nutrition label you’ll be able to quickly make smart choices in regards to delicious low calorie alternatives.

Add High Calorie Treat

One of the losing weight tips that can help keep you from overindulging in your favorite foods like ice cream, cheese dip or any other high calorie treat is to add it to a low calorie snack or meal. This way your cheat day doesn’t cost you hundreds or thousands of additional calories, but you also don’t feel deprived of some of the foods you love.

[Get creative with how you indulge so you can cut calories and love what you eat!]

For example, add lobster, shrimp or smoked salmon to a healthy low calorie dinner so you get a hint of tasty decadence without too many calories. Add any of these higher calorie foods to a salad or a plate of roasted vegetables and you’ll get a healthy dose of protein along with satisfying a craving for something you don’t eat everyday.

This works especially well with desserts and snacks because you can add 2 tablespoons of whipped cream to a bowl of fresh fruit for a healthy and slightly indulgent treat. Or add a half-scoop of ice cream to a bowl of fresh fruit so you’re eating healthy but also getting a taste of the sweet treats you love.

This tip will allow you to have foods you love here and there without requiring an extra long workout just to maintain your weekly weight loss goal.

Don’t Shop Hungry

When you go shopping for healthy foods for weight loss, make sure you have a full belly. Going grocery shopping on an empty stomach is the fastest route to a basket full of cookies, chips, pop and probably endless bottles of wine or beer. When your hunger is satisfied you can stick to your shopping list and get only healthy foods that will help you reach your weight loss goals.

If your stomach isn’t growling from hunger it’ll be easier for you to look at nutrition labels and ingredient lists to make healthy and nutritious choices. By eating before you stock up on groceries you won’t grab every little food item that makes your mouth water, and this will help you stick to foods that are part of a well balanced diet like whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy products.

Make sure that you don’t grab any sugary or high fat desserts. You can have them on occasion, but it is best for your diet if you go out for ice cream or frozen yogurt. Keep low calorie snacks at home like bananas, apples and berries for when you get a craving for something sweet.

This are just some helpful losing weight tips to help you cut calories for weight loss, but there are plenty of others to help you eat right when you’re dining out or making your own healthy dinner recipes.

Losing weight doesn’t have to be an all-consuming task. In fact intermittent fasting can make it much easier so be sure to read our review of Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat.