Diet Tweaks Can Lead To Big Losses

If you want to lose weight, you don't have to cut out all the foods you love and go the gym every day. Instead, making simple adjustments to your diet and daily routine can help shed those extra pounds rather effortlessly.

Registered dietician Ellie Krieger, author of "Small Changes, Big Results" explains to co-anchor Julie Chen on The Early Show that, "Many people are paralyzed by the idea of making changes and going on a diet, so they wind up doing nothing. Really, all you have to do to lose weight and get healthy is make small changes you can stick with."

The notion that, if you go on a diet, you "have to change everything and turn their life upside down" is mistaken, Krieger says.

She offered concrete examples of how little changes can go a long way toward trimming waistlines.

For breakfast, for instance, simple substitutes for a bagel with cream cheese can add up in the calories department, without sacrificing satisfaction.

"Instead of having your bagel and cream cheese," Krieger suggests, "have a whole grain cereal with low fat milk and strawberries. Not only will you save 200 calories, if you do that every day, at the end of the year, you wind up losing 20 pounds," just by making that one change.

For lunch, skipping those French fries with your burger in favor of a salad with regular vinaigrette dressing could save you 276 calories. "At the end of the year, that's 29 pounds of weight that you can lose," Kreiger points out. "(You could even) do that every other time, or have your fries once a week, and the rest of the time you have your salad," and still lose weight.

Your choice of drinks is significant as well, Krieger adds: "I have a quick little recipe in my book for spa water. That's with cucumber and lemon. They serve at a lot of spas. It's incredibly refreshing. Or club soda with a splash of cranberry and lime.

"Many people don't realize how many calories (are involved). People are aware that soda has a lot of calories, but sugary iced tea and lemonade have about 150 calories in a regular-sized glass. So you're saving 150 calories, which comes to about 16 pounds by the end of the year. So you're adding up now to some serious numbers."

A final example: By ordering a skim latte instead of a normal latte, you save 100 calories per 16 ounces. So, Krieger says, "Go skim. And you really don't taste that much of a difference. So get a nice skim latte and get your calcium and not so much saturated fat."