By:   Heidi McIndoo, MS, RD, LDN

The prospect of cutting calories usually means giving up foods you love. After all, when trying to drop a few pounds, most people focus on banning the big ticket items, such as cake and french fries. But making small changes to your daily eating habits can have a big impact too.

Eating over 350 fewer calories a day can help you lose about 3 pounds a month. Doesn't sound like much? Well, over the course of a year that's almost40 poundswithout much work at all. Plus small changes tend to be easier to make, soyou’re more likely to stick with them.

Here are several simple changes or substitutions you can start making today to cut 50, 100, or 200 calories from your day.

50 Calorie Cuts

• Top your salad with 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette instead of a creamy dressing like Ranch.
• For a sweet treat, replace that Almond Joy with a Peppermint Patty.
• Skip the fruit on the bottom yogurt and make your own by mixing one-third of a cup of fresh or frozen blueberries into 6 ounces of non-fat vanilla yogurt.
• Serve yourself an extra cup of broccoli at dinner and cut down the rice by 1 cup.
• When ordering out pizza, replace a large slice of sausage for a large slice of cheese.
• Try a half cup of Slow-Churned light ice cream (such as Edy’s Mint Chocolate Chips!) instead of full fat ice cream (such as Edy’s Grand Mint Chocolate Chips!)
• Peel a medium orange to eat with your breakfast instead of pouring a cup of orange juice.
• Dip your chips in a third of a cup of chunky salsa and ditch the spicy cheese dip.
• When having eggs for breakfast, eat just the white and not the yolk from one of the eggs.
• Instead of butter or margarine on your morning toast, smear on a tablespoon of 100% fruit spread