Nibbling, extra portion size and “seconds” have an impact on your caloric impact – probably much larger than you think. But if you can trim 200, 300 or 500 calories per day by making careful food choices you could help lose the extra “baggage” you are carrying around.Here’s how:

Slice first - Don’t just put the platter on the table and dig in. Divvy up the pizza, pot roast or cake into individual servings before you serve it. Better still, cover or put away the food you aren’t eating - out of sight is out of mind.

Grab a handful - Limit your snacking on chips, crackers and other finger foods to whatever you can fit into the palm of your hand. Read the label to see exactly what you are munching on. A “serving size” is often much smaller than you think - so use the habit of taking one handful and you should steer clear of unwanted calories.

(Tip: compare the serving size to the portion or package size - many serving sizes are smaller than the portion in the package. A good example are sport drinks - the serving size is a 250 ml (about one cup) portion, while the bottle contains 600 ml. - or twice the calories.)

Add more for less - Fill your glass with ice before adding juice or a soft drink and save calories. Save over 100 calories per glass just by filling with ice - get extra nutrition by using juices in combination with soft drinks instead of soft drinks alone.

(Tip: The average cup (250 ml) of a sweetened soft drink or natural juice is about 200 calories. Unsweetened beverages don’t contain many calories, but do you want to fill yourself with aspartame and other chemical sweeteners?)

Drink water - As often as you’ve heard this message, you probably need to drink more water. Water is the perfect snack – try it before munching to see if you were thirsty and not hungry. As a rule you should consume one ml. of water for every calorie of energy you expend each day – Using this calculation you’ll likely find that it’s more than eight glasses. Remember to add one glass of water for each glass of caffeinated beverage you consume.