A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, whether it comes from fat or
carbohydrate. Anything eaten in excess can lead to weight gain. You can lose
weight by eating fewer calories and by increasing your physical activity.
Reducing the amount of fat and saturated fat that you eat is one easy way to
limit your overall calorie intake. However, eating fat-free or reduced-fat
foods isn't always the answer to weight loss. This is especially true when you
eat more of the reduced-fat food than you would of the regular item. The following list of foods and their reduced-fat
varieties will show you that just because a product is fat-free, it doesn't
mean that it is "calorie-free." And, calories do count!
Fat-Free or
Reduced-Fat
Calories
Regular
Calories
Reduced-fat peanut butter,
2 Tbsp
187
Regular peanut butter,
2 Tbsp
191
Reduced-fat chocolate chip cookies, 3 cookies (30 g)
118
Regular chocolate chip cookies, 3 cookies (30 g)
142
Fat-free fig cookies,
2 cookies (30 g)
102
Regular fig cookies,
2 cookies (30 g)
111
Fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt (<1% fat), ½ C
100
Regular whole milk vanilla frozen yogurt (3–4% fat),
½ C
104
Light vanilla ice cream
(7% fat), ½ C
111
Regular vanilla ice cream,
(11% fat), ½ C
133
Fat-free caramel topping,
2 Tbsp
103
Caramel topping,
homemade with butter,
2 Tbsp
103
Low-fat granola cereal, approx. ½ C (55 g)
213
Regular granola cereal, approx. ½ C (55 g)
257
Low-fat blueberry muffin,
1 small (2½ inch)
131
Regular blueberry muffin,
1 small (2½ inch)
138
Baked tortilla chips, 1 oz
113
Regular tortilla chips, 1 oz
143
Low-fat cereal bar, 1 bar
(1.3 oz)
130
Regular cereal bar, 1 bar
(1.3 oz)
140
Nutrient data taken from Nutrient Data System for Research, Version v4.02/30, Nutrition Coordinating Center, University of Minnesota.
Healthy Weight Tip
If you eat twice as many fat-free cookies as regular cookies, you have actually increased
your overall calorie intake.
Compare Food Labels
Read and compare food labels on regular, reduced-fat, or fat-free products. Choose products that are lower in calories and saturated fat per serving.
