The 10 Best Low Calorie Foods for Weight Loss

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The 10 Best Low Calorie Foods for Weight Loss

For those looking to lose weight, including low-calorie foods in your diet is an essential step. This article provides you with a list of healthy, low-calorie foods to incorporate.

Low-calorie foods include water, tea, salad greens, soup broth, mushrooms, strawberries, vegetable soup, whole grain toast, cod, eggs, and low-fat cottage cheese. An average woman on a weight-loss diet should aim to eat between 1500-1800 calories per day, depending on how active they are. Men will require approximately 500 calories more.

Below are 10 healthy low-calorie foods, for more see the full ranking of all foods low in calories.

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A printable list of low-calorie foods including water, tea, salad greens, broth, mushrooms, strawberries, vegetable soup, whole grain toast, cod, eggs, and low-fat cottage cheese.

About the Data

Data for the curated food lists comes from the USDA Food Data Central Repository.

You can check our data against the USDA by clicking the (Source) link at the bottom of each food listing.

Note: When checking data please be sure the serving sizes are the same. In the rare case you find any difference, please contact us and we will fix it right away.

About Nutrient Targets

Setting targets can provide a guide to healthy eating.

Some of the most popular targets include:
  • Daily Value (%DV) - The daily value (%DV) is a general guideline for consumption that will prevent deficiency of a particular nutrient in most people. The %DV refers to the percentage of an amount that\'s found in a single serving of a food. It also accounts for absorption factors. It is set by the U.S. FDA.
  • Recommended Dietary Allowance (%RDA) - The RDA sets an average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97.5%) healthy individuals. It\'s more specific than the daily value, and varies by age and gender. The RDA is set by the US National Institutes of Health.
  • Reference Dietary Intake (%RDI) -The reference dietary intake is similar to the recommended daily allowance, but is specific to age and gender. The RDI for amino acids is set by the U.N. World Health Organization.
  • Adequate Intake (%AI) - This value is primarily used in reference to omega-3 and omega-6 fats. The Adequate Intake is set by the U.S. Institute of Medicine. Because there is less evidence to determine the ideal targets for consumption of these nutrients, the specific amount is considered to be less reliable. Using the term Adequate Intake, rather than one of the other terms, helps to emphasize that the ideal intake of that particular nutrient has not yet been scientifically determined.

See the Guide to Recommended Daily Intakes for more information.

Want to set your own targets? Sign up for an account and set custom targets in the daily food log.

Use the ranking tool links below to select foods and create your own food list to share or print.


View more nutrients with the nutrient ranking tool, or see ratios with the nutrient ratio tool.

Data Sources and References

  1. U.S. Agricultural Research Service Food Data Central
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