An apple
You can't go wrong with an apple. A healthy,
low fat, low calorie food, an apple is packed
with fibre and vitamins and counts as one of
your five fruit and vegetables a day.
And, according to a recent study, an apple a
day can actually keep other calories at bay. If
you eat an apple fifteen minutes before a
main meal, you'll consume 190 calories less
than you would have otherwise. Also, solid
fruit fills you up more than fruit juice, despite
having less calories, so stick to an actual
apple instead of the juice (which comes in at
100 calories per 200ml glass).
Calorie count: 55

Banana
Bananas are fairly calorific as far as fruit is
concerned, but they do not contain fat,
sodium or cholesterol. They are fantastic for
energy, as no other fruit contains more
digestible carbohydrates.
Bananas are also said to boost metabolism
and elevate your mood. Not only that, they're
high in resistant starch, which is a type of
fibre that makes you feel full. Just remember
to put it at the top of your bag and eat before
it goes black and gets squished.
Calorie count: 95 (small banana) 125 (large
banana).

A glass of wine
A couple of glasses of wine contains the same
amount of calories as a slice of chocolate
cake, and has no nutritional value. Watch out
for gu- busting bar snacks too; a bag of pork
scratchings contains a whopping 607
calories, 411 from fat alone. Yikes.
Calorie count: 510 (bottle of red) 555 (bottle
of white). 120 calories (medium glass of red)
120 calories (medium glass of white).

An egg
Unless you're mixing up a bizarre hangover
cure after all that wine you put away, chances
are you won’t fancy a raw egg. But if you did
eat one, a raw egg would contain 85 calories.
The calories in an egg also vary from the
white to the egg yolk. The egg white contains
12 calories per egg, while the yolk contains
54 calories. So, if you’re counting calories,
avoid the yolk and eat the white only.
Calorie count: 140 (large scrambled egg with
milk), 74 (large poached egg), 80 (boiled egg),
120 (fried egg).

A cup of tea
A teabag in hot water = zero calories. What's
not to love? The only way you can make a cup
of tea a calorie counter’s nightmare is by what
you put in it. Lashings of sugar and whole
milk or cream will add unnecessary calories
to your brew.
Another bonus to drinking tea (without the
sugar and milk) is that it contains caffeine,
which increases metabolism and helps burn
calories for those Bourbon Creams you can't
resist when you put the kettle on.
Calorie count: 30 (tea plus one tsp sugar and
one tsp milk), 15 (tea plus two tsp milk).

A jacket potato
Don't be fooled into thinking that a jacket
potato is the healthy option on the lunch
menu. At 160 calories, it is OK on its own,
but once you dollop butter and a fistful of
cheese on the top, you may as well have a
portion of chips! A jacket potato with a small
knob of butter and 100g of cheese plus beans
will actually amount to almost half of your
required daily calorie intake.
If you do opt for a jacket potato, choose low
fat toppings like cottage cheese, which will be
350 calories in total, or a portion of tuna with
low-fat mayonnaise which tots up to around
370 calories.
Calorie count: 600 (jacket potato plus small
knob of butter and 100g cheese), 800 (butter,
cheese and beans).

A shot of vodka
Vodka is said to be a slimming tipple because
if you drink it with calorie-free mixers and
lime, you can have two and still be
consuming less calories than is in a small
glass of wine.
If you prefer to drink cocktails containing
vodka, watch out for the calorie content in
fruit juice. Most cocktails come in at around
250 calories per drink, but if you choose a
Bloody Mary, you’ll only be taking in 140
calories because tomato juice has less sugar
content than fruit juice. Be careful of
flavoured vodkas – depending on the brand,
each shot can be between 60 and 100
calories.
Calorie count: 55 for a shot

A Mars bar
A Mars a day helps you work, rest and… put
on a lot of weight. You'd need to walk for over
an hour to burn off a 58g bar alone -
sounding less appealing now?
And if your hand slipped at the sweet counter
and you bought a king size one by mistake
and gobbled the whole thing up yourself,
you’d be eating a hefty 425 calories, which is
almost a quarter of your required daily
calorie intake when you're not trying to lose
weight.
If you do indulge in a Mars, don’t be tempted
to have it deep-fried from the chip shop. A
battered bar contains over 500 calories and
has been dubbed a 'heart attack on a plate'.
Calorie count: 260 (for a 58g bar).

A pint of lager
Ever wondered why so many men have an
unsightly potbelly bursting open their shirt
buttons? The answer may very well lie in the
calories contained in the nation's favourite
drink – a pint of lager.
In just one pint of lager, there’s the same
number of calories as in a slice of pizza. In
two pints there’s the equivalent amount
calories to a full glass of single cream. If
yo'’re a lager drinker, stick to half pints so
you drink one pint over a longer period, and
choose light beers that are less calorific.
Calorie count: 280 per pint