The perfect plate: A slice of thin-crust pizza with vegetable toppings plus a mixed-green salad with 2 Tbsp. lite ranch dressing
About 270 calories, 18g fat

• Swapping a thin-crust pie for a regular one eliminates about 100 calories per slice. To cut even more calories, ask your server to go light on the cheese and double up on the fiber-rich veggies.

• A low-calorie salad is the smart way to fill up. Other side items, like cheesy bread sticks, contain about 200 calories a pop.

• Blot the extra grease from your slice before you bite and you can save up to 100 additional calories!

Fast-Food Chicken

The perfect plate: A chicken breast (skin and any batter removed!) with sides of corn on the cob and green beans
About 275 calories, 6.5g fat

• Just removing the breading and skin from a fried chicken breast saves you a whopping 190 calories and 25g of fat!

• Mayonnaise-based side dishes like potato salad and coleslaw have almost double the calories of corn or green beans.

Chinese

The perfect plate: A veggie spring roll, 5.5 oz. mixed-vegetable stir-fry and a cup of steamed brown rice
About 510 calories, 7.5g fat

• Steamed spring rolls have less fat and calories than deep-fried egg rolls, which are usually filled with fried meat.

• Loads of fresh veggies make a stir-fry a better bet than batter-fried entrées like sesame chicken. For extra credit, ask for your sauce on the side.

• Go for soy, teriyaki, black bean or oyster sauces, which have fewer calories than syrupy sweet-and-sour or plum sauces.

• Fried rice might be yummy, but you’ll save nearly 200 calories by ordering a cup of steamed brown rice instead. Ditch rice altogether and knock about 170 calories off your dinner.

Mexican

The perfect plate: A bean burrito with guacamole
About 480 calories, 23g fat

• Opt for menu items that are served in soft tortillas. They have fewer calories and less fat than fried, crunchy shells.

• Make sure to ask for black beans instead of refried beans, which often contain lard or pork and have a much higher fat content.

• A 3-oz. serving of guacamole adds 12g of healthy, monounsaturated fat to your plate; it’s a better choice than sour cream, which has nearly double the calories and 11g of saturated fat for the same size serving. Add an extra kick with a few tablespoons of salsa, a good source of heart-healthy lycopene.