If you really need to use a few pounds, then reducing your daily calorie intake is pretty essential. However, it can be tough not to feel deprived when you cut back on calories. If you go from treating yourself at every meal to living on fruit and cottage cheese, you're likely to backslide and over-indulge. This is why it's so important to find ways to cut down your calorie consumption without feeling cheated. Here are three such strategies you can employ:

Become friends with no-calorie sweetener.

Most people don't really enjoy black coffee, and if you're used to sweet cereal, bran flakes without a hint of sugar aren't going to taste great. The key to keeping the enjoyment in sweet foods and beverages is to invest in some no-calorie sweetener. Look for a natural one, such as one made from stevia extract. Stevia is an herb with a naturally sweet taste, but it is essentially calorie-free. You might need to taste a few no-calorie sweeteners before you discover one that you like, but once you find it, you can add it to foods like coffee and cereal to make them taste great even though they're low in calories.

Let yourself indulge in smaller portions.

When you come across a dish you really like, such as pizza at your friend's birthday party, completely forbidding yourself from indulging will be tough. An easier approach is to get into the habit of allowing yourself to indulge once in a while -- but in smaller portions than you would have in the past. So, if you used to be the type of eat three or four slices of pizza, limit yourself to just one. When you do this at home, make sure you put the food product away immediately after dishing out your allotted helping. This will keep you from coming back for seconds.

Avoid high-calorie foods you don't absolutely love.

Before you eat anything, ask yourself "is this really worth the calories?" Eating one of your absolute favorite cookies might be worth the 200 calories it contains, but eating the granola bars your co-worker left on the counter might not be. Try to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to high-calorie foods. Only reach for the ones that are really going to satisfy your cravings, and you'll find that you need less of them overall to feel satiated and satisfied.

Contact a company like Monin for more information and assistance.