How do you control how much you eat?
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I portion out a serving and eat only that, no seconds. Plus tons of water and fruit/veg for snacks if I'm still hungry.0
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crazyjerseygirl wrote: »Pre-logging and weighing. Weighing your food may seem tedious.. I get it. I was very abhorrent to the idea at first. I mean, it seemed like such a hassle. But then I realized the scale is a tool, and using that tool would help me better to my goals and might teach me better about portion sizes. And it does. I still suck at estimating, so I still weigh, but if I'm at a party or something, I feel like I can estimate way better than before.
Also, I typically do not go back for seconds, unless it's something I've planned for.
I've also found weighing slows be down. It's harder to grab and binge if you're weighing everything!
This too!0 -
I pre-log everything I eat.0
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I weigh out my food on my plate, fill up my 18 oz water bottle, sit down to eat.. after I finish my plate I immediately drink the 18 oz of water. Put my plate on the floor and my cat licks it off (haha no way I'm going back for seconds now)! Afterwords I'm very satisfied and feel full but not stuffed. Drinking water makes a huge difference, helps fill up my tummy and keeps me hydrated
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I like logging the night before and plan what I'm gonna eat. Then, the next day I'll have something to follow, and I'll just follow the exact amount of food that I pre-logged. I pre-log everything up until my late night snack, and I usually save 300-500 calories for that, so that I know during the day that "Alright, if I follow this plan perfectly today, I'll be able to snack a lot tonight! Awesome!" (Which I LOVE)0
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Don't buy the food and you can't eat it, obviously buy a few treats but then make sure the rest of your shopping is super healthy0
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the sure fire way is to weigh your food and stick to your calorie count. I wasnt losing weight till i did. I am willing to bet a lot of folks are the same.0
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No garlic bread is safe with me if it is within reach. Hubby and I have a silent pact that the spare garlic bread goes to the side.
I ask for a take-out container as soon as my meal is served and put half away right away.
I think some of what you describe is mindless eating or habit. Consider tricks to make yourself mindful, like a rubber band on the wrist, an imaginary stop sign in your head, or arrange to go for a walk right after a meal at home. Have something to do.0 -
I've also become a big whole feed eater and keep lots of veg and what not in the house...if I really need to go to town, the broccoli or the cucumbers are right there and I can have at it.0
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I find it helps to ... y'know ... not put food in my mouth when I'm not hungry ... right?
(this message brought to you by The Captain)
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SergeantSausage wrote: »I find it helps to ... y'know ... not put food in my mouth when I'm not hungry ... right?
(this message brought to you by The Captain)
hah! you're kind of a jerk, but you're kind of right. but you're still a jerk.
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sammyantics wrote: »SergeantSausage wrote: »I find it helps to ... y'know ... not put food in my mouth when I'm not hungry ... right?
(this message brought to you by The Captain)
hah! you're kind of a jerk, but you're kind of right. but you're still a jerk.
I'm *absolutely* right.
ftfy
BTW (full disclosure) - this is what happens when I put food in my mouth when I'm not hungry:
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No garlic bread is safe with me if it is within reach. Hubby and I have a silent pact that the spare garlic bread goes to the side.
I ask for a take-out container as soon as my meal is served and put half away right away.
I think some of what you describe is mindless eating or habit. Consider tricks to make yourself mindful, like a rubber band on the wrist, an imaginary stop sign in your head, or arrange to go for a walk right after a meal at home. Have something to do.
what got me off of garlic bread (at least store bought) was (used to be at least) high trans fat.
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I have 2 kitchen scales - one for the table I cook on and another for the table I eat at. Also a notepad and a pen. Putting the plate on the scales before starting to put things on it and writing a quick number on the paper is too simple to be bothered by it. I also have a light laptop somewhere near the table and log my food once I'm done eating. This buys me few moments to realise I'm actually full most of the time. If not, I have numbers in front of me that show me exact calorie cost of eating more. Sometimes it's worth it, other times it's not.
Logging food is not hard and it's a great medicine against mindless snacking. Before I could walk through the kitchen and grab something I see on the table without thinking. Now I don't bother because it would mean having to write it down. Also some food just doesn't seem to be worth its calories anymore. For example there are cookies I was eating without even liking them that much. I only realised it now. I've replaced them with the dessert I actually enjoy.
There is also a great educational value in weighting food if not for the rest of one's life then at least for couple of weeks. I didn't even realise how off my portion and calorie estimation was before I started logging. These few weeks made me aware of options that are safe and filling (lean meat + veggies combo, cottage cheese with berries etc) and the ones that require special attention (pasta, rice, bread). There are meals I have often and know the value of by heart now. I don't need complex calculations. I know what my breakfast is and how many calories I need to leave for dinner. Everything in-between is a fair game.
With even this little information I could stop tracking today and keep losing weight. I'd most likely under-eat though, as I'd avoid riskier options in fear to overdo them and safe ones make me full but keep my calories below reasonable. I prefer to have the control. Plus tracking gets only easier with time, so keeping doing it is a no-brainer for me. It could be different for you but I definitely advise to do it for at least a short while to get a better understanding of what's going on.0 -
Eventually you decide you care more about loosing weight than you do about eating your emotions. And then you start weighing and measuring.
I felt a lot like you do even up t a few days before I decided to start doing this. Until I found better ways to deal with my emotional needs I was not capable of succeeding at weight loss. These days I am felling really good about it. ANd the weighing and measuring thing. It's not really so bad. Especially when you start to see the results.0 -
SergeantSausage wrote: »I'm *absolutely* right.
ftfy
BTW (full disclosure) - this is what happens when I put food in my mouth when I'm not hungry:
hey man. Never said jerk=bad! tough love is good. Gentle prodding ain't gonna knock the cheeseburger out of my mouth!
Though, I have only eaten one cheeseburger since July. For the most part I don't eat that terribly, or in nearly as much excess as I used to. Just frustrating that I fight the urge to gorge myself like a lion after taking down a wildebeest.
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I too am a fan of only putting the portion on my plate that I intend to eat. I make 4 portions of food for our dinner. Before I start eating I put the leftover 2 portions into Tupperware. For some bizzare reason if I have to open up a container in the fridge I am way less likely to unthinkingly go "get more" than I am if it is sitting on the stove in a pan.0
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Alright to the point
1.Stomach learns to eat specific portions. If you learn it to eat smaller portions,eventually you'll feel full and cant eat more.
2.When you stop eating some fast foods for some weeks, you will lose the need to eat it. And if you eat fast food again you ll understand the difference of healthy and unhealthy food..Since you ll take a lot more time to digest it and feel uncomfortable.
3.You can search some sites and by putting your stats and activity level you can find about the calories you spend one day. Take a food scale and put the foods you eat at myfitnesspal. Its easily to manage the portions from there!
4.Eventually you will be able to know how many meals/portions you eat daily without having to check myfitnesspal.
5.As for sweets, reduce them as much as possible. Try to restrain yourself from eating them and when you feel you cant continue grab one cheat meal Try not to be more than 1 or 2 per week.
Good luck and sorry for my english!0 -
As a rule I stick to mealtimes for eating. And then I normally put what I'm going to eat on my plate and eat it all, but no more. I don't trust my appetite.
I also control portion size. I sometimes use a portion control plate for evening meals (it has a pattern on it which shows what size your veg, carb and protein portions should be, roughly). It's not necessary, but sometimes I like to use it.0 -
sammyantics wrote: »Obviously I'm no expert, but these are some things that have helped me.
I love your ideas! One night, we had some leftover pasta, and my boyfriend refused to let me put the rest away because he knew I'd probably sneak a bite. It was kind of funny, but also really made it clear to me I need to work on it.
I like the small goals thing. I'm about 2-3 lbs away from dipping below 200, so I think I will aim to lose 2 lbs this week, like you said.
This could be part of the problem as well.
It's a bit hard from your description to tell if you just tend to over-eat because food is around, or because you feel hungry frequently and you're looking to satiate that for as long as possible. Honestly, even at my highest weight (240ish) I really struggled to maintain a 1000 calorie per day deficit (which is what you'd need to lose 2lbs per week). Anything more than about a 1.5lb loss a week and I'd be eating everything in the pantry and felt like I had no control. Bumped my calories up so that my deficit was closer to 750 a day, and I did great with portion control, etc. A sustainable weight loss will always win out for me; I'd rather consistently lose a little than inconsistently drop a lot. Now I'm about 20lbs from my goal and eating more at a 300-400 cal deficit a day.
I second a lot of the ideas posted through out this thread though, especially ones about portioning out meals beforehand (I can't eat an entire burrito bowl without feeling sick either, but lord knows I still try sometimes when I have the cals to spare haha). I used to feel really silly doing it, but I ask for a take-away box with my food while ordering in restaurants so I can immediately stick half away for later. When I make food at home, before I sit down to eat, I'm putting the left overs in containers, covering them with foil, etc so that I know that food is off limits. I also never bring the bag of chips (or whatever) with me to the couch, I take my serving, sit down, and remind myself that I really don't need any more than that and that if I really, truly am still hungry, I should probably be grabbing something like a cheese string (protein/fat) than continue on a carb rampage that isn't going to leave me feeling satisfied.
And the water, it's all about the water. On a low day, I drink about 3L.0 -
I plan and purchase everything that I am going to eat on Sundays. I am religious about not eating outside of the house... thats what gets me into trouble. So cooking my own food allows me all the control and no surprise calories. Its all about being mentally prepared for this journey that you are on. You don't plant a seed and expect a full grown rose bush the next day. Everything takes time, and you will mess up, but every meal and every workout counts. My main thing that gets me through when I'm hungry is consciously thinking, will that satisfy me for more than the 10 minutes it takes to eat it? So my advice is preparedness and mental strength.0
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alexistexas33 wrote: »I was struggling with this for maybe the first 3 weeks. It was a shock to eat so much less. What I ended up doing (you all are going to disagree with me but it works for me) is that I am obsessed with bubble gum-double bubble to be exact. I bought a huge tub of it and when I have that urge to eat when I shouldn't I grab a handful of gum and just start chewing.
Because the calories in gum is so low that you can keep eating it and eventually you'll get tired of chewing so the craving will stop.
Dunno, it worked for me and has been working. Lost 33 pounds in 13 weeks because of this method (btw don't starve)
I love this idea... I think it would work for me too!0 -
One thing that I have found that makes me feel like I'm eating more is picking snacks that have a high hand to mouth ratio. I know it sounds dumb, but things that I can have several pieces of make me more satisfied.0
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I know you said that you don't want to weigh. And I understand because it IS a time commitment. But in my opinion, it's also SO WORTH that time commitment. So, I'd recommend to try weighing your food for just one week. Plan and log your day from the night before. Weigh your food and only put that amount and no more on your plate. Or you can weigh out only HALF of what you've planned to eat for dinner and put only that half on your plate. And then afterwards, you can go back for "seconds." Try it and see if it works.
One trick that also works for me is to NEVER KEEP YOUR WEAK FOODS IN THE HOUSE. Those snacky foods that are a particular weakness for you where you just can't seem to stop eating them no matter how stuffed you are? Yeah, DON'T BUY THOSE. DON'T KEEP THEM IN THE HOUSE.
Keep LOTS of healthy, tasty options for desert and snacks. You can get yogurts, even low-calorie ice cream. Stick to the serving size and have it with some fresh fruit. You can even get individualized servings of low-calorie ice cream if you're really bad at stopping once you start lol.
If you're full and are just craving a certain snack, promise yourself that you'll allow yourself to eat it another time. And then plan that food or snack you were craving into your day tomorrow. This trick really helps me when I'm craving chocolate lol!
Lastly, make sure that your meals are actually filling you up. Not stuffing you, just filling. If you have enough protein and fiber in your meals, you'll feel full eating less calories. There's a reason why grilled chicken breast with broccoli on the side is the go-to diet dinner lol!0 -
sammyantics wrote: »
What I want to know is how do other people control their portions? I'm not talking about meticulously weighing out food and prepackaging 5,000 meals ahead of time, because I won't ever do that, it's just not a sustainable way for me personally to live my life.
make it a part of your life.
seriously, it's not that hard, just takes some hard work and dedication, and if you really want to lose weight and make progress, you'll start to weigh and measure everything.
if you really want to learn to control your hunger, you need to weigh and log your food, and then just walk away, knowing that you ate the right amount of calories for your meal.
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Honestly, my best trick when I want to keep snacking and know I should be done for the day is just to go look in the mirror. If I give myself a good look at a "problem area" and remind myself exactly where the food ends up. It's a lot harder to dive back into the cookie jar after I just had a long hard look at my lower abdomen or whatever.0
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sammyantics wrote: »enterdanger wrote: »They almost always give you an equal portion to them.
My man hardly eats. Like, if I don't feed him, he won't eat all day. So it's actually the opposite for me. He tends to dole out much smaller portions because he gets full super quick. (he's a beanpole)
HAHA this is exactly my boyfriend too. If I don't feed him, he would just either not eat or he'll just down half a box of cheez-its and call it dinner. Similarly, if my boyfriends not around, I eat more. He doesn't really stop me if I go to grab seconds but I just feel uncomfortable because I know that he won't.
But something that I have been doing recently is having a bite of Golean Crunch cereal after dinner. I put my plate immediately in the dishwasher and then have a few pieces of the cereal (and I mean A FEW). It usually helps me recognize that this means that I'm done with dinner.0 -
When I cook dinner, I also make enough for leftovers. Before I even sit down to eat, I portion out and pack up the leftovers into single serves. So now, seconds are completely out of the question.
Then, I sit down to eat...and I focus on just that. That way Im not just mindlessly eating and stuffing my face until Im so full before I realized it. Instead, I can feel myself getting full and its so much easier to push it away when I've had enough.
I usually put away the pre-portioned food before I go to bed, that way it has time to cool first. Whatever I know Im not having for lunch goes into the freezer, including whatever is leftover from dinner..that way I cant graze on it.0 -
I always ask healthy people how they know when to stop eating because I don't know what that feels like... I only know now because I stick to serving sizes and I can see plainly in my diary that I should not be hungry. It takes so much practice!
Also, weighing and making food ahead doesn't have to be something you can do forever. If you do it for a while, you'll start to know what a proper portion looks like.
When I feel like I'm about to overeat, I take a moment to step away from the table and do something boring to distract me from being so excited about my food! Dishes, laundry, whatever works. Then come back to my food with less excitement. It's just food (that's what they say)!)
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Lots of great tips and tricks that work well!!! Bottom line, tho, at some point before the food goes in the mouth, is to STOP and ask the "monkey in the mirror" who's the master and who's the slave. Sad but true - until you can do this, nothing else you try will work. :huh:0
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