"Never finish your plate"

I honestly physically can't leave food on my plate :happy:

I think if you got to the point where you were full and then kept eating - then you should have left it. Over-eaters tend to be unable to recognise when they are full, they don't listen to their bodies. If you have allocated those calories then it doesn't mean you have to eat for the sake of eating. Just my two pence worth.

I think it's a good tool to train yourself to recognise when you're full or satisfied. You should eat until you've satisfied your hunger, not necessarily until you're full to the point of not being able to eat another bite (unless that's a one off, i've been known to do that in restaurants and at christmas).

Definitely leave something on your plate if you're full!

I made a fairly large lunch yesterday and even though I'd added all the calories onto here beforehand, to save me time, I couldn't finish it all and had to chuck away half of it. Avoiding the guilt of eating too much balances out the guilt of having to throw it away.

I was always made to finish what was on my plate. now, i simply cannot leave stuff on my plate.
portion control and eating off smaller dishes has helped me stay within calories etc. without that that feeling of needing to finish a massive serving.
A have this great bowl that's round enough for soups, porridge etc, but also 'plate-y' enough for a less liquid meal. it's small but always nearly overflowing so it's psychologically and physically satisfying!

I read somwhere, in some cycling magazine on how to balance your diet, that if you eat proportionally and carefully, but increase your excersie, and most importantly, your metabolic rate, you'll be able to consume more food, and as long as you've increased your metabolic rate, your body becomes more efficient at buring the calories and can actually burn these faster.
It also claimed that to watch your food for 7 days a week, is somewhat painful, and as we know, difficult, but it recommended that on at least one day, eat the things that make you feel good: Chocolate, Steak, Cakes, Beer, Wine etc, again, based on your increased metabolic burn rate, you'll increase the weight loss o nthe following day as you'll burn this off faster.
Of course, you must keep up the exercise in a cntrolled way, and get into that cardio-vascular "zone" and this will be OK.
Must confess, never managed to meet the "metabolic brun rate criterior" but I guess it's good for some people!

In response to the initial "never finsih your plate", well, i'd just say, have big plates, with less on it.
My wife has large dinner plates, that have a large raised rim, a little bit like a bowl really, and the food is in the lower part of the plate.
So its physcological that you have a big plate, but the portion is small!
Works for us!

I read this a few months ago and actually checked it out for myself. There was a gentleman that was remodeling his home and wanted to keep the kitchen cabinets to the house since it was built in the early 1900's. When it was time to move in none of his dinner plates would fit in his cupboards. The size of the dinner plate has nearly doubled in size from then until now. So if you think about this then you should not be eating all of whats on your plate unless your plate is still 9 inches or less.

Just an interesting tip I thought I would pass on. =0)

I measure all of my food so most times I eat everything. I use a small plate also. But there has been times that I've had to stop eating because I just couldn't eat anymore so I just put it away until later.

If I stopped eating when I was no longer hungry (which is what I've heared to do) then I'd eat one or two bites of every meal and then throw the rest away because that's all it takes to stop me feeling hungry. Obviously that's nowhere near enough food to be healthy. I weigh my food and most of the time clear my plate. I've found that way I'm not eating until I'm stuffed but I'm also eating enough calories.

Eating food someone else has prepared and dished up for me is the problem for me. If I don't eat past the "okay, no longer hungry stage" I'm going to leave a full meal but because I have to eat past that point every meal I can't tell when I should stop when the portions haven't been measured.

But that is healthy. I eat small amounts off food throughout the day. I can't eat more than about 4 bits of something without feeling stuffed, but an hour later I'm hungry again, so I eat again.