How do you control how much you eat?

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.

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!

sammyantics wrote: »

jazmin220 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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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: