Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eat foods with more bulk- think lots of vegetables and salads. When you eat eat veggies first, then protein then the carbs.

It also comes down to retraining your appetite and portions. Only eat what is on your plate then get up and move on.

This is it. Eat a high volume of nutrient dense, low calorie foods (vegetables), then a lean protein and plant based carbs (beans, whole grains).

If you like to eat and have found it hard to eat less, this advice is your best option. You can eat a huge volume of whole unprocessed vegetables, grains, beans, and fruit.

No one wants to eat a high volume of beans and leaves. No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eat foods with more bulk- think lots of vegetables and salads. When you eat eat veggies first, then protein then the carbs.

It also comes down to retraining your appetite and portions. Only eat what is on your plate then get up and move on.

This is it. Eat a high volume of nutrient dense, low calorie foods (vegetables), then a lean protein and plant based carbs (beans, whole grains).

If you like to eat and have found it hard to eat less, this advice is your best option. You can eat a huge volume of whole unprocessed vegetables, grains, beans, and fruit.

I am with you on this - I love to eat a lot too. You need to find high volume/low cal food. There is a Reddit forum called Volumeeating that has a lot of ideas. Some of the items posted are disgusting and bordering on eating disorders but it will give you some good ideas.

This is what worked for me. I used to eat breakfast around 6:30am and have dinner around 7:30. I changed the time and it helped me eat less.

So in the morning, I started delaying breakfast to 7am then 7:30a, 8a then after 9am. Now I eat breakfast between 10-11a and by the time lunchtime comes, I am less hungry and eat less. Then I did the same thing with dinner I moved it up and try to eat between 5-6pm, then no snacks. I actually sleep better being a little hungry.

My appetite adjusted to the time changes over the course of a year. It was retraining my body to be hungry at other times that helped me eat less.

I eat two balanced meals, no snacks usually just coffee or tea between. Nuts or apiece of cheese if I really do need to snack but that's usually because my meal wasn't appropriate (too high in sugar and low in fiber, protein and fat). In general a lot of what we feel as hunger passes. Its not an emergency. Your body is trained to get hungry at the times you normally eat. push through them and see. If the waves come back every 10-15 min eat something with protein and fat. if not, you're fine, drink some water. this will be much easier if you get off the sugar and carbs first. that can suck for a while-headaches and hangriness, but it goes away.

- Eat a balanced plate at every meal. Half the plate is fruits and veggies, one quarter is protein, one quarter is carbs.

- You can eat as much at meal as you’d like *as long as it follows the plate guidelines in the correct portions*. A plate that is half broccoli, 1/4 potatoes, and 1/4 steak is good. Taking 2 bites of the broccoli and then going back for a second helping of potatoes is not what we’re going for.

- It is always WAY fewer calories to eat more at meals, than it is to deprive yourself and then snack later. So really, eat as much as you’d like as long as it follows the plate template.

- When you feel like snacking, pause for 10 minutes to determine if you’re hungry, or if it’s just a craving. If you want a specific food item like a cookie, it’s a craving. Give it 10 minutes and it will likely pass. If you’re truly hungry, eat, but follow the same guideline of protein/carb/veggies.

- Put your fork down in between every bite to slow down your eating. You’ll likely feel fuller sooner.

- I’m not a fan of banning certain foods that you enjoy. You’ll just crave them and binge. But consider other ways you can enjoy them. I love pizza, and for me, it’s much more enjoyable to take my kids out for pizza to our favorite restaurant and spend the evening there with friends, rather than ordering Pizza Hut twice a week. Or with ice cream, rather than having a bowl every night, we have ice cream night once a week, where we get a dairy free ice cream and add toppings like berries, mango, nut butter, etc.

- If you emotionally eat, start to identify what emotion you’re feeling and find other ways to cope. Boredom, procrastination, stress - often there are more productive ways that actually help them better. But don’t throw out emotional eating entirely, there are times when it’s okay. Like after I caught my H cheating and left him, I didn’t eat at all for several days, until I figured out I could stomach macaroni and cheese, so I ate that as my comfort food for a couple weeks, until the extreme emotions passed. So just learn when emotional eating helps you and limit it to that.

Weight Loss for Busy Physicians podcast talks about this - website has list of episodes

I find having defined meal times helps, 7am / 11.30 -12 / 5-6pm and then nothing afterwards.

If I get hungry, I'll have a couple of slices of apple, or a banana, or a very small amount of pistachios and maybe drink a decaf with 0% fat milk to hold me over.

I love food and I love eating but I've lost 25 lbs in the past 3 months by at first looking at what I consume in terms of calories and then measuring it (as suggested by a PP above) and then sticking with that new regime.

You can do it, you just have to train yourself and there's a period of adjustment.

Stop eating after dinner (6 for me) and don’t eat breakfast until 8am. Then, no snacking during the day.

I love to eat too. But I don't have much weight to lose.
I don't rarely eat cakes, candies, pies and the likes. I can't remember the last time I had a soda or sugary drink. I live chips but you won't see me buying any unless we are hosti a party and I don't eat a plateful of it. I also don't lather my pancakes with syrup. I use olive oil and the 12oz lasts a about 2 months. I don't use butter. I eat fried food like 3x a year. When I eat pizza, it's about 2 slices. So, if you do what I do, you can lose the weight. Not everything is cause by food you need to exercise. I also walk about 1-2 miles a day. That's not alot but it's the only time I have.

I'm with you on this, also in my 40s and I used to eat anything I wanted and absolutely love food, cooking, baking, dining out and more.

I just started weight watchers. It's sorta an easier way to track what you eat via points and is helping me find ways to keep full during the work day via better protein sources. Otherwise just do a few days of scrupulously measuring how much of everything you eat (measure and count calories for every tablespoon of mayo, oil, sugar each day).

It really just takes a few days of calorie counting to understand where your extra is coming from. That also helps me figure out then where to prioritize... i.e. much of my extra is pretty much sweets and alcohol. I'd be fine if I could just cut those out. Next thing is how much oil in how I cook.

For instance, I like greek yogurt but don't usually care if I buy 0 percent or 2 percent (I actually don't notice the taste difference with a brand like fage). So it helps remind me to buy 0 percent, all the protein, I like it, etc. Little things like I don't need to dump olive oil on my vegetables, just a little spray of it and I'm still happy and satisfied.

Recent discovery is PB2 powder which is delicious mixed into a paste with a little water and spread on a pancake or waffle or thrown in a smoothie... less calories, less fat, satisfies my sweet tooth.

You can find ways to cut out excess calories and still eat foods you like.

For snacks, I make batches of health(ier) whole wheat apple or choc chip muffins to eat as a snack. Keeps me satisfied and full including my sweet tooth and then I'm able to resist when someone in my office brings in cake or cookies.

All of this is time consuming, but it literally just takes a few days or one week of measuring everything and then you can just speed up figuring out how you can adjust what you eat to suit your cravings and diet preferences.

Anonymous wrote:Eat foods with more bulk- think lots of vegetables and salads. When you eat eat veggies first, then protein then the carbs.

It also comes down to retraining your appetite and portions. Only eat what is on your plate then get up and move on.

This is it. Eat a high volume of nutrient dense, low calorie foods (vegetables), then a lean protein and plant based carbs (beans, whole grains).

Write down everything you eat. And measure correctly. So if you have a "bowl" of cereal, make sure it is the correct serving amount. Most servings are 3/4 cup but people put in about two cups. Don't change anything until you have done this exercise. Then you can see where the calories are and start measuring out the correct amount. Drink more water too

Eat fewer meals, and no snacking. I found it really helped me. I eat two meals a day normally. If I’m going out to dinner or making something special, I will eat a very small (yogurt and something else) morning meal and nothing else.

Anonymous wrote:Cut out sugar entirely, or at least avoid it until late in the day.
- it can be a real appetite trigger.

This is huge for me. Even sugar late in the day (like wine or dessert) can leave me hungry the rest of the night AND the next day. Eat lots of raw veggies (for bulk/fiber), lean protein, and healthy fats (avocado, eggs, and small servings on nuts).