5 TIPS TO HELP YOU
EAT LESS FOR
WEIGHT LOSS

THE #1 Tip For Weight Loss

Okay, here it is.

Ready?

Eat Less - Move More

Like you haven't heard that before, right?

Sounds simple enough.

Simple? Yes. Easy? Not so much.

So, here are

5 Tips To Help with the

'EAT LESS' part of that equation.

The 'MOVE MORE' will be in another post.

TIP #1

And I know that you've heard this before

as well.

Use a smaller plate or bowl.

Turns out there have been several studies

(wish I coulda been in one) that prove the

size of your plate, or bowl or even your

spoon, will affect how many calories you

consume. I guess it stands to reason that

you can't shovel as much into your mouth

if you have a smaller shovel, right?

One of the studies was with Ice Cream.

The study used party guests (Wish I was at

that party) and some of the guests were

given large bowls with large spoons and

some of the guests were given small bowls

with small spoons. And guess what? Yep!

Those with the smaller bowls and spoons

ate 31% less. I think that I would probably

have blown their results. If you know

anything about me, you know that Ice

Cream is my biggest vice. Hey! I gave up

alcohol. I gave up cigarettes. Let me keep

my Ice Cream, PLEASE!!  I would have had

NO PROBLEM going back for seconds.

I'm thinking this one was kind of a visual

thing, like 'What You See Is What You Get'

And check this out.

There is a new product out there

and it's called 'FitFreeze'.

It's actually healthy Ice Cream

that's formulated to also

help you with weight loss.

I haven't tried it yet. It is

a little pricey. But if it

really does what they say,

well, I think my freezer

will be full of

'FitFreeze'.

Another study used M&Ms. Okay, not fair!

My favorite candy in the whole world. I

think this one reflects kind of a 'self-policing'

thing. Here's what they did. They put a bowl

full of M&Ms in the hallway of an apartment

building (smile, you're on candid camera)

with a sign that said to help themselves. I

guess to avoid people sticking their hands

covered with 'who knows what' into the

bowl, they placed a scoop in the M&Ms.

Some days it was a big scoop and other days

it was a smaller scoop. I guess most people

were not tempted to 'double dip' so with the

smaller scoop, less M&Ms were taken and

with the larger scoop more were taken.

I thought that I would give this one a try.

So, I took a small plate and filled it with

pasta. Hey!!! Don't judge. I was just

cleaning out the fridge, a little tidying up if

you will. Anyway, the serving size on the

small plate really looked quite sufficient.

But then, I transferred it to a big plate. And

you know what? I just knew, looking at

that big plate, I would have put more on it,

just so it didn't look so empty I guess.

So my advice is, quit using those dinner

plates the size of a satellite dish. Get a

smaller plate and you'll eat less. I'm

thinking that when your brain realizes that

you have this smaller portion, it will get

you to eat slower, eventually. You know,

make it last, which in turn will give

your brain more of a chance to realize

when your full and say, "Okay, you can

stop eating now, we're full".

Which leads to ...................

TIP #2

Eat Your Food Slower

I know that you've probably heard this one

before too.  You gotta give some credit to

these older expressions.

A study at the Pennington Biomedical

Research Center had participants that

needed to lose weight  (I don't think I want

to be in this  study) both men and women.

They were given meals to eat, at 3 different

speeds.

#1 Normal Rate

#2 Half their normal rate

#3 Starting at their normal rate but then

slowing down to half their normal rate.

Now here is the really interesting part.

When men ate at the slower rate, they would

eat less.

But not the women. When they ate at the

slower rate, they ate their usual amount.

(Hmmmm?)

But the group that started out at their

normal rate but then slowed down to half

the rate, now both the women and the men

would eat less.

My personal opinion is that we gals just

have smarter brains. So you can't fool us so

blatantly. That's why I think easing into the

slower eating pattern works better for us

gals.

So go ahead, shovel those mouthfuls, but

just at first. Then, gradually slow down so

you can savor every morsel. Enjoy it, don't

rush it. Unless of course you're a lousy

cook. Then the 'savoring' part may be a bit

of a challenge. But you get the idea.

TIP #3

This is the 'Out Of Sight - Out Of Mind'

plan. The idea is this. If you have a box of

chocolates sitting right in front of you,

you're going to eat ................. a box of

chocolates. Well, a lot any way. But if that

box of chocolates is, say, in another room

or on a shelf way up top, the odds are, you

are going to eat a lot less of them. You

won't want to carry a gi-normous amount

back to where ever and you're not going to

want to make a bunch of trips.

So if you have someone at work that

always has a jar of (fill in the blank) on

their desk and their desk is right next to

yours, well, you're in trouble. Unless you

don't like this person, in which case it will

be very easy to stay away from their desk.

And at home, okay this one's easy,

DON'T BRING IT IN THE HOUSE!

If you want to lose weight, it shouldn't

even be on that shopping list, right?

'Nuff said.

TIP #4

Here's another one in the category of your

brain working against you. Apparently,

when our food is the same color as our

plate, we tend to eat more. Why? Well

studies say that our brains are having a

difficult time figuring out what the proper

size portion should be. So based on these

findings, you want to make sure that your

food is a different color than your plate.

There's a lot to be said for using white

dishes. Unless, of course, you're eating

white rice. I wonder how that works if you

are color blind? And since statistically,

more men than women are color blind,

Tip #4 probably won't work for most men.

Just sayin'.

TIP #5

I've mentioned this before; the Mindless

Eating. People eat more when they are

distracted; i.e. watching T.V., movies,

games, any kind of distraction, really. So

turn off the (fill in the blank) and focus on

your eating. You will enjoy your food more

and so will your body, because it has been

show that distractions while eating prevent

your body from chewing properly and this

will prevent your body from being able to

digest properly. We need to adopt a habit

of 'Mindful Eating' if we want to lose that

weight.

Here is a fabulous book about that very

thing. It's called 'Mindful Eating' and it will

change the way you think about your next

meal. Food Psychologist Brian Wansink will

revolutionize your awareness of how much,

what, and why you're eating - often without

realizing it. His findings will astound you,

• Can the size of your plate really influence your appetite?
• Why do you eat more when you dine with friends?
• How does music or the color of the room influence how much - how fast - we eat?
• How can we "mindlessly" lose - instead of gain - up to 20 pounds in the coming year

So there you have it.

That's the 'Eat Less' portion of the equation.

I'll talk about the 'Move More' in my next

post.