Food overload. Our society definitely has it. There are few places where you can’t find food. Sports complexes, drug stores, gas stations, shopping centers, and even high-end department stores often have food for sale. How then, with food everywhere, can you avoid eating too much? Because you know that eating too much is one of the prime causes for obesity. Here are some practical tips to help you avoid food overload and keep your food intake at a reasonable level.
I had a real problem with eating too much. It was a rare night when I went to bed with even the slightest feeling of hunger. Instead, I usually went to sleep uncomfortably full and woke up slightly full. And then I repeated the cycle day after day until I weighed 300 pounds. Eating too much was definitely the main reason I was morbidly obese.
One of the greatest challenges to losing weight is to stop eating so much.
To get your food intake under control, you must do several things and you’ve got to keep doing them for the rest of your life. If you don’t, you will be likely to regain the weight you fought so hard to lose.
1. Be mindful of how much you are really eating. It is easy to sit on the couch with a box of healthy crackers or baked chips on your lap and eat way more than you meant to. I tell people to be mindfully present when you eat. Don’t let your mind wander or get distracted.
2. Think before you eat anything. You may be like I was and eat whatever sounds good at the moment. And then the next moment something else sounds good and you eat that too. Take a couple of minutes and really think before you eat. Are you truly hungry? Is it time for a meal? Are you making a good choice?
3. Watch out for foods packed with calories like desserts and tasty savory dishes. Some of these foods contain half your calorie allotment for the day.
4. Deliberately be the last one done when eating with other people. Slowing down your eating pace works like magic. If you chew your food thoroughly, take small bites, and engage others in conversation, you will be much less likely to overeat.
5. Eat on a schedule to avoid eating all day long. When you eat all day long, it is very hard to eat the proper number of calories. I learned the hard way you can’t eat five snacks, three meals, and a few desserts and lose weight. Schedule your meals to avoid feeling ravenous and commit to sticking to an eating schedule.
6. Don’t have any if you don’t like it or are already full. It’s okay–and even a good idea–to say “no” if you don’t want the food being offered.
7. Pay attention to your gut. The uncomfortable feeling that comes with eating too much is unmistakable. When you are dieting, you should not feel overly full. If you do, you have likely eaten more than you should have.
8. Equate food with calories and exercise. Have a good idea of how many calories you are eating and how much exercise you will have to do to burn that donut, cookie, or bag of chips. As an example, a 200-pound woman has to walk for 30 minutes to burn about 220 calories.