Last fall, I lost about five pounds by discovering something about my eating style and changing it. It was a mental strategy for deciding to eat seconds that I adjusted. It was one of my autopilot strategies, like so many others.

As you can imagine, being a nutritionist, I’m a pretty healthy eater to begin with. I also didn’t have a lot of extra weight to lose. But, I thought I would look better without those extra 5-7 pounds I picked up over years and three kids. And I tried different things to lose them. Actually, many things that I recommend to my clients, I first try on myself. Some worked, some didn’t, but I couldn’t keep those pesky pounds off.

As a foodie, I make a big effort to cook new and exciting recipes for dinner for my family and myself. And I used to overeat because the food was (and still is) really tasty. I would serve myself a plate of food and enjoy it thoroughly. And when I was done, I would ask myself: ”More?” And the answer was, “Yes! I want some more. It’s so good!” And I would serve myself seconds.

The solution was very simple. I stopped asking, “Do I want more?” when I realized that my second serving was driven by pleasure eating. Instead, I now finish my plate and quickly check with myself, “Did I satisfy my hunger?” And if the answer is yes, I’m done eating. No effort is required.

You, too, apply some sort of automatic strategy to terminate the eating. It could be when you see an empty plate or have a specific sensation in your tummy that you know you’re done. Your strategy might work very well for you or not. If you think it’s not very effective, ask yourself, “How do I know when to stop eating?”

Take care till next week,

Olga

P.S. Interested in figuring out your unique eating strategies for weight loss? Let's chat!​