What do you do to stop yourself once you have eaten enough? One of my big down falls is that I will have something tasty and I will continue eating it even though I know I have had enough just because I am enjoying the taste so much. This is not just sweets. Fortunately I am not a big sweets person but things lets say like spaghetti. I will find myself enjoying the sauce so much that I will eat more than I should.
Something you might try to do is limit your portion size in the first place. Don't take a full plate of spaghetti (I love it too!). Concentrate on eating s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y and savoring every bite; get every last bit of flavor you can out of the mouthful before you swallow. If, once the portion is gone, you still feel like you want more, tell yourself to wait twenty minutes. Walk around, read a few pages of a book, anything to distract yourself. Then if you still REALLY want a bit more spaghetti, get some--but not another full serving. Just enough to enjoy the taste a bit longer.
Another little trick is to brush your teeth after you know you've eaten enough; this erases the taste from your mouth and gives you a "fresh start" feeling. Hope this helped!
When I first started my weightloss journey and for the first few years of maintenance, I weighed and measured almost everything except green vegetables. I'd put the portion on my plate, and THAT would be it! Don't sit there with a full bowl in front of you. After 5 years at goal, I still weigh or measure some foods like oatmeal, sauces, beef, cottage cheese. It's way too easy for portions to "grow".
It's the same phenomenon as eating chips from a huge open bag versus the 100 calorie snack packs. I don't eat these, but if I did eat snack food, I'd make sure I was buying single serving sizes or I would eat the whole bag.
I put less on my plate and dont allow myself seconds. If I have to, to pull out the measuring cups. Or only cook what I know I should eat. For lunch it is easy, I measure it out, put it in a container and that is all I take with me to work.
With meat and stuff i am fine but with speghetti...i cannot even eat that anymore without the understanding that i will eat too much. Othewise, i just try to make JUST enough, so that even if i want more after i eat, there is nothing left to pick from. that is my biggest struggle...over eating when i am just loving the food.
What I do is cook exactly the appropriate serving (I calculate it first, I don't go "by eye", it's too easy to fool myself). This way, even if I'm tempted to eat some more just for the savor once I'm done with my plate, no matter how hard I crave the stuff, there isn't any left. And since I'm a lazy girl who can't be arsed to cook the same dish again, it's easier to not give in to the temptation of a bigger portion--or of helping myself to a second serving in the pan.
Maybe that "trick" could work for you too, at least when you're the one cooking?
I also cook enough for 2 full meals (4 total servings for fiance and I) - and thats it. That means that if I eat too much at dinner, I know I'm getting less for lunch the next day, and that having such a small serving might mean I spend part of my afternoon a little hungrier than normal. This not only helps me measure total calories better (the calories in the entire recipe divided by 4), but means that if I get my portions a bit off (lets say I carelessly serve myself 1/4 c. more sweet potato at dinner than portioned), it automatically balances itself out the next day at lunch, so my total calorie intake doesn't go up.
This has been REALLY helpful for me in not eating more than my decided portion.
Trial and error...
Nowadays, it's not really an issue for me when I am eating at home since I have a plan for how much I am going to eat for each of three meals and I don't make/eat more than that. I know the calories in my food, so I know how much I can eat. However, I did have to learn to portion size when I was in situations like eating at my parent's house, others' homes, restaurants.
Portion size was automatic when I was eating lean cuisine and healthy choice meals for the vast majority of my lunches and dinners...I did this for 1 or 2 years. However, I had to learn some skills once I was off of those.
When I first got off my frozen lean cusine and healthy choice meals, and was eating family style at my parent's home, I would put very small amounts of food on my plate at a time. I would finish what was on the plate and then get more if I wanted more. The problem with this technique was that I think I probably overate sometimes because I usually don't feel really full until I stand up. Also, I never really could tell how much I was eating because I never really saw the true quantity all at once.
Now, I take my full portion at one time and I don't go back. I eyeball things for what would be an appropriate portion size, and what I know in my mind should be enough to satisfy me. I decide even before I take the first spoonful, everything that I am going to eat. That way I'm not surprised when I get to the last one or two serving dishes, and already have put too much on my plate. I also try to take more of the veggies/lean protein over other things.
The one plate rule really helps because, like I said, I often don't feel the true sensation of overeating until I stand up. I also tend to really feel it a few minutes later, not when I'm actively eating.
I have had the same problem with over-eating not because I'm hungry but because it just tastes good. What I do now is make my plate and have only 1 plate. After dinner, I pack up any leftovers for my DH to take to work. This way he doesn't get a cold sandwich AND I don't over-eat. I am the same as Tara mentioned, I never feel full til I stand up. I don't think I've ever had any real stop point when it comes to eating.
I put a reasonable portion on the plate to begin with. If I want more after I eat it I make myself wait a few minutes before getting seconds. Usually by then I don't want it, because I'm not really hungry by that time and I don't like the feeling of being stuffed anymore.
I also keep telling myself that this is not the last spaghetti I will ever eat. The leftovers will be in the fridge when I want it again.
I usually do exact, measured portions, and when I'm done, I'm done.
Yesterday, though, we went to an all you can eat place and after I ate what I put on my plate for the main meal (chosen carefully for calorie content and healthyness) I just had to try their cheesecake. I took one sliver like they do in places like that, and ate it one bite at a time. I paused with each bite and savored it and swallowed and waited a bit before the next bite. My plan was, as soon as the next bite wasn't as impressively yummy as the one before, I was going to stop eating it. I ate slowly while my husband was finishing his meal and eventually had to explain what I was doing.
I ended up eating the whole piece- but I sure didn't go back for seconds. On the last bite, I hit the place where I thought: Now that bite wasn't quite as yummy as the one before. Why bother eating any more?
I'm not sure how good a strategy this would be for more ordinary situations, but it seemed reasonable at the time.
I like all the ideas about portion control--that really helps. Measuring really helps too, whether it's ounces or a half cup or whatever.
There are some foods I just can't have around because of what you describe. Once I start, all bets are off. Ice cream is a perfect example. If I absolutely have to have ice cream, I'll go to an ice cream place and get a cone, rather than buy a carton at the grocery store--because I'll eat it until it's gone--maybe not all at once, but in a few sessions over the next couple of days.
So, you might just avoid those foods altogether for awhile. It's only food, it's not forever.
I do the exact same thing about ice cream--never in the house.
I also don't buy potato chips, potato salad and egg salad, and seriously regretted buying a bag of mini Tootsie Rolls last week (low in WW points for a serving, but hard to stop at one serving!).
Sometimes I eat the opposite taste to break my momentum--like eat a very sour pickle to break the cycle.
I also have my husband/kids clear the table and put away all food. I either chew gum or brush my teeth right after dinner.
I try to drink more water during the day--sometimes what I perceive as a hunger cue is actually thirst.
What I do to thwart this is measure out my portions, as many people have said.... But something I do when I am at a friends house and can't exactly measure is, I wait until I have actual hunger in my gut... like deep down when your tummy is rumbling and you can feel it.... and then I eat slowly, in a relaxed setting, and stop every once in a while.... what many people dont understand is that, being full is NOT feeling that " I cant eat another bite" feeling... feeling full is feeling satisfied.... so, if the hunger pangs are gone after you eat your plate, then you are no longer hungry.... sure you could eat more, but you're satisfied...
Hope this helps
I'm like that with sweets, so I don't keep them around. When I'm out, I might treat myself on ocassion. Like stopping at TCBY the other day and getting a small serving to share with the baby. If it's in the house, I'll eat it until it's gone. Especially if it's chocolate. So I just don't have it around.
What do you do???
