Eating Less To Lose Weight;
This is how most people will try to lose a few extra pounds to meet a short term goal. But for most people it will be a hit and miss effort and the weight will come back after the goal is reached and the old way of eating is resumed.
Think about this, if you can continue to eat less to lose weight, that is, maintain your new weight, then you will always be able to;
- fit into those skinny jeans or
- that red dress
- look great at the beach
- get stares at your reunion
All without having to diet to lose a few pounds again.
These 4 weight loss tips (that are proven to help people eat less food and overall calories) are from a fascinating book called “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot” by Richard Wiseman. I think you’ll find these tips very helpful if you’re looking to control your calorie intake and reduce your body fat.
These tips have been around for a long time and were tested in scientific studies. They are quick and easy to implement and most importantly, they work.
Tips on How to lose weight:
Tip #1 To Eat Less: Use smaller plates, bowls and spoons — Several studies have confirmed what older folks have know for a long time. It has been proven that the size of the plate, bowl or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume. Bigger plates cause people to eat more.
Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls ate 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. How’s that for an interesting statistic?
Another study at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms left in the hallway of an apartment building with a sign next to the bowl that told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.
Other studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.
These studies indicate that using smaller plates, bowls, and silverware can cause you to inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!
Tip #2 To Eat Less: Eat your food slowly. — You’ve probably heard that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and shut off your appetite before you’ve eaten too much.
This may be true, but a study found a twist on this old saying!
According to Mr. Wiseman, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:
a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
The results were interesting… Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that’s weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. I have no idea why it worked out this way, but the results are interesting.
The lesson learned here to eat less is “to start at your normal speed but savor each and every mouthful”. I think what he means is to slow down and enjoy each mouthful of food without overeating.
Tip #3 To Eat Less: Chocolates or other sweets — According to the book, a series of experiments conducted in offices, compared putting chocolates right on people’s desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars.
The results showed that when the chocolates were on the person’s desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.
This experiment just proves that food out of sight is food out of mind! Every nutritionist in the world will recommend never having junk food around your house at all. If the junk food is not there, you’re never tempted by it and you’re forced to only eat healthy foods.
Tip #4 To Eat Less: Avoid eating in front of the television. Studies have found that when people are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions, they eat tend to eat more than when they don’t have distractions. One experiment showedthat people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly more popcorn compared to those who were paying less attention to the movie.
The lesson to be learned — ditch the TV and avoid other distractions when you eat your meals. Instead, focus on your food! Go back to trick #2, enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.
Two things that you can do to lose weight and keep it off is to get a good and healthy diet, (I have no problem recommending “Strip That Fat“) and increase your physical activity to help keep the weight off after it is gone.
A copy of Mr. Wiseman’s book can be gotten from Amazon by following this link “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot”