Overeating was a key component in my weight gain last year. Due to an painful injury, I turned to food for comfort. I paid little attention to my portion sizes. As I gained weight, I kept telling myself, “I’ll do better next week.” or “I can lose this weight as soon as I put my mind to it.” Well, I did not really put my mind to making a change until I signed up with Jenny Craig to help avoid overeating.
Here are 10 Tips to Avoid Overeating that I’ve learned over the past few months with the help of my Jenny Craig meals and conversations with my support consultant each week.
8 Tips to Avoid Overeating
8. Add veggies and/or fruit to every meal
Automatically fill half your plate or a side bowl with veggies of fruit. The fiber they provide will help fill you up. Visually, these types of meals remind you of what a balanced meal should look like.
7. Eat Mindfully
When is the last time you went to a restaurant? Did they provide a bread basket before the meal? According to Healthy.com, 31% of people could not remember how much bread they ate. Be mindful of every bite you take. Savor the flavors and track your intake.
6. Use Smaller Dishes
Dinner plates in America seem to be getting bigger and bigger. I realized our dinner plates are over 10 inches. That makes healthy portions look meager. Downsizing my plates to 8 inches or less makes my portions look appropriate for a meal. Keeping in mind the size of the Jenny Craig meals also helps me portion my own food when I am away from home or at a restaurant.
These foods from the Jenny Craig plan are all on smaller plates yet still provide delicious and filling meals.
5. Pre-portion Snacks & Treats
Diving into a big bag of pretzels or chips will likely cause you to eat more that one portion. A tray of brownies will be much more tempting to grab more than one. Pre-portion these foods into smaller bags. I freeze pre-portioned brownies too so that I only have one at a time. This can work for some cakes a banana bread too!
4. Keep temptations out of site
Keep candy bowls, snack bars, etc., out of site. Health magazine also reports that people who kept candy visible at their desk ate 71% more than folks who kept it out of site.
3. Keep Healthy Foods Visible
We have a fruit bowl in the middle of our kitchen counter. It helps my entire family make better choices instead of heading to the pantry for chips or cookies. During family meals, I’ll keep a bowl of carrots or other veggies out and the kids typically grab more than what is served on their plates.
2. Don’t Eat in Front of the TV
Watching TV can easily distract you from how much you are eating. The more TV you watch, the more you will likely eat. This was definitely an issue for me. I love having a pre-portioned treat from Jenny Craig when I watch TV after dinner. I get to satisfy my sweet tooth without overindulging.
1. Limit the calories your drink
Even fruit juice, which most people see as “healthy,” will easily add calories to your daily intake. Most folks pour more than the 8 ounce service size as well. Consider adding fruit to water to add a splash of flavor with out the added calories.
What tips do you have to avoid overeating?
