11 tricks to eat less

Diet is the name of the game when it comes to weight loss. And when it comes to diet, quantity trumps quality. Meaning, someone who can control their quantity but eats questionable food will likely be more successful at losing weight than someone who chooses good foods but can’t control quantity.

That being said, eating less is f*cking hard. Over the years of working with people who have endless means to feed themselves, I’ve compiled a list of strategies that can help with controlling calorie intake. I’ve divided them into two categories: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic are tricks that require more mental discipline and mindfulness, whereas extrinsic tricks create an environment that will makes it so you eat less. I would recommend starting with extrinsic tips, but combine as many of these as you want.

Extrinsic

• Eat more vegetables

  • Fiber describes any food substance your body can’t digest. Vegetables (excluding starches like potatoes/squash) are SUPER high in fiber, meaning they fill you up with very little calories

  • This is the science behind salads

• Drink more water, especially before a meal

  • Part 1: Dehydration

    • Being dehydrated can lead to unhealthy food cravings. If you’re drinking water only when you’re thirsty, you’re already too late (that happens at around 3% dehydration). Cognitive decline starts at 1%.

    • The secret to life is peeing clear

  • Part 2: Appetite suppression

    • Chugging 0.5-1 L of water 20 min before a meal can help fill you up

• Eat more whole fruit

  • Similar to vegetables, whole fruits (especially those that have a hard crunch as you bite) are high in fiber - AND water.

  • Fiber + Water = elements that fill you up faster

• Club soda, before a meal

  • Gastric distension: aka making your stomach feel more full sooner

  • Don’t overdo this, club soda is not a replacement for water.

• Increase lean protein intake

  • Protein keeps you full for a long time, and lean sources are relatively low cal.

  • Out of the 3 macronutrients that make up your food (fat, protein, carbs), protein is the smartest to fill up on as it’s very hard to overdue and doesn’t have the same addicting qualities as fatty and high carb foods can have.

• Intermittent Fasting

  • This will go down as both extrinsic and intrinsic, as the fasting period itself required discipline. But, once you’ve locked in your window, you’ve created an environment that makes it harder to eat too much.

  • The benefit here is really missing a meal, so if you fast but then overcompensate in your window you’re missing the point.

  • Start with a 10 hour eating window and slowly work your way to 8 hours. Water, black coffee, and unsweetened green tea are the only substances allowed outside of the window.

Intrinsic

• Eat 80% of what you think would make you full

  • Easy to write, hard to do

  • Build a mental image of a normal plate or meal, and cut out 20% of it. Eat what’s remaining, and wait 20 min before adding any more food.

• Smaller plates

  • Sounds silly but it works, we tend to fill the plates we pick no matter the size

• Slow eating

  • I’m a fast eater so this one’s hard for me, but just slowing down can make a huge difference

  • Oddly enough, one of the other secrets to the success of salads (and arguably soups). Much harder to rip through a salad than a sandwich unless you’re ambidextrous with 2 forks.

• Eat with your left hand

  • Try this one in private before you whip it out at a work lunch

  • It’s just a trick to force you to eat slower

• Do something while eating

  • Another trick to force you to eat slower

  • Watching TV, playing chess, doom scrolling twitter, answering emails, or even just taking a lap between bites - all things that can help you slow down and be more mindful about your meal.

• Intermittent Fasting

  • see above