I’ve done it. In fact I did it on the weekend. I bet you’ve done it. I saw some guy do it last week. My mom does it (a lot). I think people all over the world are doing it. They might not do it every day – but they still do it. It’s easy to do. It can be fun.

People do it when they’re sad. Or mad. Or sometimes frustrated. They do it a lot when they’re bored. Some people do it to celebrate and when in big groups. Some do it by themselves. Some do it with friends around – it’s easier to forget about what they’re doing that way. Some people like to drink and do it. Others like to go for coffee then do it. Some think that exercising after will help them forget they’ve done it. Some try really, really hard not to do it but end up doing it anyway.

What am I talking about???

Overeating!

And I’m not talking about the binge kind of overeating where you sit down with a bag of chips, move onto the tub of Ben & Jerry’s, then finish it up with a few chocolate bars. I’m talking about the kind of overeating many people engage in without even realizing it. This kind of overeating is insidious because it’s hard to realize the impact it has on your body – specifically your fat cells. The kind of overeating I’m referring to is the overeating by the forkful, spoonful & handful.

Why is that important? Because at any given time approximately:

  1. 1-in-3 women and 1-in-5 men are dieting.
  2. By the time a woman is 45 she’ll have tried 61 different diets in the battle to stay slim.
  3. 45 million Americans are dieting each year.
  4. And between 1 – 2 billion dollars per year is spent on weight loss programs; it’s a huge industry.

Clearly something is contributing to this. Hmm…perhaps it’s the combination of eating too much, moving too little, having dessert and then repeating that pattern most days of the week.

Many people think that weight loss is hard or complicated (or both). And in many ways it is. Never before in the history of time have we had such immediate and easy access to food. Coupled with that is our increasingly sedentary type of lifestyle, which is often combined with work pressures, busy family commitments, and the all-round general “business” of life. None of this bodes well for our health or body weight goals.

Most weight loss programs out there suggest that you have to:

  • Severely restrict your calories.
  • Deny yourself food groups (dairy, wheat, fat).
  • Eat only prepackaged “diet” food.
  • Get injections or ingest drops.
  • Dance naked under the moonlight while sprinkling pixie dust and praying to the weight loss gods that be to grant you your ‘ideal body’… okay…I made that one up but honestly most diets out there are just that nutty!!

I LIKE TO MAKE WEIGHT LOSS EASY

I don’t agree with any of the above. My take on this is we simply need to become more mindful of how much food we’re eating each day. And eat less. I don’t mean restrict or severely limit. I mean simply start paying attention and thinking about how much you consume.

Here are 10 practical tips for simply eating a little bit less:

  1. While you’re slicing that avocado to put in your salad don’t eat the other half, (same goes for anything else you’re cooking).
  2. If you feel like grabbing some almonds for a snack take 15, not one cup.
  3. While packing your kids’ snack, skip shoving 4 prunes back in two seconds flat.
  4. Also, stop eating your kids’ leftovers. First…yuck. Second, you deserve to have quality food. Not slobbered on, half-chewed bits.
  5. Only have 1 latte a day, not two, or three. Better yet, switch to coffee or tea.
  6. Ditto for the wine – have one glass, not the whole bottle.
  7. Don’t make pasta your main course – it’s meant to be a side dish.
  8. Write down everything you eat – whoa – this can be a shocking.
  9. Don’t eat while watching TV or doing anything involving screen time (work, creeping on FB, etc.).
  10. Never, ever supersize anything – unless you’re a 10’6” giant – then go ahead.

True sustainable weight loss starts with making little changes to your habit and lifestyle. Cutting out a couple hundred calories a day by decreasing a few forkfuls, spoonfuls and/or handfuls is an easy way to start down the weight loss path.

Have any more suggestions? Or better yet, any questions? I’d love to hear them. Drop into the comment box below and let’s add to this list!

Click below to get my *free* ebook and learn five things you can start doing today to outsmart your fat cells and start losing weight.