Everyone knows – to lose weight, you need to restrict your food consumption. But how to do it, if your spouse/boyfriend/parents/children/friends with no excess weight keep overeating the foods, which you should restrict yourself on? Simply put, how to hold back when your better half is munching potato chips while you are watching a movie together, or when your friend is happily eating pizza in a café during a get-together?
For many people trying to lose weight it becomes a big problem. The temptation is great, and you ask yourself a logical question: “Why can they, when I cannot?” Is life unjust? The risk of losing control soars up when we see that delicious crust, feel the fantastic smell and remember the wonderful taste of this dish. Stop. Here are some tips that will help you overcome your material desire to overeat and prevent you from crying on the scales the next day.
Let’s start with the very essence and the general rules.
1. Know why you want to lose weight
Really, why? For someone’s opinion? Do you really want to lose weight? What will you do, if you do not succeed because you have made little effort? Set a clear goal and think of all the options of achievements and failures. Scroll a situation in mind and decide what you prefer to do while someone is eating your favorite poppy seed bun in front of you. Do not be afraid – act. First, mentally. Real actions will follow. Know what you are up to. Are those chips your friend is munching really worth your slimness? They will leave you with heaviness in the abdomen and a feeling of remorse. Do you need it? No? Then stop thinking about the universal injustice. At the sight of chips and other junk food, it is useful to think about your bulky shape and the numbers on the scales. Another day lost is another missed opportunity.
2. Eat slowly
In any situation. Piece by piece. Cut solid food into small pieces, bite off a little bit, enjoying the taste. Let everyone finish the meal before you, they’ll wait.
Excellent piece of advice – after each bite, slowly count to ten, and only then bite again.
So, imagine you are dining with your family/friends at home:
- Do anything else while others are eating. Start washing the dishes, adjusting the tablecloth, sweeping the floor, washing your hands, looking out the window, while everyone else is working with a spoon. Linger a bit, get busy with something.
- Speak. Chat about anything, it’s distracting too. You’re not going to talk with your mouth full!
- Share with others. Serve big portions to your relatives/friends. Before you get yourself another serving, ask if anyone wants more. If someone is interested, feel free to give away your food. Remember, the more they eat, the less remains for you. Generosity has never been a bad quality.
- After the meal, clean up right away. Wash up, put the pies, cakes, muffins and other foods into the fridge. If someone else cleans up, just get away from food as far as you can. Go to another room and turn your attention to something else.
You are dining with close people out of home:
- Order yourself the smallest and cheapest portions. If it is pizza – then kid-size, with a few of your favorite ingredients. One kind of meat or cheese. Avoid foods with lots of ingredients – chicken and salami, four kinds of cheese with ketchup + roasted.
- Communicate.
- Get distracted. Admire the interiors, count the money, appreciate the waitresses/waiters, look in the mirror, or go to the bathroom to wash your hands. There are many options.
- If the menu remains on the table after the waiter has brought the order, put it aside and do not look at it. In general, avoid all food pictures and do not look into other people’s plates.
- You are with your beloved when he is eating (e.g. while watching a movie, on a walk, etc.). Your meal is long over, and you should not let yourself snack with chips.
- Get distracted, yes! Fix your hairstyle, brush your hair, look into the mirror, fix your manicure. If you are outside, admire the scenery, play with a ball, being as far as you can from the person with a bun.
- Interpersonal communication is always at your service; just do not look the other party in the mouth while he or she is eating.
- Drink water. Your friend is eating, you are drinking. Psychologically, it becomes comfortable.
These tips should help you maintain your self-control and prevent you from eating when you are not hungry, only because others are eating.
