Whether you are recovering from gastric bypass surgery or just want to learn to eat less, it can seem like an impossible task. Use these ideas to train yourself to eat less and reach your goals.
How Can I Train Myself to Eat Less?
After your surgery you stomach is significantly smaller, but you may still have trouble eating smaller portions. You can make yourself physically ill by over eating, but sometimes, those old habits are heard to break. When you are teaching yourself to eat less, use these easy tricks to retrain yourself how to eat.
Be Mindful
When you sit down to eat, you want to be mindful. That means, do not watch tv while you are eating. You should not play on your phone. Even carrying on conversations can distract you from being mindful of eating.
When you are distracted while you are eating, people tend to eat more. Mindless eating can cause you to eat more than you should because you are not paying attention and you are not listening to your body's cues.
Plan Your Meals in Advance.
When you are prepared with your meals you are less likely to reach for something you shouldn't eat. Also, when the meals are planned, you know exactly how much you are making. You can make the exact amount with nothing over what you need.
Preparing the meals in advance can also help. When the food is prepared, you can portion it into the size you need to eat. This can help you from not taking more because you are hungry at that moment.
Organise Your Pantry
Make sure the foods you should be eating are the easiest to get to. If you are hungry and are reaching for food in the pantry, you might take something that you shouldn't eat out because it is the easiest. If you have to move the healthier options out of your way or go to a separate space for the less than optimal choices, you are less likely to choose the unhealthy foods.
Another great option when organizing the pantry is to take the larger foods and package them down to portion sizes. This lets you grab the food you want without having to portion at the time when you are most likely to over eat.
Eat More Protein
Protein will keep your body fueled and it will also help you stay full longer. You should have protein in every meal and snack because it will help you meet your protein goals for the day as well as keep you from being hungry again before the next meal.
Use Smaller Plates… And Bowls… And Spoons. Portion control!
When you are trying to train yourself to eat less one of the best tricks is to use a smaller plate. When you put the correct portion size on a plate, it looks like a lot of food. This tricks your brain into thinking you have more and you can feel satisfied on less.
The same goes with smaller bowls. The smaller the space the more food it looks like. Even a smaller spoon or fork can trick your brain. You eat slower with a smaller spoon so that meal it takes longer, creating the feeling of eating more.
20-20-20 Rule
The 20-20-20 rule is a way of eating that helps you to eat less. It is 20 mouthfuls of food, that is chewed 20 times each, during a 20 minute meal. When you are following this rule, you will want to aim for 20 bites of food. You want to take small bites and try to have the meal average of 20 bites. Next, each bite should be chewed 20 times.
The food should be chewed so that it has the consistency of apple sauce. The meal should last 20 minutes. Once you have reached 20 minutes, you should walk away.
In about 10 minutes, you will be able to decide if you are still hungry or not. If you find that you are still hungry, try a few more bites of food, about 3 or 4, and then check to see if you are still hungry.
It can seem hard to train your brain to eat less, but with these simple tricks, you will be able to learn to eat less.
Have You Read The Ultimate Guide To Gastric Bypass Surgery?
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