How to stop overeating

But you don’t have to count your calories and feel guilty after every meal! There are many tricks you can do to make it easier to manage your portion control and learn when enough is enough.

Practising the following tricks may even leave you eating less without feeling deprived, sad or exhausted from being too hard on yourself after having a naughty nibble.

Stop staring at your phone

Eating when you are distracted can often lead to overeating.

Studies have found that watching telly or scrolling through Pinterest not only causes you to eat more during dinner, but also leaves you wanting a snack later on! Focus on your food, take your time to enjoy yourself and you will be more likely to feel satisfied and fuller for longer.

Drink water

Simply put, drinking a glass of water takes up the space in your stomach that would otherwise be filled with food. One UK study even found that people who drink two cups of water half an hour before eating lose more weight than people who don’t drink anything!

Serve yourself before sitting

While on TV, family dinners look great when all the food is displayed beautifully across the table – in reality, you will eat more if it is all in front of you and nobody needs that test of willpower.

Fill your plate in the kitchen, then go and sit down. The chances are, you won’t go for a second helping because you will be full and satisfied.

Use smaller plates

Speaking of portions, put your food on smaller sized plates and bowls and you will naturally eat less. Regardless of what you think of portions, if you are hungry and have a large plate to hand, you will fill it.

Don’t forget utensils!

Similarly, larger utensils also lead you to mindless eating. The bigger the serving utensils, the bigger the serving you will be scooping into your mouth. If you use regular forks and spoons for serving rather than ladles and tongs, it is thought you will eat up to 15 per cent less.