How to Eat Less: 10 Effective Tricks to Eat Less Food and Feel Satisfied
I want to start out this article by asking you a question:
Where can you go in today’s society where there’s NOT access to food?
When I think about living my own life, there’s food at the gas station, there’s a candy bowl at the bank and doctor’s office. Heck, even my local library has a Starbucks and cafe inside! It’s hard to even think of one place that I regularly visit that doesn’t have food readily available.
On top of food being readily available everywhere we go, a mix of biological, psychological, and environmental factors influence how much (and how often) we eat. This article is meant to provide practical, science-backed tips for eating less without feeling deprived.
Why Do We Overeat? Understanding the Root Causes
As I previously mentioned, there are many different reasons that we tend to overeat. Let’s break the most common reasons down by category!
Biological Reasons
In order to understand hunger and fullness levels, it’s important to discuss two hormones that regulate our appetites: ghrelin and leptin.
Ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone,” and increases appetite which causes you to feel hunger. Your body tends to release more ghrelin when you’re tired or stressed, which in turn causes you to feel more hungry.
Leptin is known as the “satiety hormone,” and signals when you’ve had enough to eat and feel full. Being overweight or obese can cause your body to become resistant to leptin, which means you struggle to feel full, even after eating a large amount of food.
Other hormones, such as insulin and cortisol (the stress hormone,) can also affect your appetite and cause cravings, especially for carb-heavy, high-calorie foods.
On top of hormones causing us to eat more, processed foods that taste delicious release a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is known as the “feel good” neurotransmitter. These highly palatable (and unhealthy) foods are created to make you want to eat more because they do taste delicious, making it harder to enjoy them in moderation.
Psychological Factors
On top of biology, there are countless psychological factors that cause us to overeat. Emotional or mindless eating is one of the biggest reasons that people tend to overeat. While the stereotypical “emotional eating example” involves eating an entire carton of ice cream after a romantic break-up, emotional eating tends to take many shapes and forms:
🍷 Enjoying a glass of wine because you “deserve it” after a hard day at work? Yep, that’s emotional eating!
🥨 Grabbing a snack even when you’re not hungry because you’re avoiding doing something you need to do? You guessed it - emotional eating!
🍿 Eating two bowls of popcorn (when you’re not hungry) because you’re bored while watching Netflix? You got it - mindless eating!
Another psychological factor that influences how much you eat is past experience. Did you grow up being a member of the “clean plate club?” In other words, did you grow up with parents or caregivers who requested that you eat ALL of the food on your plate? If so, you could be overeating simply due to habits that were reinforced during your childhood.
Learn more about the biological and emotional influences behind our food choices.
Environmental Triggers
As we discussed at the beginning of the article, food is available almost everywhere we go. I’ll be honest – it’s hard to NOT overeat at times, simply due to the abundance of food everywhere! Plus, portion sizes at restaurants are larger than we probably need, which makes it easy to overeat.
Ultimately, the places that we spend most of our time make it easier to overeat, simply due to the fact that food is almost always available!
10 Proven Tricks to Eat Less Without Feeling Hungry
Given how easy it is to overeat, it may feel impossible to stop overeating without feeling deprived or hungry all the time. I have great news – In this article, I’ll be sharing my best tips to help you eat less without feeling hungry (or deprived) all the time. Let’s get started!
🍽️ Use Smaller Plates and Bowls
Research suggests that eating off of smaller plates and bowls helps to control portion sizes. Plus, it can be an optical illusion for some of us – Eating from a smaller plate that is covered with food (compared to using a large plate with a small portion of food) gives the appearance that you’re eating more than you really are! In other words, food looks more satisfying and filling when it’s served on a smaller plate or in a smaller bowl.
⏰ Eat Slowly and Mindfully
Did you know that it takes 20-30 minutes for our brains to register how full we feel as we eat? Oftentimes, we tend to overeat if we eat quickly because our brains haven’t had a chance to “catch up” with how our stomachs are feeling. Focus on eating slowly, taking 20-30 minutes to finish a meal, and only try to eat when you feel true hunger (as opposed to eating when you’re emotional, bored or stressed.)
Looking for a few easy ways to help you slow down while eating? Here are some of my favorite strategies:
Try setting your fork or spoon down between each bite of food
Experiment with how many times you can chew your food before swallowing it
Try to finish a glass of water during your meal. After taking one or two bites of food, pause and drink a sip of water before you take your next bite.
💦 Drink Water Before and During Meals
Drinking a glass of water before and during meals helps you eat less because you feel more full (without consuming any extra calories!) To avoid a stomach ache, try taking a few sips of water at a time before eating, instead of chugging an entire glass of water right before you eat.
Additionally, current research suggests that roughly 37% of adults mistake thirst for hunger, because hunger signals can be weak. As a general guideline, I recommend drinking 0.5 to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight.
🍗 Prioritize Protein and Fiber
Eating protein-rich and fiber-rich foods helps to keep you feeling full and satisfied, making it easier to eat less while still feeling satisfied. Plus, prioritizing foods that contain protein and fiber helps to reduce cravings. If you find yourself struggling with cravings, ensure you are eating enough protein in your diet. In general, I recommend consuming 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kg of body weight. Explore easy ways to boost your protein intake to stay full longer.
🍿 Avoid Eating Directly from Packages
Let’s be real – it’s easy for ALL of us (myself included) to overeat when you’re grabbing handfuls of delicious snacks directly from the package. Instead of mindlessly grabbing a handful of your favorite snacks (that are easy to overeat,) practice portioning ALL meals and snacks onto a plate, bowl, or napkin. Once you’ve portioned out your serving, seal the package up and put it away!
When you pre-portion snacks instead of eating directly from the package, you can control exactly how much you enjoy. This tip is especially important if you want to learn to trust yourself around tempting, indulgent foods!
😰 Control Emotional Eating
Start to notice – do you tend to overeat when you’re truly physically hungry, or does it happen when you’re emotional, stressed, or bored? Begin to pay attention to patterns - are there certain triggers that lead to overeating more than others?
If you notice that emotional eating tends to cause you to overeat, explore new ways to cope with unpleasant emotions, stress, or boredom. Some of my favorites include deep breathing, journaling, playing a game on my phone, or listening to my favorite song.
🍪 Keep Less-Nutritious Foods Out of Sight
It’s easy to overeat less nutritious, delicious foods if they are constantly staring you in the face. Consider giving your kitchen a makeover by moving the tempting, less-nutritious foods out of sight. Put them on the highest shelves possible, or in the back of the freezer or pantry. Be sure to keep highly-nutritious foods (like sources of protein and fruits/veggies) on the shelves that are easily accessible.
📆 Plan Meals and Avoid Skipping Them
If you’re looking to overcome overeating, try planning your meals ahead of time. Being honest right now, NO ONE has ever successfully overcome overeating (or lost weight) by “winging it” all the time. This doesn’t mean you need to have a specific meal plan for every meal all the time, but it does mean having a general idea of most of your meals throughout the week. Focus on having some lean protein options and fruits/veggies on hand to make planning easier!
In addition, skipping meals may sound like a great way to prevent overeating, but it often leads to excessive hunger. This tends to backfire because the excessive hunger leads to overeating at your next meal. Although it may sound tempting, eating regularly scheduled meals can prevent overeating. Here are creative and easy ways to add more vegetables to your meals.
📺 Eat Without Distractions
I’ll be honest, I love watching a good show on Netflix or scrolling Instagram while eating. However, when we are distracted while eating, we aren’t able to focus on how hungry and full we really are, which often leads to overeating.
Save the shows and social media for after you finish eating, and you’ll learn how much easier it is to eat less (while still feeling satisfied!)
🛏️ Get Enough Sleep
When we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies can’t regulate the hunger and fullness hormones that we discussed earlier (ghrelin and leptin.) Plus, when we are sleep-deprived, we often crave high-sugar, high-calorie foods as we are looking for a quick energy boost. Once we eat the high-sugar or high-carb foods, that boost of energy we feel is short-lived and followed by an energy crash.
When possible, prioritize getting enough sleep! On days where that’s not possible (it happens to me, too,) prioritize healthy foods that will keep your energy and blood sugar stable throughout the day.
One last reminder before moving on – these 10 strategies aren’t an “all-inclusive” list! There are plenty of other ways that you can practice eating less while still feeling satisfied. 😊
Long-Term Tips for Eating Less
One of the pillars of my online weight loss coaching program is sustainability. At Strong with Sarah, it’s important that we teach all of our clients how to lose weight AND keep it off, long-term! The same goes for eating less and preventing over-eating. There are thousands of “quick fixes” out there that work for the short term, but how do you incorporate these changes for the rest of your life? Let’s dive in and learn more!
🌀 Focus on Habits, Not Hacks
In today’s world of social media, it’s easy to fall prey to hacks and “quick fixes” that sound enticing, such as “Lose 20 pounds in 30 days!” As tempting as these methods may sound, remember that practicing small changes over time will impact how much you eat more than any other “quick fix” will. Building new eating habits? Start here.
❤️ Practice Self-Compassion
Remember that the goal of your health and nutrition journey is not to be perfect. Heck, I’m never perfect with my own eating habits, and I still tend to overeat at times (like Thanksgiving!) Practice self-compassion with yourself, and try to ditch the “all or nothing” way of thinking. If you do happen to overeat, get curious with yourself to build awareness so that you can learn from your stumble. Ask yourself these questions:
“What was going on when I over-ate?
Was I truly hungry or feeling emotional?
What was I thinking?
Who was I with?
Did my environment play a role? How so?
📝 Monitor Your Progress
As you practice some of the strategies I discussed, I recommend monitoring your progress. You can use a habit-tracking app, or you can use paper and pencil. The practice of monitoring your progress can help to build awareness around what’s working and what isn’t working for you.
👂🏻 Listen To Your Body
Start to pay attention and learn if you’re eating because you are hungry and your body needs food, or if it’s because you are feeling emotional, stressed, or bored. Ask yourself the following questions?
Is my stomach growling or do I have other physical signs of hunger, such as irritability?
Could I wait another 30 minutes to eat?
Am I hungry enough to eat broccoli, an apple, or another healthy food that I enjoy? (Hint: If you’re only hungry enough for sweets or salty foods, chances are that you’re experiencing emotional hunger versus true physical hunger)
Tying Everything Together
Overeating is one of the most common challenges that many of us face. There tend to be 3 factors that cause overeating:
Biological factors – The hormones ghrelin and leptin and the neurotransmitter dopamine all play a role in how much food we eat.
Psychological factors – Feeling upset, bored, emotional, or stressed can affect how much food we eat.
Environmental factors – It’s easy to overeat due to the abundance of highly processed, less healthy foods that are readily available at most places.
One key takeaway that I want to leave you with – Remember that eating less doesn’t mean that you have to feel deprived. All foods (and yes, that includes chocolate, wine, and pizza) can fit into a healthy eating plan that leads to weight loss, as long as you choose the right portions and only eat those foods occasionally.
If you’re looking for personalized support to help you learn how to eat less while still enjoying your favorite foods and drinks, click here to apply to become a Strong with Sarah client!
