Listen to your body. When you're full, stop eating. This feeling lags a bit behind what you eat, so don't eat too quickly. Don't eat things like sweets, chocolate and potato chips when you're hungry, when hungry only eat healthy things. Don't drink too much calorie dense drinks like fruit juice. These drinks won't give you a full feeling even though you've consumed a lot of calories, better eat fresh fruit.
When I eat with my friends they sometimes say how come you eat so much but are so lean. They've been drinking fruit juice or soft drinks with the meal whereas I drank water, they're eating less but consuming the same amount of calories. Later the night they'll feel hungry and start eating snacks. For example tonight I ate carrots, pasta with pork and cheese with a sauce based on creme fraiche. This contains a lot of fat but that's not so bad because it also makes you full (I ate it 6 hours ago and have no appetite for e.g. sweets whatsoever).
When you're hungry, bake an egg in butter with cheese and eat it with a slice of bread. This will be about 300 calories but you'll be full. Or you can eat one Mars and you'll be hungry again in half an hour (also 300 calories). Or you can drink 3 glasses of coke and be hungry in half an hour. Or you can eat 8 oranges and you won't be hungry (also 300). Or eat 25 big tomatoes. Or 100 grams of bread and you'll be hungry in two hours.
The following numbers may be handy:
Fat: 9000 kcal/kg (this holds for body fat as well as fat in foods)
Alcohol: 7000 kcal/kg
Carbohydrates: 4000 kcal/kg
Protein: 4000 kcal/kg
One thing I've found is that the more you eat the more hungry you get. For example on Christmas you usually eat a lot, yet the next morning I'm always very hungry. Do you have this too? Evolutionarily I think your body thinks "hey we got a lot last night, there is a lot of food available now (perhaps they killed a mammoth?), better stock up". This also works the other way around: if you've been eating too much and then go back to normal you'll be hungry, but that probably goes away in a couple of days (unless you're not eating enough).
I think it is futile to try to lose weight or keep weight low trying to be hungry. Your body is much more powerful than your mind and will override your conscious efforts in no time.
This is what works for me. The caveat is that I've never had or tried to lose weight, but I started to eat this way because I think it's healthier. When I did so after a while I discovered I had lost 4 kg (which is a lot for me), and had to consciously eat more to gain some of it back. On the other hand I went on a very active sports / camping vacation with friends and we had to buy food a few days ahead, so we all ate the same kind of things. This was a mix between their and my diets (e.g. no coke/fruit juices just water from the lake). My weight went up slightly because I eat more but they each lost 1-2 kg in two weeks. So I think it works, but if you notice gaining weight when applying this, stop and look for something else.
Awesome, thanks so much for this. I have _really_ bad eating habits, but they've actually gotten better over the last few years. They went from 'abysmal' to 'pretty damn bad,' basically. Three years ago, my girlfriend told me she wasn't really sure how I consumed enough nutrients to live... I was going through roughly two liters of Mountain Dew a day, pizza 5 nights a week... yeah. When you work in a pizza shop...
When I eat with my friends they sometimes say how come you eat so much but are so lean. They've been drinking fruit juice or soft drinks with the meal whereas I drank water, they're eating less but consuming the same amount of calories. Later the night they'll feel hungry and start eating snacks. For example tonight I ate carrots, pasta with pork and cheese with a sauce based on creme fraiche. This contains a lot of fat but that's not so bad because it also makes you full (I ate it 6 hours ago and have no appetite for e.g. sweets whatsoever).
When you're hungry, bake an egg in butter with cheese and eat it with a slice of bread. This will be about 300 calories but you'll be full. Or you can eat one Mars and you'll be hungry again in half an hour (also 300 calories). Or you can drink 3 glasses of coke and be hungry in half an hour. Or you can eat 8 oranges and you won't be hungry (also 300). Or eat 25 big tomatoes. Or 100 grams of bread and you'll be hungry in two hours.
The following numbers may be handy:
One thing I've found is that the more you eat the more hungry you get. For example on Christmas you usually eat a lot, yet the next morning I'm always very hungry. Do you have this too? Evolutionarily I think your body thinks "hey we got a lot last night, there is a lot of food available now (perhaps they killed a mammoth?), better stock up". This also works the other way around: if you've been eating too much and then go back to normal you'll be hungry, but that probably goes away in a couple of days (unless you're not eating enough).I think it is futile to try to lose weight or keep weight low trying to be hungry. Your body is much more powerful than your mind and will override your conscious efforts in no time.
This is what works for me. The caveat is that I've never had or tried to lose weight, but I started to eat this way because I think it's healthier. When I did so after a while I discovered I had lost 4 kg (which is a lot for me), and had to consciously eat more to gain some of it back. On the other hand I went on a very active sports / camping vacation with friends and we had to buy food a few days ahead, so we all ate the same kind of things. This was a mix between their and my diets (e.g. no coke/fruit juices just water from the lake). My weight went up slightly because I eat more but they each lost 1-2 kg in two weeks. So I think it works, but if you notice gaining weight when applying this, stop and look for something else.