Diet Advice

[I8DaCookie]

I've got about 30 lbs I want to loose by October (friend's wedding and I'm a brides maid) and while I concider myself to be a healthy eater, I often cheat and don't eat what I'm supposed to. I'm working on retraining my will power and was hoping to try a more restrictive diet to do that.

Anyone here try Slimfast? Or anyone have something they've tried that works?

BTW, I try (and I'm mostly sucessful) to exercise 40 min a day.

[Liminality]

That's great to hear you've got the willpower to exercise that much - I'd wish I could!
Perhaps you could increase the resistance / speed of which you exercise and keep a food diary. The diary helps you get an overview of what's going in(and when!) and makes it easier to decipher when you've been eating due to boredom, tireness, being social or just having urges, and when you've been eating because you were hungry. :)

I haven't had any personal experience with Slimfast, but my opinion of the meal replacements aren't very high - if you're going to have it, replace a small afternoon meal with it rather than a nutricious dinner.

You could also Google easy / low-fat / low kilojouls recipes. Good luck!

[iradney]

Another thing you can try is baking and grilling instead of frying, cooking in bulk and freezing, so that when you're too lazy to cook (heaven knows I feel like that EVERY night!) you won't be tempted to call for take out, and eat foods that take long to chew. Like carrots. The longer you chew your food, the more time you give your stomach to send a signal to your brain to say "I'm FULL!"
You could also try having a meal replacement shake for supper every night, that worked quite nicely for me.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You would easily lose 30 pounds by October if you did low carb. Probably lose it way sooner than that.

And I don't mean play at it, or do some misguided urban legend version of it. I mean pick a method, study it, and do it correctly and safely. My personal pick of course is Atkins, but I know some people have had success with The Zone, Southbeach, etc. I can't speak for those specifically, but Atkins I can tell you without hesitation works. Provided you do it correctly, which about 90 percent of people who say they have tried it have failed to do, simply through their own laziness and half-assedness and through no fault of the method itself.

[Emrld]

look really closely at the meal replacement nutritional information . . .they have to much sugar for my likes

I agree with the food journal . . .track every little bit of food you are digesting and look at the calories involved. Then try to reduce calorie intake.

You might also try making sure you drink a full glass of water before every meal, another during the meal, and one after the meal. This is not slugging it down drinking either. This is drinking it at a normal calm rate. The water will help create the full feeling sooner in your stomach.

If you find youself getting hungry between meals. . . again drink a glass of water at a normal rate . .wait 15 min if you still feel hungry then get something healthy to eat . . .if not still hungry then problem solved.

Please remember muscle weighs more than fat. I am not sure what exercises you are doing . . .but if you are building muscle it may not be possible to hit a specific number on a scale . . .but it most likely will be possible to buy clothing in the size/ measurments you would prefer to fit into.

[Caveat Emptor]

Slimfast does make you feel full (and I like the milk chocolate myself), but basically you have to decrease the calories taken in - burn more than you ingest. I was able to lose 20 lbs. in 2 months by not buying cookies, candy or the like, because you can't EAT it if it's not AVAILABLE, right, and it is (usually) too much hassle to drive to the store. I was able to lose 15 lbs my first semester in college due to not having access to a stocked fridge or cookies in the cupboard! :D

[FuzzyKitten99]

I've got about 30 lbs I want to loose by October (friend's wedding and I'm a brides maid) and while I concider myself to be a healthy eater, I often cheat and don't eat what I'm supposed to. I'm working on retraining my will power and was hoping to try a more restrictive diet to do that.

Anyone here try Slimfast? Or anyone have something they've tried that works?

BTW, I try (and I'm mostly sucessful) to exercise 40 min a day.
Slimfast is ok, if you can restrict your breakfast and lunch choice to chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry.

I personally have lost 60lbs, post-two-pregnancies. I did it on Weight Watchers. There is something about going in and having someone help me track my weight that helps keep me on track with my eating habits. I can eat ANYTHING I want, it just has to be counted in my daily points. So it kind of forces me to make better choices in order to maximize my points, but it is under my own decisions about what I eat. I still have fast food at least once a week, but I make sure that I eat healthy and very low fat/calorie at least 5 out of 7 days. And I only exercised 1-2 times /week, which was just 20 minute walks around the block with the kids and dog.

I reached a healthy weight last June and I have been able to maintain it decently, within 5lbs, but I still have 15lbs I want to get down to (basically drop a dress size) for my cruise, so I started up again. After I had my 2nd baby, I weighed about 210 lbs. I am now about 145, and my goal is at LEAST to get to 135 by March 16.

What is really great, is that there are no limitations, no nasty meal replacement bars or shakes (i personally don't like slimfast drinks). There is a wonderful selection of WeightWatchers food products that have the points per serving already there, to help plan ahead. Your healthy habits will stick with you, even after you reach your goal weight, because your body has adjusted and you listen to it better. You eat only as much as satisfies you, and you learn to really take time and enjoy a meal, and you find you fill up on less than before because you are not stuffing yourself. Your stomach takes about 20 minutes to register to your body that it is full, so if you hork down your meal, you will likely overeat and regret it later.

[iradney]

Another thing I find worked well for me (when my will power is set to 11) is making a fabulous salad to eat every day. Mine was tuna, sweet corn, cucumber, mange toute, grated carrot, boiled egg (without the yoke), bell peppers, tomatoes, chopped spinach and some sunflower seeds. VERY yum!

[Shangri-laschild]

If you're willing to use the money, even just to get the introduction and find out how it works so you can do it on your own, Weight watchers works wonders. It really really does work. And it's not that hard to do.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Talk about your synchronicity.

Someone else here asked me about a pretty worn out low carb myth. I just found and sent them this:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/lowcarbmyths.htm

You might find it interesting. Good luck with whatever you choose.

[DarthRetard]

DR checking in here, offering some possibly unusual advice and trying to break some myths about dieting as well.

I usually recommend to my customers Hoodia Gordonii. It's a natural appetite suppressant that comes from a cactus found in south africa, actually. It triggers the metabolism to keep it working harder. With that, especially with a large weight loss goal, i recommend one of our more effective fat burners:

Hydroxycut Max
Lipo6x
Akavar 20/50
Slimquick Extreme

Dont be scared to take a fat burner, honestly. Those listed have been proven to work effectively with a correct diet change. Caffeine is a misunderstood supplement to be honest, as it is meant to help boost your energy and keep the actual fat burning ingredients (Green Tea, White Willow extract, etc.) working longer. Even I take one, though for a different purpose (cutting/shredding).

Large meal for breakfast, large for lunch, small for dinner. If you do eat a large meal for dinner, I will recommend eating it two hours before you hit the sack.

For the hoodia, I recommend the chews, going off of what Iradney said, because it's true that when you chew longer, your metabolism kicks in more often, and it's an easy way to naturally get your metabolism moving faster.

Meals? 4-6 small ones a day. That builds speed for the metabolism.

PM me if you have any other questions. (I work at GNC.):)

[FuzzyKitten99]

The only problem with supplements is that if they recommend use for more than 7 days in order to keep working, then it isn't healthy. Unless the FDA has approved it (at least here in the US), I would advise against it.

Think about it... if those pills actually worked, then they would be putting companies like weight watchers (who promote healthy eating habits instead of magic pill popping) to shame with the numbers of people who get results they want.

What Darth said about eating less but more often is true. But you don't need caffeine to boost your energy. Healthy eating and even light-moderate exercise a few times a week will do the same, without the added heart palpitations and other possible side effects from supplements not proven to actually work. See WebMD's articles on this: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/weight-loss-drugs-how-much-do-diet-pills-help

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20031230/fda-to-ban-ephedra

nice article about Weight watchers: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040408/weight-watchers-tend-to-keep-pounds-off

See a real medical doctor for individual, personalized health information. While people who work at GNC may be knowledgeable about the products themselves, they are not doctors and cannot give out actual advice, as they can be (and have been) sued.

[FuzzyKitten99]

Another thing I find worked well for me (when my will power is set to 11) is making a fabulous salad to eat every day. Mine was tuna, sweet corn, cucumber, mange toute, grated carrot, boiled egg (without the yoke), bell peppers, tomatoes, chopped spinach and some sunflower seeds. VERY yum!

ooohhh that sounds SO good!!! I don't have the sunflower seeds, or mange toute (whatever that is), but the rest sounds DE-LISH!

[DarthRetard]

FuzzyKitten, the myth that taking something for more than 7 days is unhealthy is untrue in several regards. Not trying to be a ball-buster here, but it's really aggravating to see stigma like that about certain things. Protein supplements are something I take every day of the month, and have been for 2 years. Same with multivitamins.

Fat burners are something that are meant to help jumpstart a diet, not supplement one. Most people who take Hydroxycut or others just take it for about a month to get that initial jumpstart going, and will only continue it if they need to. It's not a supplement, it's an AID. Get the facts right. The FDA doesnt put their seal of approval on ANY of the statements provided by any products, INCLUDING the ones that GNC puts it's brand name on.

That's why there's money back guarantees, AER (Adverse Event Reports) and other such implements in place, to keep those things in check.

Plus, those fat-burners do NOT work effectively if you're not keeping to a strict diet. You've gotta meet it halfway, they're not miracle drugs, and I didn't claim them to be. Theyre just supplements. I've taken them, and my run time doesnt go down, I sleep fine, no heart problems, anything. I know people over 50 yrs old who take the akavar, and theyre in better shape than I am.

Sorry for the rant, and I don't want to step on any toes, but the misconception that taking caffeine is always bad and could kill you/make you sick is an ignorant (not stupid, just uneducated, before you flame me) and unfounded theory. Now, if you have heart problems, etc, then hell yes it's bad. Otherwise, there's not a thing wrong with it.

[I8DaCookie]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm really looking at Slimfast as a temporary thing just to get me started on controling what I buy and working on my will power.Probably won't go longer than a month just to get me going. Most times I just don't want to think about what I have to make later.

I really don't know what I really weigh and honestly, saying 30lbs was more of a guess. I don't track my weight since I have a lot of muscle, I keep track of inches and I'm really looking to loose about 8 inches around my waist.

I may look into Weight Watchers.

[FuzzyKitten99]

FuzzyKitten, the myth that taking something for more than 7 days is unhealthy is untrue in several regards. Not trying to be a ball-buster here, but it's really aggravating to see stigma like that about certain things. Protein supplements are something I take every day of the month, and have been for 2 years. Same with multivitamins.

Fat burners are something that are meant to help jumpstart a diet, not supplement one. Most people who take Hydroxycut or others just take it for about a month to get that initial jumpstart going, and will only continue it if they need to. It's not a supplement, it's an AID. Get the facts right. The FDA doesnt put their seal of approval on ANY of the statements provided by any products, INCLUDING the ones that GNC puts it's brand name on.

That's why there's money back guarantees, AER (Adverse Event Reports) and other such implements in place, to keep those things in check.

Plus, those fat-burners do NOT work effectively if you're not keeping to a strict diet. You've gotta meet it halfway, they're not miracle drugs, and I didn't claim them to be. Theyre just supplements. I've taken them, and my run time doesnt go down, I sleep fine, no heart problems, anything. I know people over 50 yrs old who take the akavar, and theyre in better shape than I am.

Sorry for the rant, and I don't want to step on any toes, but the misconception that taking caffeine is always bad and could kill you/make you sick is an ignorant (not stupid, just uneducated, before you flame me) and unfounded theory. Now, if you have heart problems, etc, then hell yes it's bad. Otherwise, there's not a thing wrong with it.

My biggest problem with this is you are not a licensed medical professional. You should not be giving out medical advice. Again, the first thing one should do before starting ANY diet plan, is see a medical doctor and get their opinion. No doctor I know would recommend ANY of the products you mention. Even the Mayo Clinic shows little support for them: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/HQ01160

No quick fix
There's no magic bullet for losing weight. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is through indefinite lifestyle changes: Eat healthier, low-calorie foods, watch portion sizes, and engage in regular physical activity. It's certainly no magic pill, but it works.

Keep in mind that even if you take a weight-loss pill, you still have to eat fewer calories than your body uses in order to lose weight. Even if these products were to help you lose weight initially, you'd have to continue taking them for the weight to stay off, which is neither practical nor safe.

If you are concerned about your weight or have a condition that's exacerbated by extra pounds, talk to your doctor. Whether you have 10 pounds or 100 pounds to lose, you need to eat a healthy diet based on a variety of foods and burn calories through physical activity. Time has shown that there truly are no easy solutions to losing weight. And over-the-counter weight-loss pills could cause more harm than good.

[DarthRetard]

And like I said in the fitness thread, FuzzyKitten, we at GNC ask the customer if they have heart conditions, etc, anything that would interfere or harm them if taking the weight loss supplements. Sure, I'm not a licensed medical professional, but I do sell these products, and have several medical professionals I know that have told me and their patients to try some of the fat burners we do have. I'm not claiming to be a doctor, but I do know that some of these work. Do not berate me for doing what I do in the store, online. I've tried these, and I'm only going off of customer feedback, as well. Of course we recommend consulting a doctor, but it doesnt mean that if we have tried them or know how to use them that we can't add our own little pieces of advice.

Let me add, that just because doctors DONT recommend them, doesnt mean you CANT use them. How many times have you taken prescription supplements or antibiotics that give you wrose side effects than the symptoms you were experiencing? Doctors can't recommend that stuff, cause it's not a cure for anything.

[Seshat]

I really don't know what I really weigh and honestly, saying 30lbs was more of a guess. I don't track my weight since I have a lot of muscle, I keep track of inches and I'm really looking to loose about 8 inches around my waist.

Work on maintaining a healthy posture, then. Get thee to a physiotherapist or some other trained specialist in postural health, and make sure you sit, stand, and move in a healthy way. (A podiatrist also studies gait and stance, as those things strongly affect foot health.) A slumped posture compresses your organs, and they have to find someplace to be - thus, typically, a slumped posture waist is larger around.

As part of developing a healthy posture (if you don't already have it), strengthen your 'corset' muscles. You can do this through situps and crunches and the like, but I find it a lot more fun to do it with belly dance, or learning to kneel (and eventually stand, I hope!) on one of those exercise ball thingies. Hula hoops also improve those muscles. Anything which requires moving your hips and ribcage relative to each other, using the muscles between the hips and the ribcage (NOT other muscles), strengthens your 'corset'. Talk to the physio/whatever about strengthening your spinal muscles as well.

People are about to jump all over this and say 'you can't spot-reduce fat'. That's not my goal here. My goal is to ensure that underneath the fat, there are nice strong muscles helping keep the organs properly in place, thus reducing waist-inches. (It's healthier for the organs, too - nice side-benefit. Or main benefit, depending on your point of view.)

All this belly dance, ball-kneeling, hula-hooping or sit-upping is going to burn some energy, which, if you keep intake < output, will come from fat. Fat all over your body, but still fat.

Other than the corset muscles, you'll want to use other muscles to burn energy as well. Any exercise will do. Walking the dog or throwing frisbees will do, so long as you burn more energy than you eat.

So now for the diet side.

If you can afford it (or are in a health-for-all country), get a doctor to check you for metabolic problems. If you have one, get a referral to a nutritionist who's familiar with the problem you have, and follow her advice. Any suggestions about low-carb diets, slimming shakes or whatnot may not apply to someone with the particular metabolic problem you may have.

If you don't have any metabolic problems, eat a wide range of good, healthy foods and ensure you eat fewer calories than you expend. Pick any diet you like which does that: but don't stay long on any diet that cuts out an entire food group without replacing the nutrition you'd gain from that food group with something else.

(EG: I can't have seafood, I'm allergic to it. So instead of oily fish, I get my essential fatty acids from olive oil and evening primrose oil, and I get proteins from legumes, grains, and land-meats.)

The things to watch for are the foods high in energy density. Fats and oils, and the rapidly-digested high-density carbohydrates. Sugar in its many forms is the highest-density carbohydrate in common use, but plain white flour is also high density and has little nutritional benefit other than energy.

You need a certain amount of fat/oil, for essential fatty acids. Your brain, in particular, needs them and your body can't store them. But a teaspoon a day of olive oil provides plenty (IIRC, I Am Not A Nutritionist, I just have a lot of nutrition problems). So long as you get that, keep fats and oils to a minimum.

Sugars and plain white flour and glucose et al provide almost no nutritional value other than energy, so you can cut them out almost entirely. It's impossible to eat fruits, which do have nutritional value, without getting fructose ('fruit sugar'), so you can't cut sugar out completely.

Watch out for 'No added sugar', 'Low Sugar', or 'Low Fat' advertising symbols. If they say 'no added sugar' but one of the main ingredients is naturally high in sugar, you might still be getting a huge sugar hit.
Low sugar and low fat foods often have a lot of the other: low sugar stuff often has a lot of fat, low fat stuff often has a lot of sugar. Fun, huh?

Unfortunately for us, our bodies LOVE sugars and fats. This is because, prior to the development of agriculture, we had to spend a lot of energy to get food. Hunting and gathering require a lot more muscle movement than filing papers or keying a cash register. So high energy density foods are very, very desirable to hunter/gatherers, and our bodies evolved to make us want them. That's why dieting is so hard.

Just keep telling your appetite that yes, you know what you're doing. And make sure you do. Read up, study up, get professional advice, and go for it.

End note:
I do recommend that you learn what the glycaemic (or glycemic) index is, it's basically all about the rate at which your digestive system takes energy from foods and puts it into the bloodstream. The researchers are still working on how much that rate affects fat deposit, but it seems that slowly-digested foods tend to deposit less fat than rapidly-digested food.
With rapidly-digested food, the blood is carrying more energy than the body is using, so the fat-depositing parts of our bodies try to bank that extra energy. Slowly digested food tends to release energy into the bloodstream at a rate more similar to the rate we're using it, so less fat is deposited.
This is part of how the low-carb diets work. Fats are digested more slowly than most carbs, so if the bulk of your energy intake comes from fats, a smaller proportion of it gets deposited. However, other than sugars and plain white flour, carbohydrate-bearing foods contain nutrition you do need. If you go for a low carb diet, learn how it's really supposed to work and ensure it does supply that necessary nutrition somehow.

[ImadeYouACookie]

I know I probably can't add much to this debate, but I would like to mention my experience:

In Denmark we have, besides WW, something called The Danish Weight Consultants. They work in a slightly different way than WW, but they also promote healthy eating habits.

DWC is actually about eating yourself slim.. You need a varied diet, so according to their plan, you need to have an amount of fat, eggs, milk, fish, meat, fruit, water and vegetables. You need to eat over a pound of vegetables a day! You just eat and eat and eat and eat LOL. But what you eat is healthy, and you don't leave anything out, so you get all the nutrition and stuff that your body needs. And when you eat so much, your metabolism starts working.

By doing nothing but eating (exaggerating) I lost 25 pounds in 4 months, and I didn't have that much to lose. If you are overweight and follow their plan, you will lose around 2 pounds a week, give or take a little. If you're exercising, then you won't be meassured on weight but on inches, just like you're doing now.

I'm not saying you should do this, or that this is the right solution for you, I'm just saying that you can have a diet, where you don't miss out on anything (except sugar and alcohol, but that's your choice - party for a weekend, and then not lose the 2 pounds that week..)

What I AM trying to say is that whatever you chose, don't go hungry, because that is when it's going to get sour. Eat till you're full, just not do it on empty calories.

A good idea is to make a log/diary/excel of your meassurements, in that way you can monitor your progress, and it really motivates you to keep on going when you can see the results of your work week for week.

Oh, and don't shop when you're hunrgy.. that's when we buy all those nasty snacks and sweets.. I know I do ;-)

Good luck with the diet :-)

[Liminality]

My best friend was on that for a while, and she had a hard time eating all the meals because she was constantly full! She's a pretty large girl so that's saying a lot.
It did work for her as she lost weight, but unfortunately it's gone back up since she went off it.

I have absolutely nothing positive to say about the Atkins diet, but that's an entirely different topic and my opinions won't help the OP anyway.

That salad recipe posted did however sound awesome. One of my favourite salads has tuna (either in oil, smoked or water, whatever you prefer), mixed beans (with no added salt), baby corn, cucumber, tomato, sugar snap peas and onions. :D It's so good.

Watch out for 'No added sugar', 'Low Sugar', or 'Low Fat' advertising symbols. If they say 'no added sugar' but one of the main ingredients is naturally high in sugar, you might still be getting a huge sugar hit.
Low sugar and low fat foods often have a lot of the other: low sugar stuff often has a lot of fat, low fat stuff often has a lot of sugar. Fun, huh?
This is true. Also make sure to look on the nutricional information of anything that says "99% fat free", 'cause in many cases it's got higher kilojoules and more sugar / salt to amplify the taste than the "real" version of the food. It's all about portion control; something being "light" or "fat free" doesn't mean you can eat as much of it as you want because if you do, you'll end up eating the same amount of kJ or even more as you would with a regular product.

[blas87]

I use Acceleris diet pills. It only comes with a 20 day supply, but it's not overly expensive.

Unlike 99% of diet pills, you only take Acceleris once a day. Two tablets before bed. No taking one before one meal, one before another......and you can sleep normally. They don't make your heart beat outrageously fast, they don't make you feel wired, and you don't sweat while not in motion. I'm amazed at how good I feel using these. My heart isn't pounding 24/7 and I can take them before bed and still sleep like a baby.

I exercise 30 minutes a day, drink water with every meal, and only allow ONE soda pop per day.

I have kind of let myself go in recent times, I'm up to 140 lbs, which is flirting with a few pounds too many for my height. I just want to lose 10-15 pounds, to go back to what I used to weigh before I met my bf. My clothes still fit, but my pants are starting to feel really tight and I'm almost starting a muffin top. I realize I'm far from in trouble, but I need to focus on ditching bad habbits and kick starting my metabolism. It's so secret that in my family, metabolism speed dies off very quickly into adulthood.

Water water water!

Focus on toning exercises versus muscle building exercises. Muscle is heavier than fat, and you won't notice a difference on the scale if you lift weights or try to make yourself bigger in that aspect.

[iradney]

Swimming is also an awesome way of exercising and losing weight. You're building muscle, but not stressing your joints. If you're not very fit, then you can do one length of swimming, one length of trying to run through the water. Eventually you'll be able to build up to 4 lengths of swimming, one length of water running. Also look into water aerobics - they're ALOT harder than they look :)

[Liminality]

I've always wanted to try water aerobic but my boyfriend teases me by saying I'll be surrounded by old people. :(

Focus on toning exercises versus muscle building exercises. Muscle is heavier than fat, and you won't notice a difference on the scale if you lift weights or try to make yourself bigger in that aspect.

http://www.tinajuanfitness.info/articles/art090500.html

[The Gatekeeper]

Hmm lots of suggestions here. Some dangerous, some not so much.

I did see two endorsements for Weight Watchers. You can add my name to the list. I lost 60lbs with them (still have a little more to go, but that is another story).

You can do it right, and not add supplements or chemicals to your body, just eating from all the major food groups, some sensible snacking and portion control, or you can fall for what ever fad seems to tickle your fancy at the time.

It's not really about self control, it's about making sure your body has the right fuel to run effectively.

The amount of money you would spend on supplements would actually cost more than your weekly fee at WW.

[Shangri-laschild]

Another thing to keep in mind. If food cravings is a problem, the thing I've heard is if you can distract yourself for about 10 minutes from it, then it'll go away and get better. I had to learn that the hard way at the gas station when someone would buy something and it would look so good. Work on paying attention to if it's hunger or a craving. That will help a lot.

[Seshat]

And what's wrong with being surrounded by old people? Do what's healthy for your body, no matter who else is in the class.

As for food cravings: waiting ten minutes is good advice. Although, if you still have a craving after ten minutes, you probably need some nutritional element of whatever you're craving.

If you want chips, for instance, you might need salt. A handful of salty nuts may well satisfy the craving, yet has a higher nutrition/calorie ratio than most chips. (A vegemite sandwich also satisfies salt cravings, but most folks here will go 'ewww, vegemite'. :D )

Craving ice cream might mean you'd be satisfied with a glass of milk. Craving strawberry shortcake might mean you need fruit. You'll need to experiment with your own body, and figure out what signals it's really trying to send.

Another trick is this: serve yourself a smaller meal than you're accustomed to. Leave the table slightly hungry. If you're still hungry in half an hour, eat something more. I've discovered that most of the time, I'm not. By doing this, my portion sizes have been steadily reducing.

[Liminality]

There's nothing wrong with being surrounded by old people, my boyfriend just likes being a bully. :P

I fully agree with what you said about portion sizes. Many of us have been raised with the "clean your plate before you leave the table" attitude, but these days it's more a matter of either having a smaller serving and waiting 20 mins afterwards to see if you're still hungry or be in touch with your body, have a decently sized portion but stop eating when you feel full.

Having gum at hand helps warding off cravings as well. If it's late at night, brushing your teeth also helps because it keeps you occupied for a while and having minty breath usually makes sweet food less tasty.