- Eating too fast.
- Always cleaning your plate.
- Eating when not hungry.
- Eating while standing up (may lead to eating mindlessly or too quickly).
- Always eating dessert.
- Skipping meals (or maybe just breakfast).
But don’t just focus on the negative. Give yourself points for your good eating habits.
Also, list those things you do that are linked to overeating. These can include:
- Grabbing your favorite snack food.
- Watching TV.
- Eating before or after stress at work.
- Not planning a healthy meal.
- Eating sweets at work or during the day.
- Hitting a fast-food drive-through on the way to work.
- Using food to fight boredom or lift your mood.
Knowing your triggers you can make a special effort to avoid them, or replace them with healthier options. For example, you can bring healthy snacks to work and train yourself to avoid stopping at fast-food drive-throughs.
Going back to your list, you can start by replacing unhealthy eating with healthy choices and healthy habits.
Only eat when you are hungry and don’t gobble your food, rather, eat slowly. If you eat when bored, try taking up another activity that doesn’t involve food.
RELATED: Why Can’t I Lose Weight?
A healthy diet
A healthy diet consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy products, the CDC says. Also add a variety of proteins, such as seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, nuts and seeds.
A healthy diet should be low in sugar, salt, saturated and trans fats and cholesterol.
You can swap water, seltzer, or unsweetened fruit juices or diet drinks, for sugary drinks and sodas.
But it’s not only what you eat, but how much you eat. Weight gain and weight loss is a matter of how many calories you eat versus