One more dieting tip: Poison your food
I re-stumbled across this one in Vegas this weekend with neurogirl, deeptape and greencorinna.
An important technique to manage your calorie intake is portion control. You can exhibit portion control and multiple places in the chain of events leading up to when you actually eat. For example, you can try to buy less at the grocery store, cook less food at once, put less on your plate, etc. "Out of sight, out of mind" is the idea.
Portion control can sometimes be difficult at restaurants, because you generally can't control (and often don't even know) what portion size you're getting, and also because after you want to stop eating, the food is sitting there in front of you for a while, taunting you. "Out of sight, out of mind" isn't so easy to implement here.
So here's the tip: Poison your food before your willpower breaks down. Open a couple packets of Equal and sprinkle it all over the rest of your pasta dish, or pour ketchup on the remainder of your chocolate cake. Pour a little bit of coke on your last piece of pizza. Wipe your last piece of bread on the floor.
Obviously this isn't a good plan if you want to take your leftovers home. And you'll sometimes get weird looks from your waiter or nearby diners who think you've regressed to fourth grade. But holy shit, is it effective.
An important technique to manage your calorie intake is portion control. You can exhibit portion control and multiple places in the chain of events leading up to when you actually eat. For example, you can try to buy less at the grocery store, cook less food at once, put less on your plate, etc. "Out of sight, out of mind" is the idea.
Portion control can sometimes be difficult at restaurants, because you generally can't control (and often don't even know) what portion size you're getting, and also because after you want to stop eating, the food is sitting there in front of you for a while, taunting you. "Out of sight, out of mind" isn't so easy to implement here.
So here's the tip: Poison your food before your willpower breaks down. Open a couple packets of Equal and sprinkle it all over the rest of your pasta dish, or pour ketchup on the remainder of your chocolate cake. Pour a little bit of coke on your last piece of pizza. Wipe your last piece of bread on the floor.
Obviously this isn't a good plan if you want to take your leftovers home. And you'll sometimes get weird looks from your waiter or nearby diners who think you've regressed to fourth grade. But holy shit, is it effective.