Everyday Systems

I have a question for you successful longtimers.......after you have the habit of 3 plates a day with no hunger between meals....how did you start cutting down on the food?

Did it just happen or did you take the same amount of food but leave some on your plate or did you change to a smaller plate?

I really don't see it happening naturally....but, then, maybe it will.

Thanks.

I started putting less on the plate.

Before I started No S, I started to use 8 1/2 inch corolle plate (bought once just for me). I always have some sort of fruit with my meals, helps with any cravings..like an end to my meal in my mind.

Funny, the first day I started No S, I grabbed a normal 12 inch dinner plate, filled it up, thinking this is great..well my husband saw it and said "nice diet". I ate it anyway..but feel much more comfortable with the smaller plate that I fill to the edge

We all have different takes, so you'll find what work for you..

Gobble,
Make really sure you have the habit down firmly before you try to do anything. At first you will need to have full plates to get you from meal to meal, especially if you have been a snacker. I think you will find that over time you will begin to eat less naturally as your body grows accustomed to eating just three meals each day.
I am older and was steadily gaining each year since menopause. It got to a point where I was no longer losing with NoS, getting frustrated, straying, restarting, over and over. I already knew in order to lose weight you must eat less and move more, plain and simple. I began doing Zumba 2 hours each week and trying to walk on days in between. Then I used an online calorie tracking site (myfitnesspal.com) to discover two things: 1) how many calories I needed to be eating in order to lose weight and 2) how many calories I was eating. I tracked for a few weeks. I know that goes against all principles of NoS, but I needed the information.
It boiled down to scaling down my portions - as wosnes already said. I was serving myself portions that were very satisfying, but too large to lose weight at this stage of my life.
My "portion eye" is much more in tune now as a result and I have been dropping from .5 to 1 pound each week - but it varies depending on the amount of exercise I've gotten and the social situtations I've been involved in. But, as I said at the beginning of this post, you will need to be secure in your habits first...so don't worry about the next stage until that happens.
As far as plate size goes, I use both depending on what the meal is. If we're having a side salad, I put that in a separate bowl and use a small plate. Otherwise, it all goes on the same plate.
Hope this helps to give you an approach that may or may not be useful in the future.
Best wishes on your NoS journey,

Mimi

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I will start trying to add fruit and gradually put smaller portions on the plate. I really don't think I could, at this point, leave food on the plate.

Really appreciate the advice of what has worked for you. Thanks.

I don't like leaving food on my plate, and I like full plates. Over time, I've gotten into the following practices:

1. 2 meals (for us, breakfast and supper) are on smaller (what used to be called "luncheon") plates.
2. Lunch (our main meal) is on a normal dinner (not oversized) plate.
3. I opted to add fruit/veggies (aiming for half my plate) and correspondingly reduce (slightly) meat/grains/fatty foods. I didn't eliminate anything, just changed the balance a bit. We usually have a veggie AND salad AND fruit at our main meal which means I enjoy one hearty and satisfying meal a day without feeling overstuffed/overnourished.

I agree with the others who encourage you to keep with the habits FIRST. It has taken me 3+ years to get to the meals I now eat.... The first year was focused just on the habits: No Sweets, No Snacks, No Seconds, except on S days. I've successfully lost 55+ pounds (still losing even though I'm within a normal BMI--a happy surprise for me!) so this approach is working quite well for me.

Best wishes for success,

Great that you put this question out there - this is very useful information!

I'm incapable of leaving food on my plate. Mom really hammered this into me. If it's there, I feel an almost moral obligation to finish it.

The flip side of this is I also now feel an almost physical obligation to stop after than one plate. When the plate is done, I feel full, even if the plate wasn't all that enormous.

But don't jump the gun -- whittle away at plate size slowly. You don't want to sabotage that pavlovian association of plate empty = you're full.

Reinhard

Love, love, love all the help and encouragement here! It really helps to hear from you experienced people....thanks Vicki....and Reinhard....I can't believe Reinhard actually takes the time to read and post....how great is that!! Love this forum!

I also grew up in the clean your plate generation, but we could take what we wanted. We learned not to take too much because if you took it you ate it. My eating habits were not perfect, but my weight was fine as a child.

I do not have a rule on plate size. I use the size that is appropriate to the meal I am eating.

I'd get a smaller plate for lunch just to try it. I now eat on the smaller corelle plates for mostly all meals. "Normal" plates seem to big for me now. I switched over our family of 6 with no problem and I have 3 teens! The "normal" plates are on the top shelf if they want it, but usually don't. I aim for half a plate of fruit and veggies. I'm the kind of person that gets a bit defiant, so I worked with that and leave one bite on my plate on purpose. It sort of released the need to eat it all which will sometimes help me to stop eating when I'm full. Do what works, but as everyone says, the MOST important thing is to cement the habit first.

One thing with smaller plates is it tricks your mind into thinking you had a huge meal. It was strange at first, but I would not trade my 8-1/2 in plates for the larger ones....one can surely fit a lot of food on a smaller plate and way too much on the 12 inch plates..well, as long as you don't go vertical piling

Play around and see what works for you..some can leave food, some can't (I can't), some can eye up their food normally, some can't.

Hope you find what works for you.

Loving all your suggestions.....thanks. Really like the thought of leaving one bite just because. It might just make me believe that I really do have control over what I eat.