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5. Use a Fork

You can use your fork to sieve out those calorific sauces. Up to 50% of the calories can be in the sauce alone as they are full of sugar and/or fat.  So simply spoon the food using the fork and watch the sauce fall from the fork.  When finished you should simply have a plate of the remaining sauce to chuck away and you will have the smug feeling of getting the full flavour of the dish but consuming up to 50% less calories.  Try it. It really does work and is my favourite tip.

6. Eat Slowly

When you eat a signal is sent back from the stomach to the brain that has eaten.  There is the final signal that is sent back to your brain which makes you think you are full and you simply stop eating.  Unfortunately there is a time lag for this final signal to come through of a few minutes or even more. Now if you are a fast eater you will consume more per minute than someone who eats slow.  So eat slowly and you will cut down the amount you consume when you are awaiting that final signal. Science has shown that fast eaters are more likely to be obese than slow eaters. 

7. Put Cutlery Down

This is a really simple tip and really helps you to eat slower to get the benefits of eating slower as mentioned above.  All you need to do is put your knife, fork and/or spoon down between each mouthful.  So as soon as it’s gone in your mouth put the cutlery down so both hands are free.  Chew the food and only pick up the cutlery when you have swallowed all the food.

8. Never Eat From The Serving Bowl or Family Pack

We’ve all done it.  You’ve opened up a family pack of crisps or pack of biscuits, not served a portion on a plate and then gone on to eat the whole pack! Don’t pretend to be shocked.  We then start to feel a bit queasy a few minutes later when we realised we were filled up about a third of the way through the pack.

So always serve out your portion so you know exactly what you are eating.  If you don’t you can accidently go in to autopilot and consume the whole contents.

9. Don’t Clear Away So Quick

Never clear the remains of what you have eaten until you have actually finished.  Science has shown that if you are not reminded of what you have just eaten you will eat more.  You need to see the quantity of the remains like the chicken bones or the packaging so your subconscious can gauge what you have consumed.

10. Brush Teeth When You’ve Finished Eating

Do you notice once you brush your teeth or use mouthwash you no longer want to eat? If this is the case and you are scared you going to have an unplanned evening snack go quickly brush your teeth. It acts like an appetite suppressant.  By the time the suppressant has worn off you’ll be in bed by then.

Now even if you don’t like any of my tips just go to google and search “Tips on eating less” and you are guaranteed to find at list one tip you think will work. Ah….the power of the internet.  Also my 52 Step Program has even more killer tips so I reckon you should check it out!

3. Days 2-6

Now I sincerely hope you executed Day 1 with perfection or at least near perfection.  If you think you consumed more than your target calorie intake on Day 1 then I suggest you set a new start date and start all over again.  However if you did stick to the target intake then this is where it’s going to get good….really good. Let’s dissect Days 2-7 in detail.

Day 2

This will be your Eureka moment so get ready.  I want you to get on your digital weighing scales under the same conditions you weighed yourself yesterday and look at your weight.  I am 95% sure that it will be less than yesterday’s weight. 

Am I right?  It may only be 0.1Kg or 0.1lb however you will be lighter.  And guess what…..it will feel really good.  You are on your journey.  Your actions of yesterday have resulted in you losing weight. Think about your motivations for losing weight and how good life is going to be and realise you are now on your way.

The 5% time you won’t see a loss is if either:

The scales have rounded up your loss.  So if you went from 70.54Kg to 70.46Kg thus losing 0.04Kg the scales would still show the same weight of 70.5Kg.  You may not have known you was 70.54Kg as the scales would have only recorded 70.5Kg but in fact you would have lost 0.08Kg. To avoid this choose a weighing scale that has a higher precision accuracy.  If you are using stone and pounds most won’t go to a decimal place on the pounds.  If you switch to just pounds it might go to one decimal place. However if you trust you are losing weight I would not get too hung up about getting high precision scales. 

You have changed the conditions of when you weighed yourself.  Sometimes I forget that I have had half a cup of tea and I weigh myself when usually I weigh myself before I drink anything.  So have a think whether the conditions were the same.  Did you have different clothing? Were you still wearing your watch? Were you fully naked?

You actually ate more than your target calorie intake but didn’t realise it. Check over to see if you added it up right, you got the calorific content right, that you did eat what you thought you ate etc.  You may have mistakenly drank a sugary drink instead of a diet drink. You missed the fact that the calories stated on the ready meal pack was for half a portion and you ate the whole portion. Or you simply forgot about something you ate. Naughty you.

So don’t worry if you didn’t see a loss as I 100% GUARANTEE you will see a loss tomorrow if you have been sticking to your target calorie intake.  So for Day 2 stick with the commitment of eating less and don’t forget the tips mentioned above. 

From now on you will be weighing yourself everyday and keeping a mental note of it and comparing it to your Day 1 weight.

Day 3

Okay today is the day you should definitely see a loss.  If you do not it can only be because you are consuming more calories than you think or the weighing conditions are not constant.  The large majority of you should see at least 0.1Kg loss or 0.1lb of loss.  It is scientifically impossible for you not to be lighter.

Now you should be thinking about your target weight at the end of the first week.  How far away are you?

If you have already hit it on Day 3 (which some people do!) then well done. But don’t get complacent and think you can eat more than your target daily intake. Bad habits will set in.  Even though you are lighter today when we come to record your weight on Day 7 you could be heavier.  Just keep doing what you have been doing.

If you think the rate of loss will get you there then fantastic again just keep doing what you are doing. Everything is going to plan. 

If you think the rate is too slow then I have some bad news for you….you need to eat less. It maybe only temporarily but you need to cut some calories out. This is a delicate game of adjustment and readjustment.  You may not need to shave off too much of the daily calorie intake but you need to shave off some.  So aim 100 calories less for example and think where you can cut it out.  Can you live without your evening snack just for tonight? Can you have a slightly smaller lunch or dinner? I know you can work it out. Don’t forget what the motivation for all of this is. It’s a small price to pay if you really want to get to where you want to be.

Days 4-6

If you are sticking to your target calorie intake you should see a slow but steady weight loss.  Keep weighing yourself everyday.  Don’t worry if you don’t lose weight everyday or even put on a slight bit.  Adjust and readjust where necessary.  It is difficult to calorie count.  It is difficult to avoid high calorie dinner invites. It it is difficult to resist in the week that late nite salty/sweet snack you treat yourself to at the weekends. If you do put on a bit eat less than the target calorie intake the next day. 

The main thing is you stay on the trajectory downwards.  So even if you have put on weight but it is still lower than your Day 1 weight then you are still doing well. Congratulate yourself and remember that you can do it.  You have already reduced from Day 1 weight and proved to yourself you can lose weight using this method.  As said before it is your mind that plays the biggest role in your goal of reaching your target weight.  If your mind believes you can do it you are virtually there.

4. Day 7

This is a very important day. Why? Well it is the day before weighing day to record in your Target Plan.  Now for those who already look like they are going to meet or surpass their target weight for the first week then well done.  Don’t celebrate yet though as weighing day is tomorrow.  Stick to your target calorie intake just like normal.

For those who look like they are unlikely to hit target then unfortunately you are going to have to take drastic measures. When I say drastic I mean drastic.  Your target calorie intake for today is zero. Yes zero.  Anything above this will be an indulgence. I really mean it.

So what you gonna do? If you were really obedient you would listen to what I say and drink zero calorie drinks (like Pepsi Max) and eat zero calorie foods (like celery). For those who do do this can I salute you. You are really committed and motivated to be your best self.

For the rest of you, which will be most of you, you will really need to think about really low calorie foods to eat or serving yourself minuet portions.  The choice I will leave up to you but very low calorie foods will at least fill you up. You should aim to eat and drink no more than one third of your target daily calorie intake.  You can find a list of low calorie foods in the reference chapter.

5. Day 8

The big day has arrived.  Start the drum roll now.  You need to get on those scales.  Make sure you are in the same state as when you normally record your weight. Step on to the scales right now……

Boom!

Have you done it? Is your weight at or below your target weight for this week?

i) If the answer is yes – superb stuff. You know how to lose weight. It works for you. My work is almost done on you. Repeat this week just gone for the next

x weeks and you will hit your target weight. But don’t worry if you hit a plateau as chapter 7 deals with when the weight loss stops

ii) If the answer is nearly – superb stuff. You too also know how to lose weight. Ok it wasn’t the amount you planned to lose but nevertheless you lost weight.  You now have a bit of experience in losing weight by calorie counting and the more experience you get the better at it you become.  You may have some sneaky feelings why you didn’t hit target so apply this to next week’s eating plan.

iii) If the answer is no – ask yourself did you lose weight? If you did and you are ok with the amount you lost then I would carry on.  You would have learned alot this week about yourself and portion control and whether it can work for you.  If however you didn’t lose any weight or even put on weight then I would start again.  Either sign up to my 52 Step Program or set a new start date and think about where it all went wrong.  Was you not motivated enough? Were the targets too ambitious? Was the start date too soon? Did I not prepare enough? You will know the answers to these questions if you really think about them.