In today’s article, I want to touch a topic which seems to be of concern for many people. It’s a dieting question: how to eat less calories? I’ve been asked this question multiple times. Especially as I managed to steadily reduce my weight and then maintain it. People want to know my tricks, which I will share with you. This is how you eat less calories and start losing weight.

My Top 5 Tricks to eat less calories!

In order to lose weight there is only one way to do it and this is the way of the caloric deficit. The moment you consistently eat less then you burn you will start to lose weight. In case you have a medical condition make sure to consult your doctor. I can only give general guidance and no medical consult.

1. Before It Begins

Before you even start eating have a glass or two of room-temperature water. This will fill up your stomach already and start the eating process and giving your brain the advantage to stomach the thought that feeding has started (see point 3). You didn’t even do anything yet and you already eat less calories.

On top of that, you’ll have the benefit of re-hydrating. Most people nowadays drink way too little and with a glass or two right at the beginning, you make up (as far as this is physiologically possible) for lost time.

2. Size Matters

In this case, smaller is better. People tend to eat more if the plates on which your meal is served is larger. And luckily the reverse idea applies too. If you eat your meal from a smaller plate you are likely to eat a little less than you would otherwise. Less eaten food means of course that you eat less calories too.

3. Slow Dance

Take your time eating your meal. The connection between body and mind isn’t very fast. This means that when you eat fast you can easily overeat. The reason being that your stomach didn’t have enough time to tell your brain that enough nutrients have arrived. Thus the brain hasn’t realised that it can send out the necessary hormones to let you know you’re not hungry anymore. By eating slowly you give your stomach-brain connection the time it needs.

It also helps you to enjoy the food. Use the time of your lunch to be social and mindful. Then you’ll automatically eat slowly. So talk more with your friend or partner and eat less calories alongside it.

4. Don’t Just Swallow…

…but chew your food! Make sure to chew at least 15 times (40 times would be even better), this makes the “slow dance” mentioned above easier. On top of that, you will even have a chance to actually taste what you’re eating. Besides that your body will be able to absorb the food you eat even better and you reduce the energy needed to digest food. the most important part of slow eating and chewing for me is the fact that you have the time to appreciate it. Feeding should be something special, thus appreciating the fact that there’s food to nourish you should make you happy.

5. No Liquid Calories

Nowadays the food, mainly the sugar industry, has gained of great importance and you’ll find added sugar almost everywhere. There are several reasons for that in which I will not go into in this article. But what you can easily do is to not drink any sugary drinks. No coke, no super sweet “healthy” ice tea and similar soft drinks.

But be also cautious of your tea and especially your coffee. The latte macchiato with a double espresso, extra cream and caramel syrup and sugar bombs. This not a coffee anymore but milkshake mixed with sugar and an idea of coffee. Instead, have a regular coffee with some cream. If you need sugar in it, just add some stevia or a teaspoon of raw honey. Or skip the coffee and have unsweetened tea or water instead.

Now take some action and share these 5 tricks with your friends and family members on social media and tag me in your posts! I would love to see those easy to implement tricks go around and make a difference!