Your relationship with food is one of the most important relationships you will have in your lifetime. While that may seem like a strange concept, how you feel about food has a massive effect on your physical and mental health. Therefore, in this article, we will discuss the common problem many people have: trying to lose weight but struggling to eat less food.

Understanding how to lose weight

To start with, we need to understand how weight is lost. Every person has a daily number of required calories for normal functioning, with some higher than others. However, if you consume fewer calories than you burn then you’ll lose weight. The same applies to weight gain: if you consume more calories than required, then you’ll gradually put on a few pounds.

Understanding this concept is key, otherwise, you may find yourself on swings and roundabouts wondering why the scale keeps reading the same number.

Exercise more or eat more foods that satisfy your hunger

If you struggle to cut down the amount of food you are eating, there are a few things you can do to lose weight.

Firstly, you can exercise more, thus burning more calories to enter you into that calorie deficit. This doesn’t have to be anything too intensive, either. For example, a brisk walk may be all you need to enter a deficit. 

Alternatively, you could try eating foods that are are more filling. Examples of foods that help you feel full include boiled potatoes, eggs, oatmeal, vegetables, fish, and soups. If you are used to eating empty calories because you are hungry, eating these foods instead should reduce your craving to snack, thus reducing your calorie intake and allowing you to lose weight.

Try not to get too caught up with calories!

Counting calories to lose weight although effective, can be detrimental to some people. It is easy to develop bad habits and obsessions over food, most notably, what you can and cannot eat.

Instead, we recommend getting a rough idea for calorie intake (perhaps tracking for a few days) and then eyeballing it from here. With a little more leeway, this is much better for your mental health and will likely see the same results. If you’re still not losing weight, go back and track for a few more days to see how many calories you’re really eating (be sure to include things like oil, sugar, butter, etc.