Think about ways to boost your mood instead. I always remind people that food doesn’t settle an argument, ease your workload or provide any emotional support whatsoever. To break the emotional eating cycle, it helps to take note of what’s going on so you can respond appropriately. Perhaps you could pass on dessert, and tell your dining companions, “I just had ice cream cake over the weekend so I think I’ll pass tonight.” Maybe you could order more veggies or split an entrée with a friend. I don’t want to rob you of the joys of your social life, but if restaurant meals are more than an every-so-often affair, take note of how you could eat better in those situations. To get a handle on calorie intake, it’s important to get a handle on these situations, too. And then there are the emotional reasons: Anger, stress, boredom, sadness and anxiety can all point you in the direction of the kitchen. We eat not just to end a nagging hunger pang or give our bodies nutrients, but for social reasons like happy hour, client dinners, catching up with friends and the like. People who snacked on nuts in the shell and left the shells around as a visual cue consumed 41 percent fewer calories - yet reported the same level of fullness -as those who snacked on shelled ones. Notably, this was shown in a study on pistachios. Simply seeing the wrapper can help you pause before you go back for more. (Or replace the cookies with whole grain crackers or nuts.) Buying single-serve treats is another great way to go.
If your cookie jar is on the counter, tuck it away. Placing less healthy foods out of sight is another great strategy.
Using smaller plates and ordering appetizer portions is one way to manage the amount you eat without obsessing over calories. Recognizing that these environmental cues trip you up is the first step toward gaining control of your personal food environment. Though you may not be able to change your environment, let’s be clear: information is power. Sometimes these elements are beyond your control, such as big portions at restaurants, junk food at a checkout counter or the candy dish at the reception desk. There are an enormous number of environmental cues that lead us to eat, and possibly overeat. Mindfulness techniques can also help you manage stress, which can reduce cortisol levels and may lead to a reduction in belly fat over time. Similar to meditation, this practice focuses on the act of being present while you’re eating (turning off the TV, putting down the phone, giving email a break), so you can fully experience the sensation. The practice of intuitive eating rejects the notion of calorie counting and encourages a more conscious practice of tuning in to your body to assess when it’s hungry and when it’s satisfied. Beyond being calorie aware, there are some powerful ways to help you manage your food intake and more closely match it to your individual needs. Calories from things like sugary and refined carbohydrates - like candy, cookies and white breads, crackers, and cereals - don’t provide the same benefit, even if the numbers are the same. Those calories come from whole food, like fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and quality sources of protein, like sustainably-raised seafood and hormone- and antibiotic-free meats and poultry. I’m in favor of being calorie aware - recognizing calories that work hard to fill you up, nourish your body and energize your day-to-day marathon of life. None of this is to say that you shouldn’t track calories or think about them at all. Machines don’t take into account your fitness level or whether you’re leaning on the handle bars or doing something else that makes a workout easier - things that ultimately impact calorie burn. Other studies have shown that calorie counters on cardio machines - treadmills, elliptical trainers, and so forth - are also overstated.
Even those of us who aren’t math whizzes can see how this could stall weight loss or even worse, lead to gain, despite your best fitness efforts. Even when you’re using a tech gadget to track calories out, the results are likely too high to tie to the amount you should or can consume. “The point is, you’re not burning as much as you think you are.” The Problem with Calorie MathĬlearly this study highlights one problem with the calories in vs. “The error depends on the type of activity you’re tracking,” says lead study author Anna Scherbina, “For activities like walking and sitting, the results are more accurate than for more intense pursuits, like spinning and running,” she explains. To put this more simply, if your device suggests you’ve moved your way through 2,200 calories, on the low end it could be overestimating by as many as 600 calories.
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