However, do separate the notion of wasting food and finishing the food on your plate. You should be 70% full instead of being overstuffed. Our body cannot process so much food. All the excess food could be stored as fats.

If you have eaten enough, then stop eating. We are able to save food for the next day with refrigerators and microwaves. At the same time, if you are the one preparing food, then do not prepare that much. If you eat at restaurants where servings are huge, then get a doggy bag if it is a common practice. If not, simply share a meal with your dining partner in the future.

If you keep finding there is a lot of food left when you are feeling full, then this is a wasteful habit. Do not order too much food in the future. Do not order food for the entire table. You can always order more if you run out of food.

If you are cooking your meals, then you need to reduce your meals. If you have to buy a fish which is clearly too much for you, get the fishmonger to slice it into two sides so that you can keep the other half for another meal without fearing it will go bad.

Do not be obliged to eat all the food that people put on your table when you are eating out. One economic notion that I still remember after so many years of schooling is marginal utility. You may eat something that is great and the more you eat, the happier you get. But after a certain point, it becomes disgusting and your enjoyment decreases.

So, do not let your childhood habits continue to affect you. Reverse that thought quickly and eat just enough. Avoid buffets if you are afraid of wasting food.

If possible, just scoop up enough food for yourself, then move away from where the food is and just have your meal. Actually, I’ll just do that and eat in front of the TV instead of eating at the dining table.

It is better to have a little less than too much.

To most people a diet is a constant struggle. It is something that they would rather not have to do. People only do on diets because they know that they have to do something about their weight and their health. Perhaps they want to lose weight to squeeze into a wedding gown of their choice. Or perhaps they are finding unsightly bulges. It is a choice made out of necessity.

As soon as you believe you are on a diet you also become aware of the fact that you are going to get off it again and what do you expect will happen when you get off the diet that is helping you to get in shape? You have to erase the word from your vocabulary.

For most people getting off a diet means reverting back to their former lifestyle and that is the lifestyle that got them overweight in the first place.

What you really should be doing is not dieting but making lifestyle changes because lifestyle changes are something that you can continue with forever. It takes about 21 days of doing the same thing in order to make it become a habit.

If you make lifestyle changes that result in healthy body weight then you will maintain that body weight for as long as you maintain that lifestyle. It is not something that you will get off at the end of achieving a result. A lifestyle is a way that you intend to live for the long-term and that is how you will remain in good shape for the long-term.

How often do you hear people saying that they are on a diet? And the next minute they are no longer on the diet. That?s because they cannot get used to their new diet.

What they should be saying is: I have made lifestyle changes and the result of those changes have been a reduction in body fat, an increase on my energy levels and an overall improvement in health.

That is what lifestyle changes can do for you and it is something that short-term diets rarely achieve.

Now, an article in the BBC according to this blog says that if you hang out with friends who are overweight constantly, there is a high chance that you will have problems losing weight.

Let’s look at it from a practical point of view. If you mix with them frequently, you will probably be having meals together. The pressure of not eating when your friends are ordering huge meals will be there. They will also try to get you to eat because they are extremely hospitable.

From a dietary point of view, if you are on a diet, looking at the food will simply trigger off the salivary glands and you can actually put on weight without eating because of the chemicals that are released in your body.

It might be a little surprising to know this, but there are societal reasons for this. If your family or friends are overweight, it is likely that you are in certain economical or environmental situations that do not allow you to eat healthily.

In the past, when people are really poor, you will not find many fat people because they do not have much to eat. At the same time, they are not in sedentary jobs. Many of the work hard labour, so they burn off a lot of calories.

Now, people may be richer, and a large number have access to better food and in greater quantity. However, the rich are no heavier than those in lower economic status. This could be due to fast food as they do not learn how important nutritional values are.

There are many complex reasons.

It is human nature that we do not want to starve, and hence we will try to ensure we get adequate food all the time. Sometimes, when we go hungry due to a diet, we will overcompensate by eating much more at another time. If you are trying to maintain a diet that makes you feel hungry all the time, then there is little possibility to succeed.

The outcome for most people after having to endure this period of hardship is to get back onto the ‘eating too much’ bandwagon and pile the weight back on that has been lost on the diet, albeit at a far faster rate. That is why people who managed to lose their weight initially may overeat at a later date. Hence, you may end up more disappointed than before.

To succeed, you need to have a sensible diet, not a fad diet that is espoused by many celebrities. Reduce your food intake by a little each time, and make sure that you do not deprive yourself of all your favourite food totally. If you have been on an unhealthy diet, or had been eating huge portions, it may be more beneficial to cut down bit by bit each time.?