You're eating healthy foods—but still weigh more than you'd like. If that's you, consider this tidbit of edible math: When Cornell University researchers asked volunteers to estimate the number of eating decisions they make everyday, most said 15. In fact, they really made about 221 decisions about what to eat—as well as how, when, where and with whom they'd eat.
"So many food decisions are made on mindless autopilot," says researcher and food psychologist Brian Wansink, PhD, author of Mindless Eating—Why We Eat More Than We Think."It's really easier than we think to let small things around us—plate size, package size, people around us, distractions—influence these 200-plus decisions, because we are not aware of them in the first place."
From taste-testing globs of cookie dough to taking second helpings of mac 'n' cheese to settling in for this week's episode of The Voice with a bag of chips, autopilot noshing can pad your diet with hundreds of undocumented calories every day. Getting a grip on "amnesia eating" could close hidden diet loopholes so that you can reach your healthy-weight goals—and cut unwanted fat and sugar out. Here, strategies to help you identify situations where you consume excess calories and how to set yourself up for success.
Eat 400-calorie meals to lose weight without feeling hungry. Get your copy of the 400-Calorie Fix!