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timely tip from fit it in solutions

Leave at least a bite of food on your plate every time you eat.

Quit the Club!

I did not gain weight this holiday season. Yes; you read that right. I did not gain weight over the holidays and it may be the first time ever. I attribute this tremendous success to one tiny change: I quit the clean plate club.

As long as I can remember I have been a member of the clean plate club. Just before the holidays I decided to change that. I now leave at least one bite of food (usually more) on my plate.

Logically, one wouldn’t think that leaving a few bites of food 3 times a day would make that big of a difference. I believe the reason it helps is because of the mind set it creates.

Leaving a little food at each meal helps in more than one way.

1. It makes me feel more in control of my eating which spills over into other eating adventures such as parties.
2. I’ve become more mindful of my eating. Knowing at the outset that some food needs to be left behind causes me to pay more attention to what I am eating and the pace at which I eat.
3. I feel less obsessed with food. It is just food and I can get more whenever I want it.
4. It has helped me pay more attention to my body’s full and hunger cues.
5. The few calories it saves at each meal do add up over time.

Regardless of my analysis as to why it worked, the important thing is that it worked. I still indulged more during the holidays than I normally do. I did not feel deprived. I did not gain weight. Hooray!

Try it and let me know what you think.

Happy New Year!

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