To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume, which inevitably means one thing: portion control. But you’re not necessarily doomed to a growling stomach until you reach your goal. Portion control doesn’t mean you have to eat tiny portions of everything, you don’t want to feel like you’re on a diet, but you have to eat fewer calories.

Here are 14 easy ways to cut portions, trim calories, and lose fat without counting the minutes until your next meal:

1. Start with a glass of H2O

Drink a big glass of water before you eat. Filling your belly with water will naturally make you less likely to overeat, she says. Plus, some symptoms of dehydration may actually be what’s causing your rumbling belly, so sipping some water before you eat may eliminate your “hunger” altogether.

2. Wear form-fitting clothes

We’re not suggesting you squeeze into pants that are too tight. However, wearing an outfit with a waistband or perhaps a jacket with buttons can serve as a tool to prompt you to slow down and assess how you feel during your meal. As your clothing begins to feel a little snugger, it may keep you from going back for seconds.

3. Add veggie fillers

Bulking up your meals with veggies is one easy way to cut calories while filling you up fast, lettuce for example can be used as the base for your salad or as replacement instead of the tortilla in a taco, swap in mushrooms for half the ground meat in most recipes or add more veggies to your baguette instead of meat.

4. Dine on dinnerware that helps you lose

The color of your plate may influence how much you eat, according to a 2012 Cornell University study when a plate and the food on it had a low color-contrast it may make people eat 22% more than when there is a higher color-contrast. The study conclusions suggest that if you want to eat less, select plates that have a color-contrast to the food you’re eating for dinner. Or if you want to eat more healthy foods, like a bigger salad, eat greens from a large green plate or bowl!

5. Make carbs the topper instead of the base

Rethink the way you use grains and starches. For your meal load up your plate with veggies and a serving of lean protein, then add a quarter cup of brown rice.

6. Set the scene for slower eating

Dim lights and listen to relaxing music to set the tone for a more leisurely meal. Take your time while eating increases enjoyment and decreases portions. Remember to chew slowly, put down your fork between bites, and sip water to make your meal last longer.

7. Work for your food

Another way to slow down your eating: munch on foods that require shelling, peeling, or individual unwrapping. Edamame or shrimps and nuts in their shells are healthy options.

8. Don’t eat from the bag or box

When you sit down with a bag of chips, do you really know how many you’re eating? Researchers from Cornell University sought to answer this question in a study and found that people ate 50% more chips when they were given no visual cues as to how large a portion should be. So if you buy a bag of pretzels or tin of nuts that contains 10 servings, divide the contents of the container into 10 smaller baggies ahead of time.

9. Slurp your appetizer

Before you dive into your entrée, have some soup. Though it may seem counterintuitive to add more to your meal, research shows that starting a meal with soup may help you reduce your overall calorie intake. In a 2007 study, people who ate soup before their lunch entrée reduced their total calorie intake by 20%. Your best bet: a broth-based soup, preferably with veggies to help you feel full from the natural fiber.

10. Take a lap beofre serving yourself

In a Cornell University study, researchers observed people at two separate breakfast buffet lines that featured the same seven items: cheesy eggs, potatoes, bacon, cinnamon rolls, low-fat granola, low-fat yogurt, and fruit. One line presented the foods from healthiest to least-healthy, while the other line had the order reversed. Regardless of which line they passed through, more than 75% of diners put the first food they saw on their plates; the first three foods they encountered in the buffet made up two-thirds of all the foods they added to their plate. So take a stroll around the buffet or dinner table before you serve yourself.

11- Limit mealtime distractions

Turn off the TV and put your smartphone away while you eat. A recent study found that people who watched television during meals tended to consume more than those who ate without any distractions. And for you office dwellers? Consider taking your lunch break away from your desk, in an study, people who played computer solitaire while having lunch felt less full at the end, and went on to eat more food later in the day than those who didn’t play the game.

12. Use smaller serveware and dishes

Dish up your own food with a small utensil onto a small bowl or plate, and chances are you’ll eat less.

13. End your meal with a new kind of sweet treat

Many people have trained themselves to expect a sweet treat at the end of a meal, swap in a new, healthier ritual after meals to signal that you’re done eating. Some ideas: a tea or your favorite fruit!!

 

 

Derail existing unhealthy habits

Research shows that about 40% of our activities are performed in the same daily situations (wake up, walk into the kitchen, make coffee), because we repeat what seems to be working, and we form associations between cues and behaviors (spot the coffee machine, grab the pot). That means the first step toward forming a new habit is breaking the connections that trigger you to do the opposite, or something else, which creates a window of opportunity to act differently.

For example, if you want to drink water in the morning instead of java, stash the coffee maker in a cupboard, put a display of fancy drinking glasses in its place, and put a water pitcher in the fridge so it’s the first thing you spot. Just breaking your usual connections can have a huge impact on the success of new habits.

Repeat new behaviors

Surely you’ve heard various stats about how many times you must repeat a behavior before it becomes a new habit—some say daily for 21 days, others 30. Research from University College London found that for a group of 96 people it took 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. One thing’s for certain, though: if you stick with something, such as making a smoothie for breakfast every morning, it will eventually become second nature.

Create cues for healthy patterns

Tying the behavior to something else that makes sense. For example, if you already cook meal at home, set a goal of using that time to prepare lunch for the next day, too. When a new behavior is consistently carried out within a specific context it’s much easier to remember to take action, and those actions are more likely to stick.

Question conventional notions

Many people who are on the road to forming a new habit wind up talking themselves into quitting, because they hang onto conventional notions about what will work. For example, a eating plan which involves eating a few squares of dark chocolate without distraction during “you time.” This tactic work for curbing cravings, and decreasing the desire to eat both sweet and salty “junk foods” like chips and baked goods. But the moment someone starts to think, “Two little dark chocolate squares aren’t going to make me not want cookies” they stop practicing it, and stop giving it the chance to make an impact.

Find support

One of the most critical steps in forming new healthy patterns is support. Unfortunately our culture is set up to encourage and reinforce lots of unhealthy habits, so trying to change or form new ones can feel like swimming upstream. Many people don’t realize just how unhealthy his work and home environments really were until they made a conscious effort to get healthy. To combat discouragement, stress, self doubt, or thoughts about throwing in the towel, find at least one person who really gets what you’re doing and can cheer you on, or at least let you vent when you’re feeling challenged.

 

1. Drinking too often

After one drink, people inhibitions are lowered and their appetite spikes. That combo — in addition to the extra calories in the cocktails themselves — results in consuming hundreds of surplus calories. And it happens more often than they realize, because most people underestimate how much they drink until they begin keeping a food diary. The good news is when they consciously cut back, they drop weight. If you think you may be in the same situation, become a teetotaler for a 30 days, or commit to limiting alcohol in specific ways, such as only drinking one night per week, or 2 times per month. The results can be dramatic.

2. Eating diet foods

First, they’re usually packed with lots of unwanted additives and impossible-to-pronounce ingredients. And let’s face it, they’re just not filling or satisfying. After eating a frozen diet entrée, bar or dessert, you were left with lingering hunger and thoughts of food, which led to nibbling on other foods. As a result, you wind up taking in far more calories than they would have if they had prepared a healthy, satisfying meal. A 2010 study found that we burn about 50% more calories metabolizing whole foods versus processed foods. Therefore, is more likely break a weight-loss plateau when you ditch diet foods and start eating more calories from fresh, whole foods.

3. Oveareating healthy foods

It’s incredible when people fall in love with healthy fare like veggies, lentils, and whole grains. The only sticking point is they sometimes eat too much. For example, a person can change his regular meal of 5 tortillas for wild rice, which is fantastic!!, but his wild rise portion is too large given that he sat at a desk all day, and in addition he put avocado to his salad, avocado is a healthy food but it has too much fat and you have to limit its consume. The truth is, while whole foods are nutrient rich and they enhance metabolism, you can overdo it. To prevent that, listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues, and use visuals to guide your portions. For example, a serving of fruit should be about the size of a tennis ball.

4. Skipping meals

Going long stretches without eating can create two unwanted side effects that undermine weight loss. First, you’ll likely burn fewer calories as a way to compensate for not having fuel when you need it. Second, you’ll up your chances of overeating at night, when your activity level is low. Several studies have found that it’s not just your overall daily calories, but also when you eat them that matters. A good rule of thumb is to eat larger meals before your more active hours, smaller meals before less active hours and never let more than four to five hours go by without eating.

5. Counting calories

Aside from the fact that the quality and timing of the calories you consume is critical for weight loss success, the practice of counting calories can backfire. One study found that even without limitations, calorie counting made women more stressed. Nobody wants that. Plus, an increase in stress can cause a spike in cortisol, a hormone known to rev up appetite, increase cravings for fatty and sugary foods and up belly fat storage. Also, the calorie info available on packaged foods or on restaurant menus isn’t a perfect system. I’m not saying that calorie info is meaningless, but I do think there are more effective and less cumbersome ways to shed pounds.

6. Shunning good fat

Despite the best attempts to dispel the notion that eating fat makes you fat, all the people have remained fat-phobic. But eating the right fats is a smart weight loss strategy. In addition to quelling inflammation — a known trigger of premature aging and diseases including obesity — healthy fats are incredibly satisfying. They delay stomach emptying to keep you fuller longer, and research shows that plant-based fats like olive oil and nuts up appetite-suppressing hormones. Plant fats have also been shown to boost metabolism, and they can be rich sources of antioxidants. Aim to include a portion in every meal.

7. Emotional eating

The habit of reaching for food due to boredom, anxiety, anger or even happiness is by far the number one obstacle my clients face when trying to lose weight. We’re practically taught from birth to connect food and feelings. I’ve heard stories about people being rewarded with treats after a good report card or a winning game, or being consoled with food after being teased at school or going to the dentist. We bond over food, bring it to grieving, use it to celebrate or turn to it as a way to stuff down uncomfortable feelings. It’s a pattern that’s socially accepted and it’s challenging to overcome. But it’s not impossible. And even if you found non-food alternatives to addressing your emotional needs 50 percent of the time, I guarantee you’ll lose weight. Instead of a fad diet, consider making this your New Year’s resolution — while you can’t break all the patterns overnight, this change may be the most important and impactful for weight loss success.