This is a guest post from Gregory Gomez! This is a quick weight loss tip that could save you from some extra pounds finding their way onto your body every month. Possibly even more depending on your habits and how you conduct yourself at the dining table!
It's important as you read this post to really reflect on your own personal routines that occur when eating meals at home, especially at dinnertime. Pay particular attention to what you usually do within the first five minutes upon finishing the initial serving of food on your plate because this can be the difference between an appropriate meal, and eating excessively.
At meals, do you usually get a second serving of food? Do you eat a dessert? What about snacks or small appetizers that may be lying around the table or nearby in the kitchen? Maybe you simply sit and talk with the other members of your family and drink a cup of coffee. All these specific details of your usual tendencies that occur immediately after finishing a meal will help paint a clear picture to determine if your habits are healthy or not.
To put in bluntly, when you are finished with your appropriately portion-sized meal, get up and leave the kitchen area. It might sound a bit humorous but this is a valid weight loss tip to consider. Point being, the longer you are present where you eat, the more likely you will eat more food. The longer you stay seated at the dining table, the more likely you will put more food into your mouth. It's plain fact. The longer we are in the presence of food, especially food that has been prepared and set right in our sight, more often than not we will continue to eat and exceed the appropriate amount of calories for one meal.
Try to get in the habit once your finish your food, simply drink a large glass of water and get up from the table right away. If it has been customary to sit and chat with the members in your family, naturally you should continue to do that, just not at the dining room table. Maybe chat in the den or some place else where food is not in the vicinity. Or you can just get up and start washing the dishes and packing the leftovers in travel containers for lunch the next day. Just because there is food still left in the pots and pans doesn't mean that it needs to be eaten right then and there. That leftover food will make for a wonderful lunch for the next day.
If you've truly made the commitment to develop healthier lifestyle habits, this is one tip that can literally save you pounds of weight off your body. The longer you stay seated at the table, the odds are you will eat more than you need. You will find that if you get into this habit of simply leaving the table and preoccupying yourself with something else, your mind will stray away from the thought of eating more food and you will save your body the excess calories you likely would have consumed if you stayed seated at your kitchen or dining room table.
Do you think this could help prevent excessive eating?
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Comments (10)
Hmm ... Completely disagree here. Me and my friends always hang around after a meal, but that doesn't mean we buy anything more than what we came for. And if you take a good long time eating and having a pleasant conversation for at least an hour or so, that gives your meal a chance to digest rather than wolfing it all down to get out of there.
So no - hanging out at the table after (or even during) a meal is a good idea. Just don't buy any more food than you intended, and relax ! Enjoy the restaurant's atmosphere and take your time eating a good meal.
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wow. such a long post over such a short message. i can't say i completely agree with this one either. if you're at a restaurant, you usually finish whatever meal you ordered and that's it. otherwise you'd have to order really want to eat some more.
at home, we don't tend to overeat because we just make just enough for everybody. and i always appreciate that time after the meal when you're just talking and relaxing...
so, no. i wouldn't take this advice.
I say stifle the meal into different servings. Like the Europeans. 'Course' rather than all on one plate, it can be digested better and the same amount of food can be prolonged for a long duration of time if it's a social outlet
Someone suggested chewing your food more would slow down eating consumption. One exercise that will help you lose more weight than any other exercise is to push away from the table.
@dw817@xanga - @islandgypsygirl@xanga - i agree with you two...
I think this applies for lunch to me more. For me, dinner i don't tend to over-eat and bak when I was living with my parents, the MOST important bonding time was right after a meal where we just sit and shared. Best memories of family were after meals. How this affected my diet, dunno, but I wouldn't trade in those calories if that meant losing the time and love I spent with my folks.
Talking with people while finishing a meal is a far greater priority to me than counting calories... some of my most valued memories are of leisurely dinner conversations. Could be different for others, but I shudder to think that some are so obsessed with skinniness that they would miss this valuable time to connect with friends/family.
Not noting the site, I was waiting for this to be a rant from a waitress. I'm glad it's not.
Personally, it annoys me that my husband will scarf down his meal and bolt to watch t.v. or whatever. I'd really rather he not. I prefer to sit at the table and chat after a meal. Someone or someones can clear it and then sit back down with the rest of the adults. The kids (my younger siblings and/or 0any younger cousins, depending on the setting) usually eat and wander off to do whatever. Even if I do sit and nibble at food, it's not like I'm eating a second meal or anything.
eat slowly and until you cease being hungry, but not until full. then exercise in non-cardio fashion i vote going for a short walk. fewer calories are made fat if you burn them up as they are being processed.
the thing you have to do, which is almost noted, is separating food/eating from social interaction. cause without the separation one is more inclined to eat when feeling lonely for social inclusion, and to eat for super regularly which leads to higher caloric intake. as such eating shouldn't be 'family time'. family time should be something else.
is getting seconds bad? no, but it is indicative that you are either eating too fast or aren't spreading your snacking out across the day. and binge eating can be quite bad in terms of fat.