6 Lunch Habits That Make You Gain Weight

Are you trying to be good with your eating habits, but not seeing any difference? Have a look at these habits, and see if you’re guilty of at least one of them. Changing your habits can have a massive effect on your waistline; so don’t discount it out of hand until you’ve tried it.

1. Stop Thinking About Lunch Right Before it

No one makes good meal choices when they’re starving hungry. The way to avoid this is to decide an hour beforehand what you’re going to have, and order it in advance, if possible. Deciding what to have when you’re not really hungry puts you in a frame of mind to make good choices. Of course, you could always pack your lunch, because if you’ve brought it, that’s what you’re having.

2. Large Lunches are Leading to Larger Dinners

If you habitually have large lunches, it may be priming your brain to expect larger dinners. Stop eating when you feel comfortably full, but long before you overdo it. A good guideline is three to four ounces of a lean protein such as chicken or fish, a carb like whole grains or fruit, a tablespoon or so of good fats like olive oil or nuts, and as many vegetables as you like.

3. Stop Watching YouTube Videos at Your Desk

Strangely enough, if you can’t hear yourself chewing and crunching, you are likely to eat much more than you intended. Since you likely have your headphones in while watching those cute kitten videos on YouTube, you are going to be less aware of how much you’re eating, because hearing yourself eat reduces the overall amount of food you eat, according to research.

4. Eating With Other People

We tend to match up out eating to the people we eat with, and that can be a problem if you eat with people who have huge portions regularly. The only fix for this is to start eating solo more often, even if people think you’re an anti-social grump. If you have no choice but to eat in company, try to remember that just because your companions clean their plates, it doesn’t mean you have to as well.

5. Plate up Your Takeaway Food

A study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that 92 percent of the meals at chain and local takeaway restaurants had more calories than you should be eating in a single meal.

Get a plate before you eat your takeout lunch, and save whatever doesn’t fit on the plate for tomorrow’s lunch. This will save you money, too!

6. Watch Out for Those Healthy Calories

People tend to think that because something is healthy, they can have more of it, but sadly this isn’t the case. Avocados are healthy, but eating a whole one will cost you more than 300 calories in one sitting. Watch out for nuts, too. They are healthy, but calorific. Try to stop thinking of healthy foods as less filling, and it will serve you well in your weight loss quest.