Two things I’d Recommend. First is replace your vice foods with health alternatives that still satisfy a similar craving. If you like sweets then replace it with fruit. If you’re a big soda drinker then try sparkly water. Things like that. Then just control what you have access too. Keep fruit in the house, but not candy. You can eat relatively similar amounts this way and greatly reduce your calorie count.

Try to have set times you eat, and a time to stop. The last part is important. Dinner is from 6-7 it ends at 7. And don’t be hard on yourself. If you eat till 7:10 recognize that and feel good about stopping then even when you could keep going. Remind yourself you can do better next time, because you just did better. You could’ve ate till 8, but you didn’t. You stopped.

Also when you feel that hunger between meals. That craving for a snack, focus on pushing it off. Say things to yourself like “it’s okay to be hungry .” “I can eat later”. Even if you get yourself to push it back by a half hour or an hour that is great. “I’ll just wait one more hour.” You’ll start to get a little more comfortable with the feeling of not being full over time. You’ll also start to feel full sooner when you do eat.

The big key here is positive self talk. Don’t be your worst enemy, be your best friend. If your best friend calls you and say “I really need to eat less, but it’s hard and idk if I can” think of how you would respond. What would you say to them? Well say those things to yourself.

You got this. You can do it. It’ll be hard, but that’s okay. You’ll make mistakes, but that’s okay. You’ll try your best, and that’s what matters.

I have a friend with an eating disorder. This is the exact type of messaging that helps. She hasn’t eaten all day. Nothing sounds good. So I encourage her to just get some food, anything, and have a bite. Just one bite. It won’t hurt. She doesn’t have to eat the entire thing.

Practically one bite won’t do much. But what it does do is breaks through the barrier. It gets her with food in front of here. And starting the process of eating it. Once you take that first bite, the second is a lot easier, and the third becomes inevitable.

Telling yourself you just need to take one bite is a lot less overwhelming and more manageable than trying to get yourself to eat an entire meal.