What's your best strategy for not overeating on Thanksgiving?

[SallyC]

What do you do to keep from eating way too much, especially of the starchy-carb category, and feeling like a beached whale for the next 6 hours?

[imagine]

We keep the food in the kitchen and off the table. That way if you want seconds you have to get up from the table and go to the kitchen. Really makes people think about it before they head back for seconds.

[Ayanka]

Eating a little less but multiple times a day. Plus well Im skinny and I burn through calories FAST, it doesn't help with the overdose on carbs though.

[Spirit Deer]

Just say no. Simple, but not easy.

That's only part of it. I try to avoid temptation and not bring it into the house in the first place.

I'm also using an oversize bento in the fridge, packed each day with only the food I'm allowed for that day in it. When the food is gone, I'm done. At least in theory.

[Contrary Housewife]

I don't load my plate up, just take small portions, and I try to limit the amount of carb dishes I cook. I decided this year I don't need potatoes and sweet potatoes on the table. Likewise I don't need a pie and a pumpkin cake.

When it's time to eat I take a small spoon of each item, and usually by the time I am done cleaning the plate I am quite full. I think it's easy to believe you want your normal palm sized portion of everything, but when there's 9 bowls on the table instead of 2-3 you end up with too much food. One of the standard tricks to limit portions is to use a smaller plate. Grab a salad or dessert plate instead of the dinner plate.

Also, I'm a slow eater. It takes about 20 minutes for the food to reach your stomach and tell you you're full. If you shovel it down in ten minutes your body doesn't know it's been satiated and you'll want to eat more.

[photogal06]

I skip breads and desserts altogether without a problem. Mashed potatoes are my downfall...I'd like to dive into the bowl and live there. My rule of thumb is that the pile of mashed potatoes on my plate must be smaller than the pile of vegetables. I'm also a stickler for reasonable portion sizes, no matter what day it is. My stomach size doesn't change based on the calendar date, so the amount I eat doesn't either.

[TDN]

I have been using a salad plate as a dinner plate for a few months now and it is working really well for me. Lunch is also on a salad plate or sometimes a appetizer plate. I recently bought some really small bowls they are cute, match my other dishes and hold from 2/3 to 3/4 cup and that is it. I have ordered, not received yet, some individual size glass containers to do my own, homemade "lean cuisine" style lunches. I love, love, love dishes so having these cute individual size containers is making it fun for me to practice portion control.

[Spirit Deer]

Tami, I use a lot of small dishes too, and it really does make a big difference.

I just bought another twenty Tupperware Smidgets, in fact. I have about forty of them now. They hold two tablespoons and are so handy for so many things and keeping portion sizes small. I use them for salad dressing, a 100-calorie serving of M&Ms, tiny containers for our lunch bentos when we travel, small servings of nuts or sunflower seeds, etc.

If we're not eating at home, I try to stick with only eating foods I can't easily get at home. So I'm likely to skip bread or potatoes, because it's no challenge to make those things myself and I can have them any time. They're ordinary foods, and if I'm going to misbehave, it better be for something special.

I also try not to eat more than one small serving of carbs, especially bad carbs, per day and certainly not per meal. So if I do have bread, I don't have potatoes or rice, for example.

[khaski]

Pick and choose. Stuffing's just okay to me, so I'll skip it entirely so I can enjoy some sweet potato casserole without the guilt! I try to pick just what I LOVE and leave the rest, even if I like it. The problem is I really like/love just about everything!

[FrabjousDay]

I graze heavily from the relish trays prior to the meal.

[valerian]

I hate that stuffed sick feeling so I just use self-control and limit my portion sizes and even though I enjoy the experience of sitting down with my family to eat, I still try to remember to control things.

[larabelle]

I stopped eating on a dinner plate long ago and began using a salad plate. Now when I can only eat the amount of food which will fit on a salad plate..I am completely full and a dinner plate seems gigantic.

[mauimagic]

I always wear pants that zip up - no elastic!

[imagine]

I thought this deserved a bump up this year for Thanksgiving.

[josantoro]

I just dislike that "over-full" feeling so much that I do not overeat. Not worth it.