As the New Year rolls around so many people decide that they want to lose weight and get fit again. Often this means going on a diet and watching the weight drop off quickly. It's not always that hard to lose weight when you are denying yourself the things that you want and eating little.
The problems arise when you end the diet. You revert back to your normal eating pattern and then the weight starts to creep back on. It's something that you have seen for yourself time and time again... your friends and family have lost weight on a diet, and then they find themselves on another diet a few months later after putting all of the weight back on.
You can break that cycle and then you never need to diet again. 
A recent study found that we often only consume 25 more calories than we burn each day. That small amount over a long period is the way that we put the weight back on.
These ideas can help to change the way that you eat, and the way that you think about food. Once you put them into practice you may be surprised to find that you do not need to diet again.
These are my ideas for Six ways to help you lose weight without even trying...
Firstly: Try and think about the idea of being able to eat slower. Simply slow down the rate at which you eat and put down your knife and fork between taking bites. Give yourself time to savour the tastes. It takes practice but after a while you will really see a difference.
Secondly: Eat off smaller plates. This sounds like something different perhaps? The portion will look much bigger on a smaller plate. Replace larger plates with smaller ones and you will end up eating less.
In third place on my list: Don't reach for snacks using your dominant hand. If you are right-handed use your left hand to go for those crisps instead. You will eat about 20% less.
Fourthly: Cut down on how much you drink by using a tall thin glass. Because short fat glasses hold much more liquid. I bet you didn't realise!
My fifth idea is: Why not chew gum when you feel hungry? You will consume fewer calories when you chew gum. Go for fruit based and it won't make your food taste strange either.
And finally the sixth thing to think about: Don't watch the TV when eating. You will eat more. Turn it off and you could consume up to 50% less food.
Just by trying some or all of these ideas you can start to see a change in the way that you look at food. It is well worth thinking about the short term nature of a diet and switching the way that you eat instead.
