Eating behaviours: Why they’re key to effective weight loss

When trying to lose weight most people focus on what they eat, sparing little thought to how they eat. The truth is, your eating behaviour can have a big impact on your weight-loss success – so much so that it’s possible to lose weight by focusing on how you eat without necessarily changing what you eat.

The physiology of eating

In order to understand why our eating behaviours are so important, we have to delve into the physiology of eating. 

Throughout the eating process a complex orchestra of hormonal, neurological and psychological changes take place, resulting in satiation (the feeling of fullness which makes you stop eating) and satiety (the feeling of fullness between meals). This begins before you’ve even started eating – when the smell of something tasty makes your mouth water – and continues long after you’ve finished. 

A key point to note is that it takes approximately 20 minutes from when you start eating for your brain to receive signals from your stomach saying “I’m full now, let’s stop”. That feeling of fullness will continue to grow as food moves through your digestive system even after you’ve stopped eating. This is why the speed at which you eat can affect how full you feel.

Eating more slowly 

When asked about how they eat, most people report that they eat quickly, taking big bites of food, chewing a few times before swallowing, then moving onto the next mouthful. 

Studies have shown that people who eat quickly are more likely to be overweight than those who eat slowly. The size of your bites can also affect how full you feel. Another study found that people who took smaller bites ate less overall than those who took larger bites. This is because it takes longer to chew food, giving your body more time to register that you’re already full.

Given that satiety takes 20 minutes, you can reduce the amount of food you consume and still feel full by slowing down the rate at which you eat. 

Listen to your body

When we were born we listened to internal cues that told us we were full and stopped eating when the message was received. No amount of cajoling will get a baby to take another spoonful if they’re done eating. 

As we grow older we’re taught to ignore these signals by our parents who tell us that we need to finish everything on our plates. Or we learn to overrule these signals because of ridiculous rules that diet plans have us follow. As a result, we totally lose touch with our own internal cues and tend to rely on external signals like an empty plate to signal that our meal is finished. 

Mindful eating

Mindful eating is all about being present with your food and being aware of what you’re putting into your body. That means no more eating in front of the TV or while you’re working at your desk! A 2014 study found that participants who ate in a distraction-free environment consumed less overall than those who were distracted.

Pro tip: Sit down at the table and really savour your meal, paying attention to the smells, tastes, and textures of your food. Also pay attention to the ‘joy factor’. Our enjoyment of food is at its highest when you’re hungry before you start eating and it decreases as you become increasingly full. If you’re enjoying a piece of cake, for example, savour the experience but stop eating when it stops bringing you joy – you’ve still had the pleasure of eating cake but you haven’t eaten it all for the sake of it. 

By understanding how our bodies work and working with them, rather than against them, we can reduce the amount of food we consume without feeling hungry or sacrificing any joy!