5 ways to lose weight

That have nothing to do with food

So I have a braces and no matter how happy I am with it, it hurts this week. As a result, I've been living ‘liquid’ for four days. Today I went to the office with a huge cup of homemade smoothie and a carton of gazpacho (not to be confused with this order buster by the way). ‘Soon I'll be Doutzen-thin and have beautiful teeth,’ I texted my dentist. Just a little more to endure. Or actually not.

It reminded me of the most wonderful colleague I ever had, and I shared her story with the editorial team. She broke her jaw (something with a bicycle wheel between the tram tracks), which meant she could only eat liquid for three (three, THREE) months. As a result, she was about as slim as Marjan Jonkman.

‘And? And?’ my curious colleagues asked, ‘did she stay slim?’ They would seriously consider a jaw fracture for that. But of course not, she became her old, equally beautiful self again. Being slim is one thing, staying slim is mostly in your head. So I'm giving you some psychological tips to help you become slimmer easily, without too much hassle.

1. Keep your distance

Don't sit too close to your plate. Literally keeping your distance helps you maintain control over your food. Push your chair back every now and then. Lean back. It prevents you from mindlessly munching.

2. Use a small plate

At Google in the ‘canteen’, they have two types of plates. They recommend their staff to use the small plates. Because then you eat less, have less chance of being overweight, and are healthier and a happier and better employee. There is a clear connection between portion size and how much people eat. Famous experiments have been conducted with portion sizes, such as the one with the soup bowl that was continuously refilled from below through a tube without the participants noticing. The subjects ate much more soup than that one bowl, without realizing it.

3. Leave some over

An old tip from the friends of Weight Watchers. Always leave something over, that way you are in control of your own plate and you won't easily give in to binge eating and feasting. It really works.

4. Smell your favorite food

I didn't come up with this, but American food psychologists did. They had people who needed to lose weight smell their favorite food. Occasionally, they were allowed to taste a small bite. This way, they were also in control of their plate. And belly.

5. Ask yourself this question

Do I like it? Think about that. Often, fries aren't that great, but you eat them just because they are fries and you have the Pavlov effect that you have to eat them all. Chew on them; are they crispy, not too mushy, well-cooked, not too salty? If they aren't tasty, you'll stop sooner, and if they are tasty, you'll eat them with so much attention that you'll undoubtedly eat less. And otherwise, having a little indulgence once in a while isn't bad.

Have a nice weekend!