The weight control paradox - eat enough

Start your weight control by eating enough.

This is my first blog post in English. I am a Finnish registered dietitian. Iwork a lot with people who face challenges in their weight control. Quite often people believe that the reason for their overweight or obesity is eating too much. Actually quite often the opposite is true.

It is quite rare to see people who are overweight because they eat too much. More commonly the reason is trying to eat too little and too light meals - this leads to increasing hunger, especially towards evening, which leads to eating low-quality food and huge portions.

While it is true that eating for example three hamburgers is too much, by focusing attention to only what and how much one eats in the evening one misses the point: the main problem is not the amounts eaten in the evening, it is the fact that one eats too lightly in the morning and the daytime. Yes, the portions can be huge in the evening but they have been too small earlier. And also, when eating high-calorie food, the volume of the food is actually not so big after all - this food is densely packed with calories. One salad might contain the same amount of food as burgers. So the volume of the food ends up being moderate after all.

My advice to you is not to try to eat less or try to be without eating unhealthy stuff in the evening. Instead I advice you to eat enough good, proper, nutritious food regularly starting from the morning. The number one rule of sustainable weight management is to get your hunger control under control. And the best way to do this is to eat enough. And that is the weight control paradox - eat enough. Stop thinking what you can delete from your diet - start thinking what you could be eating more. Also, sleep enough, as that is the foundation of weight management.