I have weighed between 110 and 118 pounds since I was 15 years old. That’s 56 years of maintaining my weight. Here’s what works for me and all of the following could easily be included in your eating habits as well:

• I avoid feeling hungry and I avoid feeling full - always. So I eat small meals and snacks throughout the day. If I start to feel just a little hungry, I eat something. If  I sit down to a meal whether at home or a restaurant I eat only small portions.  And when I eat I usually leave something on the plate – it’s OK to leave a little for the garbage or keep as leftover. This is my reminder that I’m not going to eat all the food before me – I’m only going to eat until I feel satisfied, not full.

• Over a period of time I learned and memorized calorie counts of all my favorite foods. Without much thought I will do tradeoffs such as if I want to eat some cookies, I quickly figure approximate calories of the treats and offset that with the rest of the foods I’m eating that day.

• I depend on food labels – I read them for all the pertinent information regarding nutritional (or harmful) ingredients. But this is always a quick reference when in doubt about how many calories are in the food you plan to eat.

• My experience has shown that watching calories rather than carbs and sugars is the best guide to avoid weight gain. Unless you have dietary restrictions,  we all need to eat well balanced meals. Focusing on avoiding carbs and sugars sometimes can throw off a healthy well balanced diet and should only be used for specific diets that will have guidelines for essential vitamins and minerals.