I have a bad life-long habit of waiting until I'm starving before I eat. Then I of course gourge myself. This is pretty typical of the busy American lifestyle. Whenever I look back at my life and think about times when I've been overweight, its usually also a really hectic, stressful time. I love 'comfort food'. Duh. Its 'comforting'. When you are down you turn to things that bring you joy. No mystery there. Or when things are hectic, you go for the quick-and-easy drive-thru. All really bad for you it turns out.
Try and eat small portions throughout the day. Get away from the 'three squares' mentality, and really just eat when you are hungry. Also remember it takes like 20 minutes for your mind to get the 'full' signals from your stomach - so eat slowly and set out a rational, healthy portion before you start. I joke that everything is a 'single-serving', because like a bag of potato chips or whatever, will just get eaten in its entirety if I don't show some discipline. Its because you can still be munching away well after you are 'full', but just have not got the signal yet from your stomach.
Another trick is to manipulate your brain's 'full math'. Over time your brain has established a number of 'swallows' that it calculates for 'full'. Try drinking a few glasses of water before your meal - taking small, multiple gulps. This helps load up your 'swallow count', and will trick your brain in to feeling full sooner. Not to mention that water is good for you and also physically fills your stomach. Better if it is warm - so start with a warm green tea if you really want to be all granola and healthy. Hey, 'thinking is not cheating' as my trigonometry teacher used to say. Whatever it takes!
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