Overeating - It's a psychological battle

One of the things I am continuing to struggle with is overeating. I think I'm doing okay on the composition of the food I'm eating but sometimes I just can't stop myself from eating a lot more than I know I should. I haven't figured out the trick, yet, to moderating my intake so that I stop eating before I get uncomfortably full. Once I can do that, I'm sure the pounds will simply tumble off again.

A little bit like knowing (in my head) that sitting on the couch wasn't burning enough calories to help me lose anything - even though I was free to get up at ANY TIME and go out for a walk - this overeating thing is a mental game. I know that if I'm eating things that require more chewing I'll slow down and give my stomach's stretch receptors a chance to tell my brain to make me stop eating. Otherwise, I tend to eat too quickly and my body doesn't have a chance to shout STOP!

Maybe there are some rituals I can adopt that will help me slow down and eat less. Most of the time I'm eating on my own these days (sad about that, but that's a whole other story). During the week I usually take breakfast to work with me, since I leave the apartment at 06:15 and that's just too early to have breakfast. About half the time I'll take leftovers or something from home for lunch, which is from 11:00 to 12:00. The rest of the time I'm lucky to have a good cafeteria at work. Dinner is usually either a salad (which can be quite substantial) or something cooked - if I have/make the time to prepared it.

Divided dish

I have a couple of Corelle divided dishes which make it easier to get the proportions of proteins, carbs and vegetables right. That doesn't seem to help. I just fill it up twice!

There have got to be some 'tricks' that one can play on oneself that make it