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On the farm where I worked as a teenager during the summer, we would eat like we might never see food again. The lady of the house would set out a spread to be remembered in story and song - not just once, but every meal! We would fill our plates heaping full, eat them clean, fill 'em full again, eat them clean again, and then fill 'em about half way and eat them clean the third time. This was at lunch or dinner. We never ate too much at breakfast; just some waffles, and a couple eggs, and sausage, and bacon, and cereal maybe, and fruit (two or three pieces) and some toast with jam. Seconds and thirds on the toast with jam. The bread was home baked, y'know. But it was at lunch and dinner that she really set out the vittles. There was always at least two cuts of meat at each meal, like say a ham and a platter full of hamburgers. Then six or eight side dishes - mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, gravy, more homemade bread, real butter, etc. There was milk and juice and coolaid, and a little something for dessert - pie and ice cream for instance. I don't know how she did it but there was always lots of variety, and I understand this is typical farm fare.

I didn't gain much weight on this diet because I was working pretty hard. Farmers work about 14 hours a day during busy seasons like harvest and plowing and as a teenager I seemed to be able to put it away and not put it on.

I've found this idea that I like. The plates we ate off of at the farm were large - larger than a typical dinner plate I think. Even tho typical dinner plates are a little smaller, I'm still used to filling a plate and eating it clean. I love food so much that I like to keep putting more food on my plate until there isn't room for more. That's how I gauge my food intake. I don't claim it's a good way; just how I've always done it, without a lot of thought on it.

Well, here later in life I'm a bit too fat.

But they do have these smaller plates. Maybe these are just salad plates and I just never noticed them before. But they work super well for dinner. I fill it up and I figure somehow I'm getting a plateful, I don't seem to fixate on how big the plate is. I'll go back for seconds if I'm still hungry, but a lot of times I've just been sitting around so I'm really not that hungry and I stop.

Algorithm: mealtime, fill plate. Eat plate clean. Decide still hungry? Repeat.

Solution: get a smaller plate. Doesn't seem to make me feel deprived.

Results? What with some fasting, a bit of bike riding, and this, I've lost two inches off my belt size over the last year.