What to eat for dinner tonight if you're trying to lose weight

You can actually eat whatever you like, if you watch the portion size. Photo / Getty Images

Chances are you have been to dinner with someone who seems to eat the entree, main and dessert as well as enjoying the wine, yet they are able to maintain their slim frame.

But if you take a closer look they are probably eating quite differently to you. This is how to do dinner if your goal is to keep slim based on what the research tells us about the habits of those who successfully maintain their weight.

It's all about portions

You can actually eat whatever you like, if you watch the portion size. Think about the average serving size of pasta — 2-3 cups at least? More than we need for an entire meal let alone a single course. If you instead shift your focus to smaller portions of your favourite foods — a fillet steak rather than a T-bone, entree-sized pasta and rice dishes or a spoonful of someone else's dessert, you can experience all the joy of eating indulgent, higher calorie foods, minus plenty of extra calories.

Timing is crucial

The time that we consume our meals is important. It has been shown that those who consume more calories after 8pm are not only likely to eat more calories in total, but also a higher proportion of carbohydrates.

The US Weight Control Registry suggests that those who have lost weight and successfully keep it off, eat regular meals, at traditional meal times eg 6pm, not 9pm. An early dinner, or dinner at lunchtime followed by a smaller snack is the way to go for weight control.

Add in salads and soups

People with lower body weights generally consume a higher proportion of their main meals in the form of low-calorie soups and salads. This means that your dinner plate needs to be filled with at least two cups of low-calorie salad or vegetables every night. Another option is to include a soup or salad as a starter which has been shown to reduce overall calorie intake by 100 calories per meal.

Try eating low-calorie soups and salads as an entree to dinner. Photo / Getty Images

Focus on eating

Forget a meal delivery scoffed in front of the television, or cheese and crackers at the kitchen bench. If your goal is weight control, you need to focus on what you are doing. This means sitting down at the table, ideally minus a screen to focus on eating slowly, chewing each mouthful and savouring the meal.

Calories we consume on the run, via highly processed foods that can be eaten quickly, can easily result in overeating as we are not aware of actually how much we have consumed. The simple act of sitting down to "dinner" not only naturally ensures our nutrient balance is improved but we are also likely to eat fewer calories as a result.

It is often a light top-up

While many of us still find that it is our evening meal that is the largest of the day, research shows that this is not the case for those who keep slim. Research published in the Journal of Nutrition from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health looked at the food habits of 50,000 adults and identified that slim individuals often consumed only a couple of meals each day and breakfast and lunch were generally the largest meals of the day.

This suggests that shifting our calorie intake so that we eat more at breakfast and lunch and leave dinner as a light meal have a better chance of weight control. Light options at night include soup, salads or a couple of crackers with salmon or tuna.