What does It Mean When Your "Eyes are Bigger Than Your Stomach"?

I am particularly a little overweight. I need a diet but I can't take it. I try very very hard to remember. And my great role model, my sister is on the track team and she eats very healthy. She eats her oatmeal every day in the morning with prunes and almonds, eats her dozen eggs, and of course since she eats a dozen eggs, she drinks lots of water.

I wish I could have a great body like her. I'm trying to. But I don't know. With all these foods I see, it's hard to choose. My life will be a pain if I get even more overweight and older. I will look like a big humongous round blueberry. Please someone help me. I have read all the comments and please, I'm depending on you and my life. Thank you. I really do care.

Yes, there is a saying that the same meaning in my country, China. "Yan da du xiao" (means eye big, belly small). What interesting thing it is! I think even different countries have a few similar cultures.

Sneakers41-I know what you mean; I almost always used to eat everything on my plate. What I do now is use smaller plates to trick myself into thinking that I am eating larger portions because if you use a smaller plate the portions instantly look larger.

Also, I tell my children to eat until they are satisfied and throw away what they did not want.

This way they satisfy their hunger naturally and won’t develop a weight problem. Both my kids are normal weight for their age and they get plenty of exercise daily.

I think you have to be careful if you have a tendency to overeat and you have kids because they will pick up the same habits that you have and will then develop a weight problem as well.

Cafe41-Wow I did not know that. I think the thing to remember too is that most restaurants serving sizes are about double or triple of what you are supposed to have.

If you get in the habit of asking for a carton so that you can separate half of the meal off your plate and take the rest home you will be able to control your weight and eat considerably less.

But if you are in the clean plate club, then you are in trouble.

SauteePan- I know what you mean. I think that when most people see a buffet there is something psychological that says that they have to eat more because they paid for the food.

The piles of food that I have seen on people’s plates in some of these buffets are astounding.

I think that if buffets had to be labeled with the calories and overall nutritional information I wonder how many people would still overeat.

I remember on a recent trip to New York City, I went to a restaurant that listed all of the calories for every item on the menu.

I could not believe that a Cobb salad had 875 calories. It was eye opening. If I would have ordered a typical lunch there, it would have been about 1,800 calories.

I had a small appetizer so for me it did affect what I ordered. I know that people will ignore the caloric labels just as smokers ignore the warning labels on cigarettes, but it really makes you think twice about what you are going to order.

Laluna- That happens to me too but I try not to go too long without eating. Often when I overeat because, “My eyes are bigger than my stomach” I usually feel horrible.

I feel tired and I don’t want to do anything. I also feel a bit of guilt because I overate. This is really how people start to develop weight problems because they eat in this fashion with more frequency.

Some people go to buffets and eat a whole days worth of calories in one sitting. An additional 3,500 calories is all you need to gain a pound.

So you can see that if you ate your daily allotment in calories in one meal more than likely you will exceed your daily caloric intake for the week.

When I see a buffet, I first scan it to see what I really want to eat and then get small portions of it. I also only try to go up a second time for a dessert that I take a few bites and leave. That is how I control myself at a buffet.

My eyes are bigger than my stomach when I do not eat for a while and it seems that I could eat everything in sight. I have learned that having a little snack in between meals will help "shrink those big eyes".