I have never had a weight problem, but I did spend a lot of years competing in a sport that has weight classes. Since I was always several pounds over the maximum weight for my division, I have lots of experience in struggling to control the urge to eat more than i know I should.
One tip that I used to great effect is to make it harder to overeat. Only make the amount of food you want to eat. If you do make more food, then serve yourself the correct amount and put the rest away before you sit down to eat. If possible, eat in another room, not the same one where the extra food is. If you buy a bag of chips or a package of cookies, fine. Take out your serving, and put the rest away. And I mean WAY away. I used to hide my high calorie snacks up on the highest shelf of my kitchen cabinets, behind whatever was stored up there. To get it down, I had to pull up a kitchen chair, climb up on it and then kneel on the counter, open the cabinet, haul out a bunch of stuff, get my snack, and reverse the whole process. I found that by the time I did all that, I could usually talk myself out of completing the process.
I also found it helpful to schedule some project that I wanted to do for right after I ate. So I would have the mindset that I was going to eat, then go do this really fun thing. So I replaced extra portions with a different, very rewarding activity. I tried to do something away from home, so I would not be tempted.
I also was careful to build some wiggle room into my food plan for the day. One major competition was always held just after Easter...I really struggled with not being able to eat the candy I was so fond of. So, I decided to allow 100 calories of jelly beans for one day (that's 10 jelly beans). I could have them all at once, or spread them out. But I could have them.
Also remember that the amount you eat each day is less important than the amount you average over the week. If you overdo one day, cut back a little on the rest of the days. Don't try to make all your changes at once. You don't need to quit all your bad eating habits cold turkey. Don't be too hard on yourself. Do, however, be honest with yourself. If you just have a mouthful of something extra, fine. If you have three or four mouthfulls, you may have had half a serving - so don't pretend it was just one mouthful. Many people find chewing gum helps keep them from eating, because your mouth is occupied. And if you chew a strong flavor of gum, food won't taste as good while you still have the flavor of the gum in your mouth, which makes the food less attractive. Think of brushing your teeth and then sitting down to a glass of orange juice. Yuck
Which is actually another thing that I found helpful. Brush your teeth as soon as you have eaten your portion. You will be less likely to eat after brushing.
Another thing is timing. It takes a while for your body to send signals to your brain saying you are not actually hungry any more. So eat your portion, then wait half an hour, but occupy yourself for that time. Usually you will find that you are not really so hungry after all.
The last bit of advice that comes to mind is that you should always eat enough that you are not hungry, but never so much that you are full. This does not count for snacks of course, but just for meals.
I am sure I will think of other tips; it has been about 30 years since I had to cut weight, so I will cudgel my elderly brain and try to recall other ways of keeping my mouth shut! Hope some of the above help.
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