10 Reasons You Keep Overeating

Your cereal has small flakes

You’ll eat more calories if your cereal bowl is filled with smaller flakes than larger ones, even if your serving size is smaller, according to interesting recent Penn State research. Researchers took a basic wheat flake cereal and crushed it down to various smaller volumes (80 percent, 60 percent, and 40 percent of the original size). They asked 41 adults to eat cereal for breakfast once a week for four weeks; each week they poured a different-sized flake version. As flake size was reduced (meaning the cereal looked more crushed), participants poured a lower volume of cereal, but still ate more in terms of calories. “Without us even knowing it, these variations can have a big impact on how much we’re eating,” study author Barbara Rolls, PhD, professor of nutritional sciences, said in a press release. “For cereals with small pieces, the recommended serving size should be reduced to account for the uncharacteristically low volume, in the same way that the recommended serving size is increased for voluminous foods, such as puffed cereals and leafy greens.” Make sure you’re not making these breakfast mistakes that could sabotage your weight loss.

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