-- Have a seat during meals: Eating while seated at a table with nice plates and utensils can lead you to consume about a third less than if you munch on the fly. Eat more slowly, so you have time to notice when your body sends the all-full signal.
-- Sniff out peppermint: People who regularly smelled peppermint ate 23 percent fewer calories per week. Pop a piece of sugarless mint gum or sip some peppermint tea and take a whiff to outsmart a craving.
-- Pack a snack with protein: Try a small container of nonfat plain yogurt or a lowfat string cheese to stave off hunger. Exercisers who had two glasses of skim milk right after toning and another two an hour later lost 2 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. (They lost four times more fat than those who drank soymilk -- holy cow!)
-- Spoon up a satisfying soup: Filling up on a minestrone or another healthy soup can help you eat less of your entree. More of a chowder fan? People who indulged in a fat-based soup before a pizza dinner ate 20 percent less overall than those who had a broth-based soup with the same calories.
-- Spice things up: Preparing your meals with garlic and pepper may prevent overeating. Overweight people who added zero-calorie spices to their dishes dropped an average of 30 pounds in six months, compared with 2 pounds in the control group.