Time your meals

Set a timer for 20 minutes and reinvent yourself as a slow eater. This is one of the top habits for slimming without a complicated diet plan. Savour each bite and make the meal last until the bell chimes. Paced meals offer great pleasure from smaller portions and trigger the body's fullness hormones. Wolfing your food down in a hurry blocks those signals and causes overeating.

Sleep more, weigh less

Sleeping an extra hour a night could help a person drop 6 kg (14 pounds) in a year, according to a university researcher who ran the numbers for a 2,500 calorie per day intake. His scenario shows that when sleep replaces idle activities – and the usual mindless snacking – you can effortlessly cut calories by 6%. Results would vary for each person, but sleep may help in another way, too. There's evidence that getting too little sleep revs up your appetite, making you uncommonly hungry.

Serve more, eat more veg

Serve three vegetables with dinner tonight, instead of just one, and you'll eat more without really trying. Greater variety tricks people into eating more food – and eating more fruit and vegetables is a great way to lose weight. The high fibre and water content fills you up with fewer calories. Cook them without added fat. Season with lemon juice and herbs rather than drowning their goodness in high-fat sauces or dressings.

When soup's on, weight comes off

Add a broth-based soup to your day and you'll fill up on fewer calories. Think minestrone, or Chinese won-ton. Soup is especially handy at the beginning of a meal because it slows your eating and curbs your appetite. Start with a low-salt broth or tinned soup, add fresh or frozen vegetables and simmer. Beware of creamy soups, which can be high in fat and calories.

Go for wholegrains

Wholegrains such as brown rice, barley, oats, buckwheat and whole wheat also belong in your stealthy weight loss plan. They help fill you up with fewer calories and may improve your cholesterol profile too. Whole grains are now in many products including pizza crust, pasta and soft "white" whole-wheat bread.

See your skinny clothes

Hang an old favourite dress, skirt or a hot pair of jeans where you'll see them every day. This keeps your eyes on the prize. Choose an item that's just a little too snug, so you reach this reward in a relatively short time. Then pull out last year's cocktail dress for your next small, attainable goal.

Skip the bacon

Say "no" to those two rashers of bacon for breakfast or in your sandwich at lunch time. This simple move saves about 100 calories, which can add up to a 4.5 kg (10 pounds) weight loss over a year. Other sandwich fillings can replace the flavour with fewer calories. Think about tomato slices, peppers, roasted peppers, grainy mustard or a light spread of herb goat's cheese.

Build a better pizza

Choose vegetable toppings for pizza instead of meat and you'll shave 100 calories from your meal. Other skinny pizza tricks: use less cheese or use reduced-fat cheese and choose a thin crust made with just a touch of olive oil.

Sip smart: Cut back on sugar

Replace one fizzy sugary drink with water or a zero-calorie drink and you'll avoid 10 teaspoons of sugar. Add lemon, mint or frozen strawberries for flavour and fun.

The liquid sugar in fizzy drinks appears to bypass the body's normal fullness cues. One study compared an extra 450 calories per day from jelly beans vs. fizzy drinks. The sweet eaters unconsciously ate fewer calories overall, but not so the ones having fizzy drinks. They gained more than 1 kgo (2.2 pounds) in four weeks.

Sip smart: Use a tall, thin glass

Use a tall, thin glass instead of a short, wide tumbler to cut liquid calories - and your weight - without dieting. You'll drink 25-30% less juice, fizzy drinks, wine or any other beverage.

How can this work? Experts say visual cues can trick us into consuming more or less. Tests found all kinds of people poured more into a short, wide glass - even experienced bar staff.

Sip smart: Limit alcohol

When an occasion includes alcohol, follow the first drink with a non-alcoholic, low-calorie beverage like sparkling water instead of moving on to another cocktail, beer or glass of wine. Alcohol has more calories per gram (7) than carbohydrates (4) or protein (4). It can also loosen your resolve, leading you to mindlessly ingest crisps, nuts and other foods you'd normally limit.

Sip smart: Go for green tea

Drinking green tea may also be a good weight loss strategy. Some studies suggest that it can rev up the body's calorie-burning engine temporarily, possibly through the action of phytochemicals called catechins. At the very least, you'll get a refreshing drink without loads of calories.

Slip into a yoga state of mind

Women who do yoga tend to weigh less than others, according to one study. What's the connection? The yoga regulars reported a more "mindful" approach to eating. For example, they tend to notice the large portions in restaurants but eat only enough to feel full. Researchers think the calm self-awareness developed through yoga may help people resist overeating.

Eat at home

Eat home-cooked meals at least five days a week to live like a thin person. One survey found this was a top habit of "successful losers." Sound daunting? Cooking may be easier than you think. Shortcut foods can make for quick meals, such as lean minced beef for fajitas, washed lettuce, pre-cut vegetables, tinned beans, cooked chicken strips or grilled salmon.

Catch the "eating pause"

Most people have a natural "eating pause", when they drop the fork for a couple of minutes. Watch for this moment and don't take another bite. Clear your plate and enjoy the conversation. This is the quiet signal that you're full, but not stuffed. Most people miss it.

Chew strong mint gum

Chew sugar-free gum with a strong flavour when you're at risk of a snack attack. Making dinner after work, at a party, watching TV or surfing the internet are a few dangerous scenarios for mindless snacking. Gum with a big flavour punch overpowers other foods so they don't taste as nice.

Shrink your dishes

Choose a 10" lunch plate instead of a 12" dinner plate to automatically eat less. Researchers found in test after test that people serve more and eat more food with larger dishes. Shrink your plate or bowl to cut out 100-200 calories a day – and 4.5 - 9 kg (10-20 pounds) in a year. In the tests, no one felt hungry or even noticed when tricks of the eye shaved 200 calories off their daily intake.

Get food portions right

The top habit of slim people is to stick with modest food portions at every meal, five days a week or more. "Always slim" people do it and successful slimmers do it too, according to one survey. After measuring portions a few times it can become automatic. Make it easier with small "snack" packs and by keeping serving dishes off the table at meal times.

Try the 80-20 rule

We're conditioned to keep eating until we're stuffed, but in parts of Japan people eat until they're 80% full. They even have a name for this naturally slimming habit: hara hachi bu. We can adopt this healthy habit by dishing out 20% less food. Studies show most people don't miss it.

Eat out your way

Restaurant meals are notoriously fattening, so consider these special orders that keep portions under control:

• Split a starter with a friend.
• Order an appetiser as a meal.
• Choose the children's portion.    
• Get half the meal in a doggie bag before it's brought to the table.

Complement a smaller starter with extra salad for the right balance: half the plate filled with vegetables.

Reach for the red sauce

Choose tomato sauce for pasta instead of creamy sauce. The tomato-based sauces tend to have fewer calories and much less fat than cream-based sauces. Remember, portion size still counts. A serving of pasta is one cup or roughly the size of a tennis ball.

Go meatless more often

Eating vegetarian meals more often is a slimming habit, according to some experts. Vegetarians weigh up to 20% less than meat eaters. While there are several reasons for this, beans and pulses play an important role. Bean burgers, lentil soup and other tasty legume-based foods are simply packed with fibre. Many of us only get half of this important nutrient, which fills you up with fewer calories.

Burn 100 calories more

Lose 4.5 kg (10 pounds) in a year without dieting by burning an extra 100 calories every day. Try one of these activities:

• Walk one mile, about 20 minutes.
• Dig up weeds or plant flowers for 20 minutes.
• Mow the lawn for 20 minutes.
• Clean house for 30 minutes.
• Jog for 10 minutes.

Celebrate

When you've kicked the sugary fizzy drink habit or simply made it through the day without overeating, pat yourself on the back. You've moved closer to a weight management lifestyle that helps people lose weight without unrealistic or complicated diet plans. Phone a friend, get a pedicure, buy new clothes - or on occasion, indulge in a small slice of cheesecake.

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