My motivation for the approach was a bit different though. I never considered the sight of a overly full plate as a deterrent. Rather, I added up some numbers and realized that, unless you eat huge plates of lard for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it's practically impossible to eat over my basal number (mine's about 3000Cal). With that, my take on this was to be reasonable about what I put on the plate (dont go crazy with the fats and such and throw in veggies cause that's just good for you) and and limit what I eat during a meal to one "sitting". That is, I eat whatever I want while I'm sitting at the table, allowing for second helpings of things that I've put on the table before I sit down. I usually have extra steamed vegetables and salads and such which my family shares from a single plate, so I don't think it's such a stretch over "no seconds". But once my butt leaves the chair (for whatever reason), that's it.
Great idea, Reinhard! Keep it up!
Anton
. But seriously, the best thing about this site is that there's evidence that this works (at least for some people). That's enough for me!