2. EAT MORE OFTEN—AND ADD SOME PROTEIN

The strategy: Switch from two or three large meals to five or six smaller ones of 300 to 400 calories.

The weight-control benefit: By eating more often, you're less likely to get ravenous and scarf down everything in sight. When you eat a midmorning and midafternoon snack, you're not starving at lunchtime or after work, so you won't come home and binge. For each meal or snack, eat both protein and carbs, such as cereal with milk, an apple with peanut butter or a turkey sandwich. Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, so you'll stay satisfied longer. A small Yale study showed that when women had a high-protein lunch, they ate 31 percent fewer calories at dinner than when they had a high-carb lunch. Tip: Try adding 2-3 ounces of fish or chicken breast to your lunch.

The health bonus: By eating more often you will keep up your energy, concentration and alertness levels—and you'll ward off the late-afternoon energy drain that's common among women. Plus, you are likely to eat more nutritiously because you won't be bingeing and loading up on empty calories.