One solution to this problem is to carry your own doggy bag. I carry what I call a "doggie box," a tightly closing compartmentalized plastic container that fits neatly into a cotton purse, so I don't need to lug around a huge Styrofoam container that can tip over and leak.
Some people overeat because they're eating the wrong kinds of food. For example, many people with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes do better with low-carb diets, but they're told by dieticians and medical people that they should eat diets low in fat and high in carbohydrate.
People with normal beta cells can cope with the high carbohydrate loads, but in those with defective beta cells, this type of diet can lead to rapidly fluctuating blood glucose levels. The blood glucose fluctuations, in turn, will lead to hunger, in some cases to low blood sugar after meals, and the hunger and shakiness caused by the low blood sugar leads to more eating. A vicious circle ensues.
I tend to overeat because of boredom. Having something to eat is often more interesting than vacuuming the living room or mowing the lawn. When they go on vacation, most people gain weight. When I go on vacation, I usually lose weight, because there's so many interesting things to do between meals, and so little I can eat at most restaurants because of my low-carb diet.
I'm sure there are many other reasons to overeat. The trick is to do some self-analysis to find out what it is that triggers overeating in your own particular case. If it's because you can't stand to waste food, it won't help to get counseling about nonexistent emotional problems. You need to learn to waste or to figure out how to take the extra food home for a second or even third meal.
If you overeat because of boredom, it won't help to get a lot of lab tests of your various hormone levels. You need to find something more interesting to do than eating (if you find it, let me know).
We're all different, and we all have slightly different triggers and slightly different solutions to the problem of overeating.
What are yours?
