Calorie-cutting tricks that get results and keep boredom at bay:

1. Choose labor-intensive snacks.

Your brain needs about 20 minutes to register fullness. Nuts that require cracking, grapefruit that must be sectioned or edamame that need shelling all slow you down.

2. Pack in the produce.

Instead of seeing your diet as a way to limit your intake, think of it as an opportunity to eat more — veggies, that is. At a waistline-friendly 40 calories per serving, you can't go wrong.

3. Have an appetizer.

As long as your pre-meal pick is low in calories and contains lots of water (like soup) or fiber (like salad), it will help you eat less overall. Just be careful. Cheese and high-fat dressings will only set you back.

4. Buy smaller dishes.

Eating on downsized plates may help you consume less, according to two recent studies. Researchers from Cornell University served snack mix in two different-size bowls: a four-liter bowl and a two-liter bowl. Study subjects took 53 percent more snack mix from the larger bowl. In the second study, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign served juice in two different-size glasses: short and wide and tall and skinny. While both glasses held the same amount of juice, the subjects who drank from the skinny ones (which looked larger) poured themselves less.

5. Have your cake, but eat your cauliflower, too.

Balance every treat with a serving of vegetables. You'll likely be too full for seconds.

6. Make an accomplishment list at the end of each day.

It'll help you track what is — and isn't — working in your diet.