Portion Control and Moderation
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Ugh, my willpower is awful though. Is there some way I can build it up?0
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robingmurphy wrote: »Ugh, my willpower is awful though. Is there some way I can build it up?
Start with small changes. Trying to 180 your life will lead to failure.
My willpower and motivation lag sometimes too, but I'd rather be fit than fat, therefore I put in the work.0 -
robingmurphy wrote: »Ugh, my willpower is awful though. Is there some way I can build it up?
Baby steps. I started with setting my goal on here to maintain weight and I aimed to log absolutely everything I ate accurately. After a few weeks I lowered my goal to lose half a pound per week and eat protein with vegetables or fruit at each meal (plus a dessert after dinner of about 150 calories). Then I decided to add in time at the gym twice per week doing anything.
Baby steps.0 -
songbird13291 wrote: »Another restaurant trick. Before you start to eat, divide everything on the plate in half. Get a "to go" box and put half of the food away.
Ya, I do this. Half an American entree is plenty for me.0 -
pstegman888 wrote: »At a restaurant, instead of an appetizer, get a big salad first, and order an extra vegetable with your meal. Ask the server not to bring bread.
I agree with the first part of this comment; however, asking the server to hold the bread while eating out is only ok if the person is eating alone. When eating with others I would consider that approach disrespectful.0 -
I personally think eating large amounts of those low calorie veggies is the key to making this last long term. I eat around 1250 calories a day (and allow myself to go over that once or maybe even twice per week) and I eat a TON of vegetables. I don't eat much bread, dairy, meat, or sugary treats.
Eating 1200 calories worth of what I used to eat before I lost weight would amount to a couple slices of toast and a piece of pizza a day...not a lot of nutrition or a lot of food. When you eat veggies as the main course with meat/cheese/bread as the flavoring you not only eat fewer calories but you can eat a whole lot more food. So now, instead of pizza I might have an entire container of sliced mushrooms, cooked, drained, topped with pizza sauce, a slice of mozzarella cheese, and a big huge pile of mixed lettuces with ranch dressing. That's around 400 calories where as two slices of medium cheese pizza from pizza hut is more than 400 calories.
Being able to eat the portions you crave makes this whole healthy eating for a life time a lot more manageable in my opinion. I'm kind of from the camp that believes in lots of veggies and little meat/dairy/processed foods for optimal health.
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Log food the day before and try to focus on filling foods. Usually protein (often chicken) with vegetables is filling.
This works better for me than filling up with just veg, other carbs, for example. I've had days where I've tried to avoid meat; I always go over and still don't find myself full. Pop a steak in there and all of a sudden the grumble monster has nothing to say. Protein, fat, and fibre are what a lot of people find satiating.
(Dairy works sometimes but there are many calories to rely on it in a budget.)0 -
I notice that your intake of carbs and sugar is quite high. You can reset your appetite in 3 days by simply dropping your carbs and sugars way down. For three days, keep your carb intake at 75g or less and keep your sugar intake at maximum 15g. That means you will eat lots of veggies/protein/fats at each meal....so stirfry, soup, salad omelet, fish, chicken, beef. Get out your cutting boards and an assortment of non-starchy veggies...in the context of protein and fat, veggies are very filling and satisfying. It's not even important for those three days to have low-calorie days. Your appetite will naturally come back down to an appropriate level in those 3 days, as will your calorie intake.0
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I had a bad dat today. Eating right just didn't workout. My dinner was 1/2cup of yuca. Im so hungry water for the rest of the night. I hope I do better tomorrow. :neutral0
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Only allow yourself to eat one course when eating out if you cant moderate.. I always just get a main course and eat it all lol, I'll get a tea or coffee if ppl get dessert0
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I totally get the problem with portion control. Although I have changed what I eat and am making better choices as far as what I eat, I have trouble limiting certain foods to one portion. Like today I came home starving and ate a whole bag of black bean chips (5 servings in a bag) and half a container of hummus. It was just so yummy I couldn't stop myself. Well I am paying for it now, I got like a weeks worth of fiber in one sitting. I hope I will learn my lesson and maybe record one portion in my diary before sitting down to a whole meal of bean filled foods0
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That's what I have to do: log it first, in a specific quantity, and then serve myself only that quantity. The rest of it gets put up, so there's no such thing as seconds. I wouldn't dare sit down with the whole container and hope for the best. If I did that, the decision-making process would become, "Hmm, am I enjoying this?" instead of, "Have I finished the amount I should eat just now? Is it time to move on to something besides eating?"0
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robingmurphy wrote: »Ugh, my willpower is awful though. Is there some way I can build it up?
Stop making excuses for eating more than you should.
You just did it then.
"I'll just have some bread"
"I'll just have one more then I'll be good tomorrow"
"It's only one donut"
"It's not my fault, it's my willpower"
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I had similar problem when I started. I just couldnt stop when something was good. Logging food definitely helps, but what I found most helpful was weighing my food when preparing it and making just enough for 1 meal or 2 meals. I would then put enough for 1 meal on my plate and put rest of it away. Biggest mistake is being able to refill your Plate when you do not need it. Once you learn how to do that at home you will be able to discipline your self outside at the restaurant as well if you need more tips or help feel free to Message me!0
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Multipacks have smaller portions in them than family sized share bags
Buy those instead
Then you have to actually open a new bag to eat over servings allowance
Weigh stuff in the kitchen and put it on a plate then eat in another room so if you want more you have to go get it and weigh it out again
Log everything before eating
Stop being a victim in your own life...the only thing to blame for overeating is you ..it's not uncontrollable emotions, seasons, friends, social life..it's you ...quit the excuses...move more to eat more and stop eating when you run out of calories.
Hunger is an emotion for some people it seems
Oh and merry Christmas
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It's helped me to really pay attention to how my body feels. It doesn't feel good to be hungry, but it sure doesn't feel good to be stuffed either. I feel best when I'm in the middle territory of not hungry anymore but nowhere near stuffed. So when I start getting full/satisfied I start asking myself if another bite or two is going to throw me into uncomfortable territory. Usually when I do that I can put the fork down and push the plate away. I also find that eating lower (not low) carb helps greatly in controlling my appetite.0
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Today I had a tiny, tiny portion of salad that I thought would do nothing for me. Then I also had a 29g slice of Christmas loaf, and now I am feeling very full. Just a tiny salad and one piece of bread can indeed fill me up some. We'll continue learning the right portions for us throughout this journey we're on, I think.0
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Multipacks have smaller portions in them than family sized share bags
Buy those instead
Then you have to actually open a new bag to eat over servings allowance
Weigh stuff in the kitchen and put it on a plate then eat in another room so if you want more you have to go get it and weigh it out again
Log everything before eating
Stop being a victim in your own life...the only thing to blame for overeating is you ..it's not uncontrollable emotions, seasons, friends, social life..it's you ...quit the excuses...move more to eat more and stop eating when you run out of calories.
Hunger is an emotion for some people it seems
Oh and merry Christmas
Maybe, but for most people it's just hunger. Getting macro ratios together really helps a lot of people.0 -
Great advice - thank you! I will try it.0
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