Eat what you like in small portions vs. eat more but lower calorie foods?

Tatarataa

What is your approach-do you eat what you like but in smaller portions and just track calories otr do you eat lower caloric foods in larger portions instead (mostly it is a mixture I guess)? What has helped you more, especially concerning cravings and emotional eating and general satisfaction?

Tatarataa

And what do you think is better for starting-eat smaller portions or change the foods but stay with amounts or even eat larger amounts?

janejellyroll

I did both. I ate what I liked, but I also found myself gravitating towards some other foods that gave me higher volume for the calories.

CoffeeNCardio

Both. Depends on the day. Today I'm eating very little crap but all of it at once. You can see my diary. Tomorrow I'll probably eat a ton of low-cal to feel fuller throughout the day (and because tomorrow is no work out day). I prefer the former because I can eat what I want if I'm willing to suffer long bouts of not eating anything throughout the day, and the latter so I don't have to feel hungry all day. Starting out, I did the low calorie throughout the day a lot more, it helped me get through the transition to not eating whatever I pleased whenever with no thought as to caloric intake.

ilex70

Both.

But with the caveat that there are some foods I know I'm not good at moderating and those I usually just avoid.

DrifterBear

I do both. We make things lower cal by substituting or reducing certain items and have reduced the serving size of many meals. I've also added a lot of veggies to my meals. I think it depends on your preference but would say most people who need to lose weight should do a combo. If you only cut back on quantity, you can easily go back to eating the same quantities later on and gain it back.

jandw122912

Both. I try and eat as "healthy" as possible, but I'm not giving up the things I love either... Some nights I have a giant bowl of zucchini noodles and other nights I have pizza... You have to fine the balance that works for you!

kshama2001

ilex70 wrote: »

Both.

But with the caveat that there are some foods I know I'm not good at moderating and those I usually just avoid.

This ^

lemurcat12

I do both also. I eat lots of vegetables and don't eat smaller meals than before I was watching calories, but I am more careful with higher cal things -- still eat butter and olive oil, but add less, measure out a serving of pasta and add lots of sauce (my sauce is made with lean meat and vegetables), so on. And I'll fit in reasonable portions of higher cal foods I enjoy, such as ice cream and cheese. And every once in a while, especially when I have lots of exercise calories, I'll have something high cal in not so small portions (like go out for Indian or Ethiopian).

angerelle

I've lost weight by putting less on my plate at mealtimes and snacking less. I think I was generally eating a bit too much, not vast amounts, but consistently too much. I was also snacking too often in front of the telly with a glass of wine. I still have my wine, and occasionally *measure out* some snacks if there are any calories left for them. Exercising more has helped too, more calories for a bit of what I fancy ☺

cwolfman13

a little of both...

AlabasterVerve

I eat high calorie meals twice a day. It makes it a lot easier (for me) to prepare delicious, satisfying food I want to eat when I'm not scrimping and saving calories for snacks or a third meal. As a bonus, I can maintain my weight without counting calories which makes sense considering even huge 900 calorie meals twice a day only total 1,800 calories.

As for cravings, I stopped eating foods that cause cravings on a regular basis and the cravings went away. I limit those sorts of things for holidays and the like which suits me perfectly.

Sabine_Stroehm

A bit of both. But mainly: delicious food that's also nutritious, most of the time.

Jruzer

I'm in the "both" column as well.

suziecue20

janejellyroll wrote: »

I did both. I ate what I liked, but I also found myself gravitating towards some other foods that gave me higher volume for the calories.

^^ Yes

abatonfan

Both. I eat what I like, but then I supplement it with high-volume foods. My dinner tonight was some smoked BBQ sausage (with rice-a-roni as a side for the family). I took a smaller portion of the sausage (one of the smaller chunks instead of 2-3 of the medium-large sized ones), mixed it with zucchini noodles, and added some broccoli sprinkled with Parmesan cheese as a side instead of the rice-a-roni. I still got the food I wanted to eat -albeit in smaller portions-, got a ton of food from the high-volume zucchini noodles and broccoli, and met my calorie goals.

neldabg

I'm with everyone else. I too do both depending on my mood.

abatonfan wrote: »

Both. I eat what I like, but then I supplement it with high-volume foods.

^ This is one really helpful trick that I do too.

janejellyroll wrote: »

I did both. I ate what I liked, but I also found myself gravitating towards some other foods that gave me higher volume for the calories.

Same

Machka9

Both ... just depends.

It's definitely not a one-or-the-other situation.

ck763074

I've been eating a lot healthier. I focus on eatin a lot of protein, I think it really fills you up a lot more per calorie than carbs, plus it's good for muscles. But if I eat healthy, and good portions throughout most of the day, if I'm not as hungry at night I might have a normal hamburger instead of 2 turkey burgers or something Along those lines.

emmycantbemeeko

A little bit of both. There are some very high calorie things that are nutritionally empty that I don't eat much of anymore, but mostly I love carbs in general more than sweets specifically, and a lot of my issue was with portion control, so just being mindful of appropriate servings is my main approach. I find if I start with a reasonable portion, I'm usually not ACTUALLY hungry after eating it- I was eating more out of habit and boredom and because things taste good. But I feel fine eating less of the same things if I actually pay attention to it.

srecupid

I do both but, I'm always on the search for stuff i like that is lower calorie though. Turns out there is quite a bit

jgnatca

Both. I carefully moderate calorie dense foods like nuts, chocolate, fats and cheese. But I eat nuts and cheese daily. Itsy little bits.

I am freer with popcorn, soup and vegetables. I eat lots of vegetables.