Volume eating - yea or nay?

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geneticsteacher
geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A nay vote here. One of my goals is to recognize (and have my stomach recognize) what a normal portion size for me actually is. I am trying to recognize what "enough" feels like vs. that "stuffed" feeling in the past.

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I do volume eating, but I don't interpret that as eating until I'm stuffed. A "normal portion" of some foods is pretty small and I don't see a problem with rounding out something like lasagna, mashed potatoes, or fried tofu with a larger portion of roasted vegetables, salad, or broth-based soup to make a bigger meal.
  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 524 Member
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    Two plates, same calories, only one plate looks like it has more on it...

    I'd chose the one that looks like I'm getting more.

    I'm a volume eater, and like to chew. Things like shakes just wouldn't cut it for me, also.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I do volume eating, but I don't interpret that as eating until I'm stuffed. A "normal portion" of some foods is pretty small and I don't see a problem with rounding out something like lasagna, mashed potatoes, or fried tofu with a larger portion of roasted vegetables, salad, or broth-based soup to make a bigger meal.

    This is basically how I approach it. It's not about being stuffed, as I dislike the feeling of being stuffed and always have.
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
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    No shakes or bars here either. Just food. I have adopted the Healthy Plate - half the plate fruits/veg, 1/4 starches (rice, potato, bread, or other grains), 1/4 protein. I am still amazed at how small a "portion" is. Perhaps I should get out my great-grandmother's dinner plates. They are 10" in diameter vs. the the 12" we are currently using.
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
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    I always have and always will love eating. So while it would be awesome if I could train myself that a 2 oz portion of pasta was enough for dinner, I just don't see it happening. So I'll continue to round out my meals with big salads and big veggie portions. Those things have vitamins and fiber, too, which are healthy in the long run.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited April 2016
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    I personally love it whenever "Volumetrics" is being challenged! I spent way too many years shunning fat, sugar and salt in food (and then giving in to low nutrient fatty, salty and sweet foodlike substances). Appetite, hunger and satiety and our attitudes towards them, is just as individual as taste preferences. I always had an idea of proper portions, I just didn't think they applied to me :s I have learnt active portion control via MFP, and I know how much is appropriate, and feel confident that the amount I portion out will be enough, but I still think it looks small and the way satiety sets in after 20 minutes, never ceases to surprise me.

    ETA: A big help while learning, was "the hunger scale" - google it.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,070 Member
    edited April 2016
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    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    A nay vote here. One of my goals is to recognize (and have my stomach recognize) what a normal portion size for me actually is. I am trying to recognize what "enough" feels like vs. that "stuffed" feeling in the past.

    I'm not a big fan myself. I have been doing it for 8 weeks or so and I do feel like I get more nutrients that way. I eat way more vegetables than I normally would have. But, I always feel like I am force feeding myself and I hate that feeling. I don't have much of a hunger trigger. I gained a few pounds by boredom eating calorie dense food when I wasn't even hungry. I'm going to stick it out a few more weeks, but then I will probably try just eating when I am hungry (which isn't often) and stopping when my body tells me to. I never gained for most of my life just listening to my body and I think I need to get back to that.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    A nay vote here. One of my goals is to recognize (and have my stomach recognize) what a normal portion size for me actually is. I am trying to recognize what "enough" feels like vs. that "stuffed" feeling in the past.

    I vote you should eat in a way that you feel satisfied and meets your nutritional/calorie needs.

    I understand volume eating to be eating larger quantities of low calorie foods like vegetables and smaller quantities of higher calorie foods. I kind of do that because I don't want to just eat plain chicken, broccoli and brown rice every day. Some people are happy with that formula but I want to eat all the foods I normally would eat.
    I don't eat to feel stuffed but some foods the portion size needs to be small to fit my calorie goal. It satisfies me to be able to eat 1-2 slices of pizza with a big salad rather than the 1 sad looking slice of pizza alone or have a plate full of vegetables instead of rice with my stir fry. It isn't really an abnormal amount of vegetables. They are nutritous and don't add many calories. I'm not fooling myself about portion sizes. I eat 3 meals and 1-2 snacks a day not grazing all day. I prelog the food I eat.

    If the volume eating you are talking about is actually something different then I may have a different opinion.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I do volume eating, but I don't interpret that as eating until I'm stuffed. A "normal portion" of some foods is pretty small and I don't see a problem with rounding out something like lasagna, mashed potatoes, or fried tofu with a larger portion of roasted vegetables, salad, or broth-based soup to make a bigger meal.

    Yep - this^

    I round things out with volume too. I add to my plate / my casserole / my soup ......a couple of high volume ingredients. I can still eat alfredo and mac and cheese.....when they have enough veggies added.

    The whole "eat when you're hungry thing" doesn't work for me, that's been broken for years.
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
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    I'm actually confused what the argument here is. I like to have a big salad with my lunch and a small entree or sandwich. I could just eat a small sandwich. Some days when I am short on time to eat, I do eat just a small sandwich.

    But I feel fuller longer if I eat a salad and a sandwich, even though the salad is only ~120 calories including dressing but fills a 7 cup container. I like the way the salad tastes. I enjoy eating it. It provides me fiber and vitamins. I don't feel stuffed after eating it and a small sandwich.

    If you don't want to eat salad then don't? Not sure where force feeding came into it.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    AigreDoux wrote: »
    I'm actually confused what the argument here is. I like to have a big salad with my lunch and a small entree or sandwich. I could just eat a small sandwich. Some days when I am short on time to eat, I do eat just a small sandwich.

    But I feel fuller longer if I eat a salad and a sandwich, even though the salad is only ~120 calories including dressing but fills a 7 cup container. I like the way the salad tastes. I enjoy eating it. It provides me fiber and vitamins. I don't feel stuffed after eating it and a small sandwich.

    If you don't want to eat salad then don't? Not sure where force feeding came into it.

    Yeah, nothing in what I have ever read about volume eating says that people should stuff themselves or eat food they don't want. It's just a strategy to feel less hungry on restricted calories.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    geneticsteacher wrote: »
    A nay vote here. One of my goals is to recognize (and have my stomach recognize) what a normal portion size for me actually is. I am trying to recognize what "enough" feels like vs. that "stuffed" feeling in the past.

    I'm trying to not eat as much because as you mentioned I don't want to get to that 'stuffed' feeling, and learn better about what 'enough' is. Hit or miss and sometimes I will eat a volume, but it's more a lot of vegetables than anything.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    It depends on how hungry I am. Most of the time I don't like feeling full. There are occasions though.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    I think it's really personal preference. If you want big portions, and choose to bulk your meals with low calorie items, go for it! Anything that allows anyone to be satisfied and at their calorie goal is a win in my book.

    Sometimes I do this if I want something that doesn't fit in my calories that day. I was making a thai peanut pasta salad. I used half noodles, and have zuchinni noodles. Not sure if that qualifies as "volume" eating, but it works for me.

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