Portion Control

santje00

Hi Guys & Girls,

A quick question for my fellow dieters. I've been jojo dieting for several years and have finally gotten back on the wagon. My biggest problem is not eating healthy or getting exercise, it is portion control. For some reason, I never feel full and always want more. Can anyone suggest some tips and hints to help me with portion control and prevent me from falling off the lifestyle change wagon in the future?

mochi622

I really like coleslaw and keep a bag of the cabbage in the fridge. Now I use it to bulk up pretty much anything. Added it to my family pasta dinner so I can have a smaller portion of the pasta but still have a big full bowl. I really like the crunch it adds.

abitofbliss

I'm sure you're going to get a lot of great tips.. Here's solely my opinion..

Nutrition is always most important. You can create a deficit and lose all the weight you want with no exercise and most importantly, patience. Create a daily goals checklist for 1-2 months with a small list of daily goals you'd like to meet nutritionally (i.e., don't drink soda, eat 5 meals, eat x calories, drink x amount of water, etc). You're going to have to suffer, at least a tiny bit, until your body adjusts to the changes. If you can get through a week of eating less/better you'll probably be excited about the next week, and the excitement will continue to grow as your body changes and before you know it you'll be eating right and you'll likely WANT to work out. Make other changes that release stress, make choices that make you happy.. For me, making my bed every morning really helped mindset. This is what I started with back in March. When May came around not only was I on the top of my food diary game, but I also rode 250 miles on my bike, in June I did 350.

I wish you the best on your journey.

Zipp237

If you eat healthier foods, you don't have to worry too much about small portions. You can eat a lot of green beans for few calories.

I eat a lot of food. I don't eat a lot of calories.

Screw portion control.

santje00

Awesome tips everyone! Thanks!

BZAH10

It may help to change your inner dialogue as well. Instead of wanting to be "full" change your word to "satisfied". Because your goal is to eat the correct amount of food and get the proper nutrition, not to over eat. Sometimes it's those small changes that can make a big difference.

murp4069

BZAH10 wrote: »

It may help to change your inner dialogue as well. Instead of wanting to be "full" change your word to "satisfied". Because your goal is to eat the correct amount of food and get the proper nutrition, not to over eat. Sometimes it's those small changes that can make a big difference.

I totally agree with this. I rarely eat until I am full now, I eat until I am satisfied. I sometimes have to resist the urge to get more if it's something particularly good (french fries or ice cream!) but I remind myself that I don't need to be "full." I also find it helpful to make sure I know exactly what portion I can have before I start eating. Then I try to not scarf it down - I try to enjoy it at a reasonable pace. Once I finish, I only get more if I'm actually hungry as I don't want to deprive myself. But I don't go back for more if I'm simply not "full."

You could also try drinking a large glass of water prior to each meal, or always start with a small salad. Some people swear by things like that.

bethannien

I've noticed that eating slowly, drinking water before and during the meal and then just waiting until I've finished my carefully measured portion gives me a chance to feel satisfied. It turns out that I'm usually NOT still hungry after the first portion if I give it time to settle.

My big problem is going back for seconds because I want to, not because I need to.

bbordner

It took me a couple weeks to not be hangry by the time I got home from work, but my body started adjusting to the smaller portions and not going back for seconds. It just took some time. I still have days where I want to eat all the things, but even those are getting easier to get through.

santje00

I like the idea of the pre-logging and drinking more water. Thanks for the tips everyone. I've been trying them from this morning and notice its going a lot easier.

SezxyStef

santje00 wrote: »

I like the idea of the pre-logging and drinking more water. Thanks for the tips everyone. I've been trying them from this morning and notice its going a lot easier.

Yes prelogging and water are great.

So is eating till satisfied...make sure your meal takes about 20mins.

AS for your issue...you get to control that...feeling full is not a good thing for me as it's "uncomfortable" I like feeling just right..

cityruss

- Eat fewer meals, made up of bigger portions.
- Use lower calorie substitutions to create more volume
- Play with macronutritional composition of meals to increase fullness
- Suck it up and get used to not being full

BeyondApril

I sometimes "pre-eat" before a meal: some carrots and almonds, or a salad about 1/2 hour before dinner (my toughest moments are portion control at the dinner table!), as well as a sip of water between EVERY bite, putting my fork down to do it. Slows me down so I can't eat faster than my brain can register.

scoii

Learn the difference between "full" and "not hungry". That's what makes a lot of people the size they are.

After a childhood of being forced to finish what's in our plates if we want a desert. We have adulthood with restaurants giving us portions that are twice as large as we should eat and supersized takeaways.

A few weeks of moderate eating at you wont find it weird.

Raptor2763

Have some water before your meals. You'll feel fuller and not tempted to blow out the portions. Besides, additional water aids in the digestive process

ryry_

All these tips are great. One thing to strongly consider if this is you or not. For the longest time I had two modes.

IDGAF Mode: Eat whatever and however much I wanted.

Extreme Diet Mode: Severe calorie deficit, lots of restriction, requires tons of will power to maintain, lots of hunger, no fun whatsoever. Didn't matter how healthy i ate hunger was always an issue

Many times people only approach weight loss from that extreme mind set and don't consider that middle ground where you are losing slower (maybe a lb a week), but hunger is much more manageable and the diet and portions can be controlled without a lot of other intervention.

If you are in that extreme mode then I would recommend upping your calories to a smaller deficit and the hunger should take care of itself. If you are already aiming for that and still struggling then I think many of the other tips here are great.

gertmeister

We need to eat more healthier foods to feel full. Low fat, low sodium, high fiber, high nutritional value. Lots of veggies and legumes and whole grains. Make sure you're getting your vitamins. Go to the doctor and ask for blood tests so you can know what nutrients you're short on (often vitamin D, Calcium) or have too much of (cholesterol, sugars). Our digestive system has a great effect on our brain chemistry. Eating yogurt or taking acidophilus to balances our digestive bacteria is a good idea. It takes about three weeks for the brain and tummy to adapt to the new foods and to rebalance the digestive system microbes and chemistry that is linked to the brain. If we keep eating the same unhealthy choices our bodies don't adapt to the good stuff and we still have a taste for what our body doesn't need to eat to be healthy.

arditarose

You have to figure out what works for you. Some people are filled up by fat. They can weigh out an appropriate amount of a fatty cut of meat, have a side salad with olive oil, maybe a bit of veg-and be full.

To me, the serving size would be too small to fill me up. I need volume--so I choose to spread out my fat calories throughout the day, and make a dinner so big I can eat it out of a mixing bowl. It might only be 300 calories. I then eat twice more before bed.

Maybe YOU are filled up on carbs, or maybe very little carbs, moderate fat, high volume, etc. Mess around with your meal volume and macros.

firephoenix8

Even a year and nearly 40 lbs down, I think the hardest thing for me is when the portion doesn't look big enough, and I feel like I'm being deprived. This happens especially with recipes or foods I ate before I started counting, so I have a "before" image to compare to. I use the small plates in my dish set a lot and I've learned to tell myself I can go back and get more if I'm actually still hungry. Sometimes I find to my surprise that in I'm not actually able to even finish the portion!

The other things I could say have been said.

santje00

Great tips everyone thanks. I've used a combination of tips to combat the problem. For example, using the smaller plates, add more lettuce and other low-calorie veggies to ensure I feel like I had enough, drink more water etc. It has helped, because now I've almost halved food consumption. Where I was able to eat for example to wholegrain bread rolls, I can only eat one now and feel full.

stephaniej2888

I am right there with you on the never feeling full. I even went to the doctor and had blood work and everything to make sure I was good (which I was). But what I've started to do is eating more frequently. I have a snack drawer in my office desk and I keep crackers, granola, cashews, etc and keep turkey, cheese and hard boiled eggs in the fridge and every couple hours weather I'm hungry or not, I make myself a small healthy snack. It makes it to where I don't get to that starving point where I just about can't control myself lol.
I also pre portion my snacks if I can. So if I have cashews I make myself several individual bags of them pre measured that way I just grab on little snack bag and when they are gone they are gone!