Really struggling with portion control

fastfoodietofitcutie

I am not giving up carbs, fasting or doing any other trendy diet. I’m simply just trying to eat like a “normal” person. Eat everything but stay within my calorie range. It blows my mind how small actual serving sizes are! I feel like I’m not satisfied unless I have more than 1 serving of everything. Any words of wisdom?

cmriverside

I feel that way with grain products like crackers and cereal or corn chips or breads.

When I was in weight loss mode, I cut out cereal, crackers and snack grains completely. They were too calorie-dense and didn't satisfy me with one serving. You may find that same thing.

I have to keep my meals balanced with my macros. A minimum of 25-45 grams protein in every meal (I'm female and set at 20% protein for my 1900 calories). 20g+ fat or so in every meal/snack. Fiber. If I get too far off balance it's hard to stay on track.

apullum

Protein, fiber, and/or fat help most people feel full. Which one(s) work best for you is something you will need to figure out through trial and error. Some people also feel full when they eat a large volume of low calorie foods, like vegetables. If you do this, just make sure you are getting the minimum calories, protein, and fat too.

cwolfman13

fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »

I am not giving up carbs, fasting or doing any other trendy diet. I’m simply just trying to eat like a “normal” person. Eat everything but stay within my calorie range. It blows my mind how small actual serving sizes are! I feel like I’m not satisfied unless I have more than 1 serving of everything. Any words of wisdom?

A serving of something is whatever you want it to be. A listed serving size doesn't mean that's all you can or should have...it's there so you can do the math. A serving of chicken is 4 oz...I don't think I've ever only had 4 oz of chicken...it's usually more like 6 to 8 oz, just as an example.

HoneyBadger302

You may need to play around with your macros a bit. I find it much easier to stay in my calorie range with lower carbs, but higher protein and fats than I do with a higher carb diet. Still am definitely "hungry" before meal-time, but it's not as long and no where near as miserable with my current macro alignment.

Go_Deskercise

Log your food BEFORE you eat it. This gives you a chance to edit portion sizes and calorie amounts to leave you room later in the day or lets you eat more than the recommended portion sizes.

hesn92

yes! It's a weird adjustment seeing how much a "suggested serving" is compared to how much I used to eat of it. like crackers for example. A serving size is like 4 crackers However with that said, you don't have to eat the suggested serving size as long as you stay at your calorie target overall. A lot of snacks, I tend to portion out the suggested serving size though, just for simplicity.

ElizabethKalmbach

There are some foods for which the satiation signaling doesn't happen right away. I like to give myself a serving, and then stop eating for a while. After about 15-20 minutes I take a moment to assess how I feel. Full? Frequently - particularly with salads - I don't feel full when I stop eating, but I *do* feel full a little while later.

I am a very fast eater. My child used to introduce me that way - which tells you a bit more about what SHE was like as a toddler than she probably thinks.

But anyway, try slowing down the speed with which you eat. If you pause for 15-20 minutes, you may find that the sensation you were looking for catches up to you sooner with some foods and later with others and almost never with a few others. Knowing that about your individual food choices can help you build a reasonable menu to suit your goals and lifestyle.

LyndaBSS

It was a shocker at the beginning but it didn’t take long to adjust. You might want to try more foods you can eat in volume like many veggies and fruits. Just keep at it.

Good luck with your journey! 🍀

geraldaltman

Only advice I can give is to try finding a way to convince your mind, yourself that less tastes and is just as good as more. My own example is peanut butter which I have had a life long love affair with. Once upon a time, I would just slather copious amounts of it on my toast or sandwiches. Then upon getting on, or returning to calorie and nutrition I began seeing how much extra fat and calories I was needlessly consuming and why I was buying PB far more often than one person ought to. Well, that is where I learned that my enjoyment did not suffer using less and my grocery dollar stretched just a little further on; and while far from perfect and and get a "hankering", that is when a full 2 tablespoons would be my "cheat treat". Trust me, I do! Using a digital food scale (if you don't already) could be helpful. If you portion out your meals (I try to do mine around 8 oz.). It will rarely be exact unless you are really meticulous about it. If your final portion is a fraction or three over, I don't see that as detrimental.
Well, I hope there is something here you find useful.

84creative

I’m always hungry! I generally eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and two small snacks at specific times of the day. I’m bulking at the moment so eating more inbetween these now.

lgfrie

Yeah, portion size was definitely an eye opener when my wife and I launched our diets 6 months ago. We used to drop 16 oz of dry spaghetti into boiling water and cook up 18-20 meatballs with a jar of tomato sauce and a jar of tomatoes. It was a bit ... "informative" to find out how many calories that was LOL Now we split 6 oz of pasta and have 4 meatballs each. Felt like insane torture the first week. Then you get used to it. Keep plugging away, and be sure to cut back anything that is both high calorie AND not satiating, like empty white refined carbs. That'll help a lot.

ElizabethKalmbach

There have been a number of studies linking *smell* to feelings of fullness. I'm not sure it works for everyone or if it's even a useful factoid for many in the convenience society, but I find that when I spend half an hour *cooking* my food before I eat it, I feel full faster. It's actually something I have to watch out for when I'm switching often between cooking for myself and eating out or eating left overs. I have to weigh out my food either way, because the sensation difference is so strong and not necessarily properly related to what I've actually ingested.

If you're into heavily seasoned foods, you may notice this more than if your foods are less strongly scented... If you're like my husband and can't smell a whole lot, you may also think I'm a bit crazy. ;-)

777Gemma888

Buy a food scale. Takes the guesswork and inability to control portions out of the equation.

Read this article, as the Food scale sticky is no longer working: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/want-lose-weight-weigh-your-food-week-ncna772476

BackcountryMountainGal

Eat slowly and mindfully without distractions (tv, internet, reading etc). This really helps with overall satisfaction
when you concentrate on how the food feels/tastes/smells. Drink a glass of water before your meal or have soup broth which will help fill you up.

Whenever you reduce your caloric intake, there is an adjustment period your body goes through and you WILL feel hungry because it's not getting what it is accustomed to.

When I've eaten all my macros for a meal or a day and still feel unsatisfied, I use distraction techniques that keep me busy and I forget about my stomach - go for tea with a friend, go for a walk, workout, clean the house, meditate with deep breathing, go to bed (lol). Also, thirst is often mistaken for hunger, so I focus on more water intake. The bonus if you do a work out, then you can eat a few more calories

It's hard to go over on protein and fiber, so if I do eat over my allotted calories for the day, I choose a high protein-high fiber snack.

jhanleybrown

Here is my take:
- don't listen to the people that say its "just all about cals in and cals out, it's that simple"
- composition of cals in my experience has a huge impact on whether I can make my number
- processed foods, or simple carbs leave me *really hungry
- whole grains, brown instead of white rice, things with a lot of fiber and fruit and veg leave you more full.
- same with healthy fats (almonds, avocados). An avocado makes me feel extremely full.
- some of these things have a not low cal cost (beans, nuts, avocados). But are way more filling than say potato chips. So, if eat a bag of "baked" chips....which are supposed to be healthier...I will eat 200 cals but be hungry again in...12.3 seconds...maybe even 11.2. While I eat whole wheat and multi grain bread, I don't eat any white bread.

Other tidbits...
- I will often have a large apple and a glass of water before a meal that I really like. Helps me not go back for seconds.

Lastly, you don't have to give up everything. So, for example took one of my kids out yesterday for a celebratory lunch. They love Dim sum/Chinese dumplings. They are delicious. So I knew how many pork and crab dumplings I could eat - and I did (delicious...). But I also ordered steamed broccoli and had two cups of it.

That helped me not over eat on the dumplings. I really enjoyed them...but I stopped whereas in the past I would have rolled out of there with my stomach about to burst.

Hope that helps.

candylilacs

Start with the nutritionist told me. You have a plate of food. You have a fist of protein, a fist of carbs, and a whole hand of greens (vegetables.)

phoebe112476

Your stomach will shrink and you will get more accustomed to eating less. One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread yet is volume eating. Some people eat foods that are low calorie and can eat large volumes to feel full. Search for volume eating and you will find threads with good suggestions if this might help you. I am not a volume eater routinely but have hungry days sometimes. The large amount of broccoli below was used in place of rice with this entire. The whole thing was only 350 calories. And I was not able to finish it all due to feeling stuffed!

poisonesse

I didn't read all the responses, but I used to have this problem too. What I did was simple. I started using small plates. I have dessert plates that are 7.5 inches across, with a 5 inch "put food here" section (rim doesn't count). And I started using that as my dinner plate. I found that using the smaller plate made the portion sizes look larger, and lo and behold... after eating my "tiny on a big plate" portions, I was actually satisfied. Not stuffed, but no longer hungry. Worked great for me! I still do it with certain foods, especially if I didn't actually weigh the portion size (SHAME on me, but I do sometimes cheat in that way) and that small plate holds me accountable.

LeannJeffers

If I'm honest with myself I have an addition to food and flavors. The more I enjoy a flavor the worse it is. Take peanut butter cups for example. I HAVE sat down and ate 50 of them! It started with how I was enjoying the flavor of them and then it got to the point that I just wanted them gone and decided to eat the whole bag Then the guilt set it. I have found that the longer I am away from candy and sweets the better I can be with my portion control. I don't crave the sweets or the salty snacks. I just eat better but then I fall off the wagon again (wash, rinse & repeat)

AnnPT77

ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »

There have been a number of studies linking *smell* to feelings of fullness. I'm not sure it works for everyone or if it's even a useful factoid for many in the convenience society, but I find that when I spend half an hour *cooking* my food before I eat it, I feel full faster. It's actually something I have to watch out for when I'm switching often between cooking for myself and eating out or eating left overs. I have to weigh out my food either way, because the sensation difference is so strong and not necessarily properly related to what I've actually ingested.

If you're into heavily seasoned foods, you may notice this more than if your foods are less strongly scented... If you're like my husband and can't smell a whole lot, you may also think I'm a bit crazy. ;-)

Like Elizabeth, I'm a fast eater, so I'm usually still feeling kind of hungry when my first portion is consumed.

I like her "cook it yourself" option as a way to enjoy some of the food's sensory pleasures before eating, but I also like to start that cooking by making myself a plate of raw veggies to graze-munch while I do the other cooking. I like lots of different ones, the classics like cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, celery, sweet pepers, but also less common ones like celeriac, jicama, hakurei turnips, and more. A mountain of veggies on a salad plate is usually only 50 calories or so, and one can sprinkle them with seasoned salt or herbs, or use a flavored-vinegar dip for extra flavor.

This combination of the low-cal, nutritious, but high volume and crunchy snack, plus the delay that comes with cooking, helps to give the snack time to register as satisfying, and reduce the odds that I'll gobble a dinner portion and want to run right back for more.

Another option is to add an after-dinner cup of hot herb tea (or some other no/low calorie beverage that you like), not so much to add fullness, but to create that delay that helps satiation register.