Really struggling with portion control

Machafin

Try drinking more water with your meals. I have found that helped me but over time my stomach does not seem to need as much to feel the same full as before.

EDIT: You should also stride to add more leafy vegetables in each meal as they help to fill you up as well.

fitoverfortymom

Go_Deskercise wrote: »

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.

This really helped me so I could see how many calories things like cheese and high-calorie condiments were infringing on my calorie targets. I would eat less of those in favor of something more substantial.

spiriteagle99

Growing up, we were encouraged to have seconds or even third helpings of dinner. It was a compliment to the cook (Mom) to ask for more. When I went out on my own, I had to figure out how to eat less. For a while I would eat a frozen dinner, so my serving size was limited, but add one or two servings of vegetables to help fill me up. Now I am fine with some recommended serving sizes (i.e. vegetables rice, pasta) but others (meat, pizza) I eat more but make sure they fit in my daily calorie allowance.

NovusDies

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?

Do not dismiss trendy as ineffective. If you are struggling it is worth an experiment to see if you can solve your hunger while staying inside your calorie goal. If that means skipping a meal to have 2 bigger meals then that is what it means. You don't have to start there. There have been many good suggestions in this thread to try first if you want.

I would rather be abnormal and finally get to a healthy weight then stick to my guns and be miserable trying to be whatever "normal" is.

lemurcat2

Go_Deskercise wrote: »

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.

This is good advice, as well as what cwolfman said.

The issue is overall cals, not whatever portion you have been told is the serving size. Like cwolfman, I often eat more than a serving (if that's 3-4 oz raw) of my protein, and typically it's not that calorie dense so that doesn't add many cals, but helps me be full. I ignore portion size for my side starch and go with what seems a reasonable amount to me given the cals (something like 100 g of raw potato, usually less than an official portion on the package of rice, since I find that satisfying, a serving or less of pasta for the same reason -- point is I decide how many cals I want to spend on it given how many I want for the whole meal, although now that I've done that for a while I have an intuitive sense without having to do the calorie math), and then I fill up my plate with vegetables, which are low cal. I certainly don't stick to one serving of veg, as that's pretty tiny IMO, and veg don't have many cals. I save cals by limiting (but not avoiding) some of the higher cal additions like oil used in cooking or better or the like.

If you are sticking to one serving of everything you may actually not be eating all your cals, it kind of depends on what you are actually eating. I found it pretty easy to not change my overall volume of food (just certain items) and cut cals by a lot.

What also helped me (it's not the answer for all) was eating only at my 3 main meals, so as to have the cals to make them a reasonable size.

nighthawk584

I exercise every day, for health and so I can eat more!

kenyonhaff

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?

Find low or no calorie drinks to accompany your eating. A cup of tea or coffee with a snack is more filling that the snack alone.

Some foods are very high is volume and low calories...popcorn is my favorite example. Air popped and lightly seasoned popcorn is actually a pretty large serving for low calories.

It takes getting used to adjusting to what a normal portion is...give yourself time. American restaurant portions are often 2-3 TIMES what one should eat at a sitting, for example. Readjusting expectations and what is healthy will naturally take some practice when a Quarter Pounder with large fries and a huge soda is touted as a meal sized portion.

amy19355

my trick is to indulge in large portions of complex carbs rather than small portions of simple or refined carbs.

For example: I'll eat raw sweet peppers as if they were apples, and dip them in hummus as I go.

Anytime I can get sweet and savory in one plate, I find myself 1000 times more satisfied than just sweet or just savory.

as others have mentioned, the nutritional makeup of the food we eat has a lot to do with our sense of satisfaction when the plate is emptied.

foreverblissful

Kinda goes with what other people have said before:

1. Make sure you're drinking enough water. I found when I started drinking half a gallon a day aka 8 cups of liquids a day(combination of unsweetened teas, and water) it helps hold me out inbetween meals.

2. Find your calorie range that will align with your fitness goals if you haven't already and make sure it is realistic for your activity level and nutritional needs. It's possible you may have mundercalculated your goal, it doesn't hurt to double check!

3. Eat more veggies! I know you said you want to "eat like a normal person," I'm not quite sure of what you mean by that. One person's healthy norm can be unhealthy to another person based on age, height and body composition. At the end of the day 200calories of veggies is more liekly to fill you up than a slice of 200 calorie bread.

4. Eat less traditional "carbs." Not trying to tell you to go keto, but higher carb diets are generally less filling and more calorically dense than lower carb diets(I've heard this from bodybuilders and athletes on youtube). You can try to combat this by replacing "traditional" carbs aka the junk we all think of when we hear carbs(sugar laden bread, flour, rice, etc.) with more complex carbs(look out for low whole wheat breads not all are created equal, try switching out all purpose flour with whole wheat, or replace your grain and flour products with carbier vegetables--potatos, carrots, root veggies as a whole etc.)

5. Increase your activity level, and build more muscle. If you burn more, you can "eat more" without gaining unnecesary weight(I'm assuming this is your worry rather than gaining). This is a part of the reason that I know so many atheletes who actually "struggle" to eat enough to maintain their body mass! They can't keep up with the amount of calories they burn! Even if you already exercise already, you may need to up your intensity, or add more days to your routine to boost your calorie range. You'll burn a lot more calories the more muscle you have and the more active you which will allow you to eat to satiation.

6. Make sure you're actyally hungry and not mentally craving food! Chew gum instead or eat a super low calorie snack to hold you out if you'll be eating soon!

TLDR: At the end of the day, there are just some foods that won't fit into your calorie goal AND satiate you by nature, which does mean you may have to tweak your diet slightly. Having those things in moderation preferably as sides along wih more filling healthy foods, may just be the solution, rather than the main feature of your meal. You can also shift them as cheat meals instead, or buy lower calorie "healthy" renditions of them. For instance I eat banza chickpeas pasta for pasta dishes instead of real pasta, it's 10x more filling for the same calories. My last suggestion is becomming even more active and building muscle to increase your calorie limit. Hope that helps!