Portion Control

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legowrangler
legowrangler Posts: 229 Member
in Food and Nutrition
what matters most what you eat or how much of it you eat? Is portion control the key to weight loss or is it eating healthier foods? I live with people and at the moment can not contribute to getting food.... they don't get the healthiest foods. soooo can i loose weight by just eaing less of the foods they do get?

Replies

  • VballLeash
    VballLeash Posts: 2,456 Member
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    Yes but you will probably find yourself hungry. Since unhealthy foods have more calories in them you won't be able to eat as much as you would if you were eating healthy. Its of course better than eating a lot of unhealthy food though. If you are buying the food shouldn't you be able to decide what to get?

    ~Leash :heart:
  • legowrangler
    legowrangler Posts: 229 Member
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    I don't buy the food at the moment... they do
  • VballLeash
    VballLeash Posts: 2,456 Member
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    Ooo sorry I totally read it wrong... well maybe you could suggest some foods, they might be surprised at how good healthy food can be.

    ~Leash :heart:
  • Daniel78
    Daniel78 Posts: 37
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    It depends mostly on the type of food that you're splurging on. Portion control is very important when eating things high in fat, sodium, or any unwanted value that isn't a part of your daily nutritional needs. I used to have a very big problem with portion control. To me breakfast used to consist of a box of cerial with a half gallon of milk. I switched to a healthier cerial (Fiber One) and 1% milk, but the portioning still needed work. Now I'm finally down to 1 cup of cerial with 1 cup of milk for breakfast daily.

    For the days where I feel like splurging with snacks while watching tv I'll keep baby carrots, olives, and healthy items on hand in bulk when I don't feel like portioning. It helps immensely! My wife isn't dieting and is killing mine by eating whatever she wants whenever she wants and constantly tempting me to splurge.

    When I first started dieting I stocked my fridge with healthier choices and pigged out. I didn't notice any weight loss because I was still consuming too many calories daily versus how many I was burning. I also didn't realize just how much natural sugar fruits and some veggies contained. Eating an entire pound bag of carrots in one sitting is way too much sugar! Portion control goes hand and hand with food selection. My stomach actually shrank over time and no longer requires copius amounts of food to get that full feeling. Six small meals a day keeps me going. I hope this helps in some way!
  • debbiejo
    debbiejo Posts: 18
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    I am learning that it very much matters what you eat. I was trying to work around the calories count by meeting my daily intake numbers, but cheating by adding in stuff I was craving like pizza (I looooovvvvveee pizza) and tootsie rolls (yuuuummmm). I was limiting them and just having one slice, rather than 4 like I used to, and trying to stick to only 3 tootsie rolls... okay 6 or 10. I found that my weight loss basically froze where it had been going down at about 2/lbs a week. Yikes!! :noway:

    I think portion control is important too, but you also need to try to make healthy choices. Can you ask for healthier foods that are not very expensive like fruits and vegetables? Could you offer to cook for them if they purchase them? Try to enhance them with yummy healthy dishes that are not only good for you, but also good for them. If that does not work, try to look at the labels and focus on eating more of the foods that are high protein and low in fat and sugars.

    You are off on the right step because logging in all of your foods will help you to choose healthier versions and stick to your daily calorie limit. One thing you might be able to control is excercise. Maybe try to do as much as possible until the food choices improve. You can do it!!

    Good luck!
    Debbie
  • marisol7649
    marisol7649 Posts: 484 Member
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    Potion Control is the key, I stopped counting calories for three months and I ate fast food every night ( I know that is bad ) and ate ice cream on the weekends. It finally took me the last few weeks to gain 5 lbs. Oh I forgot I did occasionaly exercise. I ate a little bit not a lot, it helped I got sick and could not eat alot. I guess my stomach shrunk. So portion the food, that should help until you are able to pitch in.
    good Luck
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    Portion control. Ideally we'd all eat nothing but healthy food 100% of the time, but in times when we can't- eat what's available, and watch the portion size.
  • Kristi82
    Kristi82 Posts: 80 Member
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    I would say finding a good balance. Both are important. If you aren't getting enough nutrition you are going to feel hungry all the time and are very likely to loose control. At the same time, just because it's a healthy choice, it's still possible to overdo it. Balance. Find what is best for you.
  • angiered
    angiered Posts: 169 Member
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    I would say healthy food choices are key to portion control, and portion control is key to weight loss.

    If that makes sense. Can you offer to cook if they get the groceries, and then give them a grocery list??

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