Why Portion Control Doesn't Work

I think there is a difference between portion control and restriction.

You can cut your calories in half, that would be restriction for me - surely that is not going to last for a very long time. But portion control to me means eating what you NEED to stay healthy, lose weight and maintain in the long run. The word "control" says it all!

Right or wrong, the first thing I noticed is the author is overweight?? Then I noticed she wants you to buy something at the end. IMO it's a scare tactic to get people to buy into her program. Portion control absolutely works for me. I'm not saying I don't have bad moments but for the most part with out portion control, I wouldn't have lost 107 lbs.

^totally this

:huh: My Ticker says portion control does work! :bigsmile:

I'm not sure how binge eating means that portion control doesn't work. You aren't using portion control if you binge eat, by definition.

She normally charges $147 for her product/program, ( whatever it is, I didn't care enough to continue) but right now, only $ 47. Wonder if she'll double the offer or throw in some ginsu knives if we call in the next ten minutes??

NO. Besides, she is heavier now than I was before I started MFP. Not real inspiring there.

An overweight author trying to tell people how to lose weight.... hhmm

I stopped reading when she said "something forbidden".

There's where the problem lies. She labeled food as "good" and "bad". When she ate something she felt was "bad", she looked at it as failure and gave up.

Too many folks, when starting a new way of eating to lose weight, restrict certain foods. The better approach is to understand that food is just food. How you incorporate certain foods into your day determines whether or not it was good choice or bad choice to eat that particular food amount.

I THINK what she's trying to get at is that in order to end up with a consistent, healthful, adequate-but-not-too-much eating style, instead of planning out "ok, I can have 1 ounce of almonds and 3 ounces of spinach and 4 ounces of chicken and so on and so on and so on" and logging every bite, she wants you to eat the almonds and the spinach and the chicken until you feel satisfied and then stop and move on to the next thing in your day, and that by eating what your body tells you you need you can maintain a satisfactory weight.

I would tend to agree that, in theory, this would obviously be ideal. HOWEVER, most (certainly not all) overweight people didn't get that way by knowing when to stop eating. Most overweight people have either totally overridden their ability to read their body's cues regarding how much to eat or lacked them to begin with. Someone in that situation needs to learn what a proper portion size is through portion control and logging before they can re-learn how to gauge their body's reaction to that portion size, and even then that's not possible for some.

So, I think her methods might work for a small percentage of overweight people and/or many people who are at/near goal and have been controlling their portions for a long time, know what/how much to eat to maintain their weight and health, and are ready to move forward with that knowledge and give up tracking every bite, or for people who haven't historically had a problem with overeating and are just looking to drop a couple of pounds and improve their body composition. But, it's not going to work for a large number of people who need to lose a significant amount of weight.

Other than the fact that she's looking to sell you soemthing, she's not wrong on addressing the underlying phychological and emotional issues associated with emotional eating and binge eating. That should of course be addressed by a person anyways!

That being said, there is absolutely nothing wrong iwth the average person using portion controls. When I look at the serving sizes I had as a child or even those in restaurants today, it's ridiculous! Cutting back to a more appropriate size is just healthy.

On top of this, it doesn't address the difference between people and how certain people are moderators (portion control) or abstainers (can't have ANY of a certain food or they will binge). Personally I can have one serving of ice cream, but if I have brownies in the house I'll eat the whole package before I realize it.

It also seems to start with the assumption that everyone is an emotional eater (false) and that bingeing is inevitable.

Then it tries to sell you something.

Moving on.

This. Food is only a comfort sometimes but mostly because it tastes good. Not to say that some people overeat or undereat when they are stress/depressed. Also, if you read her mini bio under her picture, it seems that she is trying to promote how to feel better about your appearance no matter your weight and not losing weight.

So super-portions don't have an impact?

Bring back the 5 cent chocolate bar, and we might have a chance to beat the obesity phenomenon. Nobody ate 6 of the things in a row back then.

Ditto the coke. And everything else.

Portion control is essential to good health.

It totally depends on the individual with certain foods for me (Trigger foods) there is not such thing as portion control unless I only purchase X amount becouse I will eat XXX amout, Those foods for me are Ice cream one bowl is good 2 bowls is better 3 bowls must be better yet woops I just ate the half gallon. And cookies same thing with other items I can eat only a portion cake for instance I can have one piece and be good and pie. ITs all trial and error for me. I believe for most people also there are certain foods that I just should not have in the house.

Right or wrong, the first thing I noticed is the author is overweight?? Then I noticed she wants you to buy something at the end. IMO it's a scare tactic to get people to buy into her program. Portion control absolutely works for me. I'm not saying I don't have bad moments but for the most part with out portion control, I wouldn't have lost 107 lbs.

Whole hearted agreement! She wants you to buy into her fantasy that she's created, and it looks to me like she
could do with some portion control herself. Yes, we all have bad days, and overdo, and I've gone overboard
in the past, but portion control and better choice of foods has been steadfast in my success in taking off 167
pounds. It took time but I did it.

I have lost 32 pounds doing not much more than portion control. i still enjoy eating junk food i just eat less of it less often. i have tried the restiriction in the past and i didn't lose nearly as much and i gained it all back with an additional 50 pounds so...