How do you get used to smaller portions?
kookla33
Posts: 234
I'm still having challenges accepting what a real serving of pasta, ice cream, and chips, etc. is. What helps you to stick to smaller servings and still feel satisfied?
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Replies
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I struggle. If I dont control myself, my portions are way over the line. Many times I do not feel satisfied--especially with pasta and rice--most any carbs. (sigh) Dont know if I will ever be able to be happy with one cup of pasta............:grumble:0
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I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.0 -
gradually.0
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for snacks I put one serving size into snack bags and take that with me so I know how much i'm eating. If you continue to eat less your stomach will get used to eat and begin to feel fuller with smaller portions0
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i use a smaller plate sometimes...it helps because the smaller portion fills it up making you think you are eating more food!! *trickery*0
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for snacks I put one serving size into snack bags and take that with me so I know how much i'm eating. If you continue to eat less your stomach will get used to eat and begin to feel fuller with smaller portions
I do the same...premeasure so you don't even think about it
Good luck 0 -
I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.
I'm with you, I have changed a lot of what I eat...I used to eat sandwiches at Lunchtime now I eat crispbread or have an ommelette because two small slices of bread with a bit of nothing between them does not satisfy my 'brain'. LOL0 -
honestly, i drink more coffee in the morning than i used to. seems like i dont starve as much for food when i first cut down the portions.0
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Drink a glass of water before you have your meal then afterwards but if you get hungry later don't starve yourself have something then you should gradually accept that the smaller portions fill you up0
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downsize your plates, fill your plates with veggies...that way you're not sitting there having being sad about a cup of noodles and how hungry you are
. I think as long as you add plenty of vegetables to your diet (not drowned in butter and sauce) and adding a small cup of healthy soup (barley mushroom, veggie medley) you will feel full and satisfyed! and if you work out and do all your calorie math ,you'll find that you can enjoy a serving or two of noodles or wahtever if you earned it! 0 -
Your stomach does adjust. I have always had a problem with portions, and two years about when i worked on getting healthy for the first time i did notice that over itme i got fuller faster as your stomach adjusts to the smaller portions. And then i gained it all back and was eating way to much, and now i am back at it again. but your stomach should adjust as you eat less and loose weight, and you will notice that what now leaves you hungry will be the right amount.0
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It helps me to make sure I am drinking water all the time, at least eight glasses a day. When I start getting hugry I drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes. It is helping when I do it.0
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Honestly, it is just a lifestyle adjust...
When working in a restaurant (Buffalo Wild Wings) a couple years back, I went from only being able to eat three or four wings and a small order of chips and cheese to eating twelve wings and an large order of chips and cheese....Which is HORRIBLE...I would never want to see what the calories are for that meal :indifferent:
What I found to help me get back to smaller portions is eating many times throughout the day.
Typically my day is something like this...
Breakfast: Yogurt
Morning Snack: Banana
Lunch: Protein and veggie or fruit
Afternoon Snack: Mixed Fruit (fresh) or a Protein water
Dinner: (Depending on the day) Either an Organic Protein Shake OR a protein with a pasta/rice and veggies
Late Snack: Sometimes I dont need this because I feel full....But add in something small like Jell-O 0 -
I agree with changing what you eat. All the carbs take too many calories away from my totals. So I tend to eat more protein and veggies. It works. Although I was never a huge pasta fan, but pizza was a nice guilty pleasure . . . . no more, though. 0
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Like many of the above posters said - add veggies. It will help fill you up without adding a lot of calories.
Here's a couple of other silly tricks that work for me and might help:
1. Serve yourself from the kitchen counter and not the kitchen table. If there's still a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table when you're finished your plate, you're going to be tempted to get yourself a second helping. If you're really tempted, put any leftovers away before you even start eating.
2. Eat slowly. Drink a sip of water between every few bites. Have a conversation during your meal. It takes time for the stomache to send the "I'm full" message to your brain - give it time to get there.
3. Have small healthy snacks during the day. It was keep you from being ravenous at meal times.0 -
i treat things like pasta and cheese almost more like condiments now (it's the first bite that tastes the best anyway *S*
i bulk up on the things like vegetables, whole grains etc etc.
treats are just that.... a 'treat' a lil thing to reward me if i want... but in fact i virtually never have them anymore. i found that by eliminating the sweet things i used to crave, i now no longer crave them..my body does not miss them at all (all those sweet, creamy, salty snacks that is *S*).
i found, by doing this, i have been able to identify the things that i honestly do crave most... and that's pasta and cheese. (together *L*)
so i just plan for it... and indulge it .. guiltlessly *S*
i find now i only have it ocassionally (instead of several times a week as i once did, and in huge portions then).. i now am perfectly fine with it in a smaller portion.
Primarily i handle this treat by only having it when i go out to a restaurant now... and then cause i KNOW the sodium will be way too high for me i automatically only eat 1/2 of the serving i get, taking the rest home for another day or for hubby *L*.
if i slipped and ate the whole serving now i KNOW i would feel awful.. not from guilt *L*... but from feeling physically sick.. my system can no longer handle that much fat/carbs at once anymore.
i never thought i would see the day... and i did not even risk doing that first couple of months i was trying to eat 'clean'... but it paid off. Now my body rebels when i try to eat the way i once did.. now my body is trained to expect high quality, healthy veg & fruits with no salt.
if anyone had told me a year ago i would reach this point in 2011 i would have laughed my head off at the notion.
*S*
good luck!0 -
It does get easier the longer you do it. I found at first even swapping for healthier stuff no amount of veggies ever made me feel as satisfied as a plate of pasta or even keep me feelign fuller for longer. I however do have the smaller amount of pasta, rice or potatoes and extra veggies on the side. Now though i eat a previous sized portion of food and i'm fit to burst. I just can't do it. I really reccomend spreading your food out, eat all the way up to your callorie allowance every day. Have your 3 meals and save some calories for snacks, take a not of when your the most hungry between meals and save a good amount of calories for that time of the day.0
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I'm still having challenges accepting what a real serving of pasta, ice cream, and chips, etc. is. What helps you to stick to smaller servings and still feel satisfied?
To start with I do no eat pasta often and when I do it is whole wheat pasta. I do not eat ice cream chips or anything else in the 'crap' category. Those product will sabotage your goals of being healthy/fit and/or losing weight. Refined sugars and white flour make you crave more carbs making you 'feel' hungry'. It is MUCH easier to maintain proper portion control with the right foods such as whole grains, lean protein, good fats, and fruits/veggies.0 -
for me there is no way i could stick with a plan unless i ate a lot! I now choose foods that are low calorie so that i can eat more. I need to feel full or i know i will buckle.
I eat lots of brocolli, scallops, chicken...really the key has been to go easy on starches and dinner is usually a big piee of chicken with heaps of broccoli and then i have 2 cups of strawberries for dessert.
good luck and think low calorie and small size!0 -
Bulking up meals with other things. Ie, having a cup of steamed broccoli with 50g (dryweight) of pasta.
I also have snacks rather than proper meals, so the portions seem fine for that. That really depends on schedules, though.0 -
I find that a huge bowl of broccoli with yogurt poured over it fills me up and then I can eat all that I want... only I'm already full so it's just enough to satisfy my brain and not enough to cry over.0
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I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.
Exactly what I was going to say. I don't worry about the correct serving size of pasta, chips or ice cream because I don't eat them. (or eat them VERY rarely).
I eat small meals frequently throughout the day. Basically just enough to take away the hunger, but then I'm hungry two to three hours later, so I eat again. For example, this morning I had Kashi cereal with almond milk, 2 hours later my shakeology with a banana and peanut butter, two hours later a handful of almonds, and now I'm eating my chicken breast on a salad and I'll eat half a sweet potato for my carb. About 3pm I'll have an apple and protein shake. Then I'll have dinner which will be 4-6 oz lean meat and some veggies.0 -
I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.
This is me, too. I had to entirely change WHAT I was eating in order to feel satisfied. It has taken about a year for me to be able to eat a small portion of something 'regular' and not grab for more, but that is because I eat well throughout the day, never skipping meals and eating low glycemic, high nutritional, whole foods.0 -
I need big portions so I eat lots of what is super healthy but not necessarily what I crave and have a single serving of the not great for me foods every now and then. It helps tame the hunger and you get used to it in time.0
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It is very difficult. First, you have to change your idea of what "satisfied" is. I used to think I wasn't satisfied unless I was so full that I was uncomfortable. I've started to accept that satisfied is not full at all. If how hungry you are is a scale of 1 - 10 where 1 is very, very hungry and 10 is stuffed, you should ALWAYS be between 4 and 6.
I try to tell myself it's only food and we need it for fuel (that doesn't always work for me). I also know what my reward is when I eat the right portion size and the right foods. I get to fit into my size 8 jeans and feel good about myself (I used to bust out of size 18's).0 -
I'm still working on this too but have found a few things that help:
1) Increase your veggie side serving or add veggies to casseroles. At lunch, have veggies and/or fruit instead of chips
2) Start using whole grain pastas and brown rice - more bang for your buck. I'm a big fan of SmartTaste by Ronzini for pasta
3) Eat a healthy snack in the afternoon to help keep you full before dinner. I like having greek yogurt and some fruit - good combo of carbs and protein!
Edited to add: when it comes to ice cream and chips, I just have to avoid them for the most part. The only way I'll have ice cream is to go to a stand and get a small soft serve. The only way I'll have chips is when I occassionally buy a snack size bag to go with lunch and they must be baked lays. If I have a carton of ice cream or big bag of chips in my house, I cannot stay away!0 -
I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.
That would be my advice too and to add to that, i've started drinking flavored tea (with nothing in it) after my meals especially if I don't feel satisfied yet. My favs are Chai, Ginger and Apple Cinnamon...but there are tons to choose from.0 -
You really do get used to feeling satisfied from smaller portions with time, rather than being totally "full". What helped me early on was to make sure I ate plenty of protein and fiber to help me feel full...and you can generally have more of it than you could for the same number of calories in pasta or bread. Now my stomach has shrunk to the point where I really only want to eat a portion of what used to be a normal meal for me. You'll get there!
Also, I've found that drinking water with a meal helps me feel more full.0 -
1. Measure and log what you eat BEFORE you eat it. It's a powerful motivator to keep your portion sizes under control.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Eat lots of high volume, low nutrient food - roughage.
4. Make sure you are getting otherwise appropriate levels of protein and fat. Use the roughage to reduce the carb quantity, not protein and fat.
5. Accept that "full" is not "stuffed".
6. Persevere... it does get easier! Especially when you see your efforts paying off on the scale!0 -
I'll be totally honest with you here Kookla...and it's probably not going to be fun to hear....
I didn't. I changed what I ate. I am a hungry human being so now I eat a boat ton of food but it is different food- veggies, fruits, green and leafy.
If I tried to eat "regular" food in the correct portions I would starve to death.
I do occasionally eat something like pasta or ice cream and either I save it for a day I can eat a normal serving (from a restaurant or weighed out in the kitchen in terms of ice cream) due to an intense work out, but I make sure that I'm already full on something else first- like a salad or a healthy dinner.
I hope that helps.
^^
What she said. It has a lot to do with the foods you chose to eat. Last night for instance, I had shrimp stir-fry (w/o any rice...just veggies, shrimp and sauce) and I was able to fill up a big heaping plate and it was still a low calorie meal. Even though it was low in calories, it was nutritious and I felt very satisfied when I was done. Had I chose pasta, chicken strips or french fries....it would feel like I was eating a lot less.0
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