Portion Size / Control

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RBarley92
RBarley92 Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So my husband and I both want to loose weight but our biggest downfall is we just cannot get our heads round portion control. This gets even more awkward for him as T1 diabetic.

Does anyone have any advice/tips/things to teach us about portion control and what we should be having / how to do it? We have a very active ten month old and by the time we manage to get her to bed we just do whatever without really paying much attention to what we are dishing up :/

Thanks!!

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Use your food diary here to plan all the meals of your day in advance. Aim to hit calories, protein, fat and carb goals as closely as possible. Use a food scale to weigh all food, and the recipe builder, if you cook.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    If you can get into a habit of using a food scale and logging what you eat using the site/app, it's really the most accurate way. Logging in advance is helpful too if you know it's going to be chaos.. just stick with what you logged.

    You'll lose weight if you consumer fewer calories than you burn, it's really that simple. You may need to make adjustments as you go because the "burn" part of the equation is going to be an estimate, but you'll learn what works for you.

  • RBarley92
    RBarley92 Posts: 7 Member
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    I've got a garmin vivosmart which I'm hoping will help with the 'burn' part and keeping track of that side of things, hadn't thought about adding it into the diary in advance, we cook alot and quite often make things up as opposed to following recipes which is not always that helpful when trying to track things :( Can never seem to keep it going for more then two days in a row
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Great to hear that you cook! I don't follow recipes myself, I hate feeling restrained and love to be creative, so I use recipes mostly for inspiration and guidelines. This is where the recipe builder comes in. You enter what you actually use, and divide the meal into the number of servings it actually yields. Or you can weigh the net total, and then the amount you serve yourself, in grams, and let 1 gram be 1 serving.
  • killdontmurder
    killdontmurder Posts: 142 Member
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    RBarley92 wrote: »
    So my husband and I both want to loose weight but our biggest downfall is we just cannot get our heads round portion control. This gets even more awkward for him as T1 diabetic.

    Does anyone have any advice/tips/things to teach us about portion control and what we should be having / how to do it? We have a very active ten month old and by the time we manage to get her to bed we just do whatever without really paying much attention to what we are dishing up :/

    Thanks!!

    I just got over my huge portions a couple weeks ago. The trick is to not eat and let your stomach shrink. Just go a day fasting, and eat small the next day. It hurts, this is your stomach shrinking. It'll make you think you're hungry, when you're not.

    How is it that I get full off of a granola bar, and some veggies w/ hummus? It's because my stomach doesn't feel like a bottomless pit, anymore. Once you break the spell, it's all downhill from there. Yeah, I'm still reminding myself that I shouldn't eat a lot but it's gotten a whole lot easier. I eat 4-5 small meals a day consisting of egg whites, whole grains, vegetables, fruits. It really makes your metabolism go faster which allows you to burn more fat. In time, it's almost annoying to eat. Especially if you're strength training and you need an Olympic sized meal or something...

    You can do it, because I did it. I'm here for support, and having just got over this issue I highly recommend that you PM me sometime so we can talk about a diet plan. Also, anytime you got hungry, you could always message me or something and I could talk you out of your craving.

    That goes for anyone who's struggling and needs support. I'm here to help.
  • AigreDoux
    AigreDoux Posts: 594 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I had/have this issue. Really, food scale has gotten me a whole lot better. I can now estimate within an ounce or so my portion of meat/fish. So where I was eating 10 oz of salmon, I now eat 6 or 7. Maybe 8 if I exercised or need extra protein.

    I still have to weigh my pasta, dressings, nut butters, etc. All the high calorie density things. I don't weigh or measure low calorie density foods like broccoli, green beans, lettuce, cucumbers, but I do log them mostly for their fiber content. I pretty much consider them unlimited though. I find it's important for me to have a visually full plate, so a big pile of broccoli accomplishes that without many extra calories.

    As far as recipes go, as PP have said the recipe builder is very useful. I have found that I don't need to enter every single little thing. I don't bother logging a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of hot sauce, a handful of chopped herbs, etc. Just the main calorific things. It also helps you cook more consciously, since you realize that by sauteing the onions in 2 tablespoons of oil you added 240 calories, where you could have used cooking spray and added none.
  • ofcsfoster36
    ofcsfoster36 Posts: 50 Member
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    The things that have helped me is weighing and logging my food. But the biggest help has been meal prep I usually take one day and make several meals I will use during the week. Make it a lot easier especially with my kids I can just grab the meal nuke it and eat.

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