Diet or Smaller food portions?
ClaudiaKho13
Posts: 229 Member
I have been looking at other posts and some people say they don't change anything about their diets except smaller portions.
But some say they do go on diets. Or cutting certain things out.
Im confused
But some say they do go on diets. Or cutting certain things out.
Im confused
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Replies
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Different people do different things to achieve a calorie deficit.18
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That's the great thing about weight loss. You can do what works for you - there's not only one way to do it, except to be at a calorie deficit.9
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Could work for you but you'd be reading the tea leaves. Could be small portions with hugh fat content and low water content which are higher in calories than bigger portions of other food. If I can control exactly how much I lose I would never choose shooting in the dark.2
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I didn't "cut out" any foods, but I did cut down dramatically on my restaurant meals. I also started paying more attention to my food choices and making calorie dense dishes less often.5
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Logging all your food takes out a lot of confusion. See what you are eating now and make changes based on evidence.12
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Logging all your food takes out a lot of confusion. See what you are eating now and make changes based on evidence.
This.
Of course, to me "go on a diet" just means to eat fewer calories than I burn, so I'd say that everyone who intentionally loses weight goes on a diet, however they achieve that deficit.
I looked at what I was eating to understand why it was more than I needed to be eating and then made some cuts. I didn't cut out any foods, but I did find that it's easier for me if I mostly just eat main meals and don't snack.2 -
I did some of each.
I pretty dramatically changed what I ate for breakfast and weekday lunches; (more veggies, little or no meat or bread) but I kept many of my favorite dinners only in smaller portions.5 -
Smaller portions and better choices, but no harsh restrictions on stuff you actually like.0
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Do what works for you. Keep in mind that the best way to KEEP weight off is to permanently change some habits. The more stuff you "cut out" for a "diet" the more likely you are to regain wait when the "diet" ends. It's also a lot easier to stick to a plan that doesn't have you stressed and starving.
That's why people recommend learning proper portion sizes (a food scale is important for that), a reasonable calorie deficit, not cutting out the foods you like, and maybe making some more nutritious/less calorie dense substitutions. I tinkered with my preferred foods - once I started logging what I ate, I saw I was way low on protein. Happily, increasing my protein also made me less hungry between meals.
For example, I love peanut butter, but I no longer eat buckeyes by the handful - I satisfy my peanut butter candy craving with a few Trader Joe mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups (not a hardship, they're delicious and a serving is 26 pieces!). Something like that is easy, but saves me 400 calories, and is still satisfying.6 -
By focusing on only my calorie limit I am able to make better choices and don't feel the need to have cheat days.2
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totally an individual choice. Personally, I do a bit of both. I still eat the things I love, but in smaller portions and bulked out with vegetables. Just doing smaller portions wouldn't work for me - I'm a volume eater. And cutting things out doesn't work for me either - if I think I can't have it, I want it.
So I eat the things I like, lighten them up on the calories where I can, and bulk out with veg.4 -
You can do a big diet overhaul or you can reduce portion sizes. As long as calories are reduced enough to give you a deficit you lose weight.
I didn't change what I eat very much. I just look at the numbers. That is more sustainable to me than giving up a bunch of foods or trying to eat food I don't love.
I think sustainability is pretty important to keeping your weight off long term. I would advise people starting out to make smaller changes to their diet unless they have a medical reason to cut out foods and just stick to their calorie goal.2 -
I find it is not good to cut out any food (or drink) while you are losing weight that you are not willing to give up for the rest of your life. There is no end of a diet where you go back to eating like you did before - unless you want to weigh what you did before.4
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I do both, but mostly for me it was smaller portions. I bought a food scale a few months ago because I was tired of guessing how many ounces/grams of food I was eating and it's been so much better and easier to log. I still eat the foods I like as long as it is within my daily calorie and nutrition goals.
It's up to you if you want to do one or the other or both0 -
Logging and making exchanges has worked for me. I ditched Pepsi and not a fan of diet, but otherwise manage to my calories each day. This means I eat better/cleaner, but not necessarily on purpose. I loosely try to balance my macros so that each meal has a protein, a fat, a carb, and two veggie servings.
Today I had mushroom pizza and salad for lunch. Dinner was pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I measured my portions rather than the heaping piles I used to eat.2 -
Okay, thanks for replying. Won't cut out completely food that i like but instead reduce portion sizes. But what about calories burned after a workout. Do you guys eat them back? Like my daily cal is 1200 and i burn 250 do i eat back the 250 cals?0
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The best "diet" is whatever you can be consistent with!
Diet is an awful word as people assume you have to deprive yourself or change your way of eating however this is not the case. All you need is a calorie deficit.4 -
Diet or Smaller food portions? Yes.
It all comes down to CI<CO.
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ClaudiaKho13 wrote: »Okay, thanks for replying. Won't cut out completely food that i like but instead reduce portion sizes. But what about calories burned after a workout. Do you guys eat them back? Like my daily cal is 1200 and i burn 250 do i eat back the 250 cals?
If I just burn a little bit, like 250, I would eat about 50% of that back.
If I burned maybe 750 cal, I might eat about 75% of that back.
If I burned up around 1500 cal, I might eat most of it back.
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I reduced portion sizes so I never felt I was denying myself the foods I loved. Do what works for you 1
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