Portion control

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tifsimmons91
tifsimmons91 Posts: 84 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For those that had alot of weight to lose (50 ormore lbs) how did you overcome portion control? How long did it take to shrink down your stomach enough to not eat big portions? Im 10 lbs down so far and i been trying to workout atleast 3 days a week to get going but i still tend to eat big portions eapecially at dinner. I drink protein shakes and have healthy snacks at work but im starving by dinner time

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  • lalalacroix
    lalalacroix Posts: 834 Member
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    I think I do still eat big portions. Many of my meals have 200-300 grams of veggies which I find very filling. I then have a smallish portion of a starchy carb like potato or rice and around 100 grams of protein.

    If you are starving at dinner you may have your calories set too low or aren't eating satiating foods.
  • merekins
    merekins Posts: 228 Member
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    Do stomachs shrink???
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    I just weigh out my portions and have a lot of low-calorie snacks to make up the difference. I'm probably still eating close to the same volume of food, but less of it is high-calorie.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
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    i eat low calorie foods with all meals to bulk volume. if i can eat them raw and cut up thinly it can really add a ton of bulk/volume. i ensure to include enough protein and far for health/longer satiaty.

    i eat like 6x a day.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    Definitely what I eat matters. I eat certain carbs and all of a sudden I am starving! Empty calories, I can keep shoveling them in and im still hungry. Play around with what foods work for you.
    I eat more protein in the morning. I can eat complex carbs with a late lunch or dinner and do ok. Now I can eat food and feel full faster. I wish my stomach shrunk, that would be awesome! I doubt it.
    See what works for you.
  • mbcieslak87
    mbcieslak87 Posts: 206 Member
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    I haven’t had to lose large amounts of weight but still often eat huge volumes of food. Lots of veggies, lots of lean protein, some carbs, and some fats occasionally. It’s really all about finding a balance that works for you between volume of food and satiating foods. For example, my breakfast today was huge and only about 400 cals... 1 whole grain English muffin with laughing cheese spread on it, 1 egg and 2x egg whites with chopped veggies scrambled and topped with hot sauce, and berries and a halo orange on the side... delicious, filling, and I LOVE English muffins, so to me, left me feeling very satisfied
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    edited March 2019
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    It's a combination of:
    1. Sometimes finding what food makes you feel full. It's not always about size of your meal but satisfying your appetite. Some foods, bread for example, I can eat like I'm a bottomless pit. I could sit in front of a mountain of toast and sandwiches and demolish them without touching the sides. But give me a 3 egg mushroom and spinach omelette and I'll be holding my sides I feel so full.
    2. Sometimes it IS about size of your meal. To some extent I'm also a volume eater so enjoy large meals which means that I need to try and get the fewest number of calories into the biggest serving of food. This is pretty easy to achieve though some experimentation. I started with meals I liked and substituted ingredients and foods that gave me more 'bank for my buck' calorie wise.
    3. Sometimes it's about timing. I also find myself naturally hungry later at night no matter how much I've eaten over the course of the day. I also tend to never really be that hungry during the day so I can easily get by on a cup of coffee and maybe yoghurt or something for breakfast and often don't bother with lunch as I never seem to be hungry then. But, come 8pm my hunger kicks in so I eat the vast majority of my calories at night. Having a really large meal at night also satisfies my volume eating tendencies.

    It's all about adjusting your diet/eating to suit you rather than trying to adjust you to suit your diet/eating.
  • simcon1
    simcon1 Posts: 209 Member
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    I find that if I limit my food too much during the day, I’m ravenous for dinner, so I eat a good-sized breakfast and lunch, and then don’t go overboard at dinner. But it’s all what works for you! I also find that greater food variety helps me reduce my portions. So, 1/2 cup of oatmeal with apples and walnuts rather than 1 cup of oatmeal. I have a latte every morning with 1% milk and turbinado sugar, and the milk is filling for me. Cut up veggies are crunchy and can be high volume, low calories. A big salad with colorful veggies and a small bit of meat on it is really satisfying for me, and can be really high volume.
  • Fitnessgirl0913
    Fitnessgirl0913 Posts: 481 Member
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    Have a look at this thread OP

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10659410/do-stomachs-shrink
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
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    I do eat smaller portions of richer foods. I eat more veggies to fill myself up.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    When I was in my active weight loss phase (with around 50lbs to lose), one of the things that I had to learn was that I would not starve to death if I still felt a little hungry after my designated food was gone. I may feel one way but I learned that those feelings can be false/misleading. At first I felt like a little kid having an internal temper tantrum with myself-fighting over what I wanted vs what I knew I needed, but eventually the grown-up part of me won and it did get a lot easier :)

    I also learned that I was eating a lot of times out of habit and not actual hunger. This was especially true for me at night. Night time mindless eating was bad habit I had to break (over the course of a few months), and now that I'm a few years into this process it feels really weird to eat at night lol.

    And as pp mentioned-I have definitely increased my vegetable intake (I aim for 7+ servings of veg/fruit intake a day now). Most veggies are lower in calories and can make you feel full/satisfied.

    eta: interestingly, one of the common themes with the BlueZones (groups of longest living people on the planet), is that they leave the table feeling a bit hungry yet-

    Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.
    https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/
  • gentlygently
    gentlygently Posts: 752 Member
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    This thread reminds me of an experiment where they had two groups - one ate veggie soup at the beginning of each main meal, the others didn’t, for a few weeks. The soup eaters ate less calories overall (and lost weight) - their stomachs were already filling up by the time the calorie rich main course arrived so they ate less...naturally (they did not know the purpose of the experiment). It is a similar principle to having a glass of water half an hour before a meal.

    I must remember to have my lunch timd soup first, then my bread and cheese/humous/sardine - so hopefully I won’t want seconds of soup or sandwich !
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    Initially I had a cup of tea / coffee / glass of water before my main meals. Over time my portion control got a bit better, but I still have to watch it. A big bowl of mixed salad with home made salad dressing always helps, in winter I'll make a filling vegetable soup.

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