Newbie Struggling With Portion Control

StephLDungworth
StephLDungworth Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Really struggled on my first day today but I’m sure I will learn to adjust any tips on portion control please?
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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,203 Member
    edited February 2
    Welcome, and congratulations on accomplishing your first day! (Today was my 3115th day - I'm in year 7+ of maintaining weight after loss.)

    Portion size? It's a process.

    If a person experiments, it can be possible to figure out what portions of which foods keep them full and happy most of the time. It's not essential to get this all perfect from day one: Give yourself some grace in the early days, so you can accommodate that learning process. Learning processes involve some experiments that don't work out, and that's OK. Don't beat yourself up if that happens, just learn from it, adjust, and keep going.

    The starting point for that is setting a sensibly moderate weight loss rate: There's no way to feel full or get adequate nutrition on pitifully low calories. Think in terms of losing no more than about 0.5%-1% of current weight per week, unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications.

    Many people will find so-called "whole foods" more filling than "highly processed" "refined" foods. (I put those in quotes because the definitions are a little vague. The emphasis is on lean proteins, healthy fats, plenty of varied/colorful veggies/fruits, whole grains.) It's not that one needs to eat only those things, but including a good bit of them can help many people feel more satisfied.

    Different people find different things filling: Some are sated by protein (common), others fats, some need volume (like large amounts of low-r fcalorie veggies), or it can be specific foods. A couple of common things to find filling are whole potatoes (like baked) or oatmeal, but they don't work for everyone. Some people get better appetite control eating low carb (but other people find their energy tanks if they eat that way).

    Log your food, notice which days you feel more full, happy and energetic, and use that insight to adjust your portion sizes, relative proportions of various foods, and timing of your eating to get the best personalized results. It's not essential to stick to official portion sizes: Do what works best for you. Calories are the direct determinant of fat loss; macro- and micronutrients affect health, energy level, sometime satiation, and that sort of thing, but at most affect fat gain/loss only indirectly.

    You can figure this out if you stick with it, trying experiments and variations. Other people can give you ideas to try, but no one else can give you a perfect formula. That's individual.

    Best wishes for success!
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,437 Member
    Did you learn to read in a day? Housebreak your dog in a day? Graduate in day?

    Give yourself some grace. You’re taking on a large project which is going to require diligence, application, and - most of all- self kindness and self forgiveness.

    Don’t expect portion control to happen in a day, or new nutrition habits to take effect overnight.

    When I first started, I had zero concept of what a serving was. A “serving” was what I put on my plate, right?!

    It took weeks of learning to weigh and log to develop the recognition of what a serving actually is. Servings seemed painfully small at first.

    Imagine my shock when I learned a “serving” of cookies was only one or two. Or that a Moon Pie is “two” stinking servings. Who on this planet has ever eaten half a Moon Pie and said “welp, I’m done!”

    But I tell you what, further into this process, my concept of “servings” has changed in the other direction.

    The thought of having a whole “serving” of butter or jam on my toast just grosses me out now. It’s too too much. Last night I had half a serving of orzo with some baked chicken. That was plenty for a side dish.


    Your whole concept of servings is fixing to change.
  • heartlightdoodles
    heartlightdoodles Posts: 1 Member
    Newbie, cant weight to learn all this!!
  • frhaberl
    frhaberl Posts: 145 Member
    Great portion control tips already given. I’ll add that I’ve found it helpful to make up for the reduced portion size of my “normal” foods with veggies. My go to lunch is a salad with lots of veggies but with portion controlled proteins and fats (meat or beans for protein and dressing and cheese for fats). Broth based soups are also good “bulky” meals. At dinner I take about half the serving size I used to take of the more calorie dense items but 2-4x the serving size I used to take of veggies and nutrient dense foods. One example is having half the amount of beef on my kebab, but replacing that amount (and maybe more) with mushrooms.
    Hope this is helpful, but if it isn’t then that’s okay too. You will figure out what works for you as long as you keep investing in yourself.

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