Portion Control: Five Tips
The key to weight loss for many of us is portion control. We live in a supersize-me world, and unfortunately, it has a tendency to upsize our waists, as well. Portion control isn’t easy, though – everything is bigger than we need it to be, and most of us were of the generation that heard, regularly, “There are children starving in China. Now eat your dinner!” It doesn’t have to be impossible to control your eating, and here you’ll find five tips that might make it easier for you.
- Chew slowly and put down your spoon or fork between bites. Take time to think about the flavor of each bite, and engage your mind in things like trying to identify all the spices in the food. This increases our enjoyment of the food, and lets our stomach figure out that we’re full before we overeat. It also aids in digestion and helps combat gastrointestinal problems.
- Keep a food diary. Write down everything – literally everything – you put in your mouth. Drinks (even diet), snacks, peanuts, you name it, write it down. This serves two purposes – it will help you walk by stuff you don’t want badly enough to write down, and it lets you see realistically how much you’re eating. Research shows that people typically underestimate the amount of food they eat.
- Put less on your plate. When you’re the cook and the server, start with smaller servings. If you normally put two handfuls of french fries on your plate, only get one. If you usually set up two hamburgers, only fix one. If you usually cover your plate with pasta and sauce, put half of it back. You can be a little less absolute about this with things like leafy salads or cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, but make sure you pay close attention to how much salad dressing or cheese sauce you’re using.
- At restaurants, request a “doggie bag” or carry out box when you get your meal; cut each portion in half and put it in the box. Take it home and eat it the next day for a meal, not for a midnight snack tonight. Studies show that people eat more when they have more in front of them, so fight back by cutting portions before you start eating.
- Lose your guilt over not cleaning your plate. You don’t have to eat everything brought to you. Even though some might consider it wasteful to throw away uneaten food, isn’t it more wasteful to make yourself uncomfortable by overeating and expose yourself to significant health risks by gaining the weight contained in those extra mashed potatoes?
Recent research shows that people who practice portion control over the long term consistently lose weight, even when exercise is difficult or impossible. That’s not to say you shouldn’t exercise, but to illustrate that portion control works, and works well in weight loss. Combining portion control and exercise will certainly improve your weight loss results! As always, you should consult your doctor before starting any significant weight loss regimen.