Portion control is the first thing that you need to master if you have weight loss goals.  If you lessen the amount of food that you eat on a daily basis you will lose weight without changing anything else.  Many people begin exercising and trying to eat better but wonder why they cannot lose weight, the answer is portion control.

How to know you have a portion control issue

If you have tried everything but still cannot lose weight.  You started exercising on a regular basis, you cut out certain unhealthy foods, you stopped eating late, you stopped drinking, but you still cannot manage to lose significant weight. It’s because you eat too much.  Many people that have portion control issues eat one meal a day.  This is an issue because you should not be able to eat enough food in one sitting that will fill you up for one day.  You are able to eat one meal a day, because you stuff yourself with that one meal.  This is a big no. Another way of knowing you have portion control problems is it takes you longer than 2 hours to feel hungry.  If you stay full for 4 hours or more, that means you eat too much per meal.  You most likely have a portion control issue, if you are hardly hungry.  Feeling hungry is natures way of telling you it’s time to eat, but if you are never hungry but you are constantly eating that means you are eating too much food.  You eat so much, the food does not have enough time to fully digest before you are already eating something else, tat’s why you are never hungry.

How you feel after finishing a meal

Portion control is not an exact science, it’s more of a feeling.  No one can tell you how much you are supposed to eat because it depends on your sex, size, muscle mass, fitness goals, genetics, etc. You are supposed to feel satisfied after a meal, not full.  You are not supposed to feel your stomach stretch after you have finished eating a meal.  You should not feel tired or sluggish after eating a meal.  After you finished with your meal, you are supposed to feel 65% to 70% full.  If you feel like your stomach is 80% to 90% full that means your portion sizes are too much.

Shrinking your stomach

Your stomach is a pouch that can shrink or expand.  Your stomach is connected to your brain by nerves, which is how your stomach communicates with the brain when you are hungry.  When you fill your stomach to 90%, and you continuously do this over a period of time, then your brain will register that level as being full. Your stomach will tell your brain it’s time to stop eating.  When you control your portions and fill your stomach to 70%, your stomach will communicate to your brain that you are still hungry and you should keep eating. This happens because your stomach is accustomed to eating at 90% and there is 20% of space left in your stomach.  When you ignore your brain and continue to eat at 70%, then your stomach will eventually shrink down to the 70% of food.  Your stomach will communicate to your brain that 70% is the new level of full.  It will take around 2 weeks for your stomach to shrink.  When your stomach shrinks, your stomach will automatically be flatter, because you are not expanding it when eating.  Also you will quickly lose weight because you are now eating less calories.

Foods that are portion control killers

There are certain foods that should be avoided because it is difficult to portion control.  You should avoid heavy starch carbs, such as bread, rice, pasta, etc.  These foods are difficult to gauge whether you are satisfied during your meal, so people tend to overeat these foods.  Also these foods do not digest quickly, they tend to stay in your stomach not giving room for you to eat again.  The foods that you should focus on eating is meats, vegetables and fruits.  These foods are difficult to overeat and they digest quickly after you finished eating.  If you must eat the carbs then you should eat them in very small quantities.  You should make sure that all your carbs are whole wheat, or brown.  Your plate should consistent of 50% protein, 40% vegetables or fruits, 10% carb, or no carbs at all.

Intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting is a great way to reset your bodies portion size meter.  Intermittent fasting is not eating for an extended period of time during the day.  You can fast for 12hrs, or even 16hrs.  The way to properly fast, is to fast for 8hrs or so, which makes sure that most of your food in your stomach is digested, and you feel hungry. By you feeling hungry, this resets your portion size stomach meter. When it is time to eat, you should not overeat, because this will cause your stomach to stretch, therefore defeating the purpose of the fast.  When you eat after the fast you should make sure that you eat the proper portion size, up to 60% to 70%, which will not stretch your stomach. By being hungry, you have set the baseline of your stomach meter, then when you finished eating you have reset the maximum amount of food you eat at 60% to 70%.  When you repeat this over a 2 to 3 weeks period, you recalibrate your stomach and you will begin to lose weight.

Portion control tricks

There are a few ways to make sure that you are eating the right portions consistently.  One way to keep your portions down is to drink 1 bottle of water before you eat.  Water takes up a lot of space in your stomach and has no calories, so that will make sure that you don’t overeat with your actual food.  Another way to make sure that your portion size is controlled is by starting off eating with a small plate.  When you finished eating you can make an assessment and determine if you are still hungry. If you eat another small plate will that cause you to be too full?  Another way to better control your portions is you should always be actively thinking while you are eating. You should be thinking whether you are full.  This prevents you from eating too fast and then realized you are stuffed.

With this newfound information let’s go out and conquer these weight loss challenges and win these battles.