10 Ways To Lose Weight With Portion Control

How Can You Lose Weight With Portion Control?

A portion is how much food you eat at one time. It’s important to understand the correct way to lose weight with portion control. When you do, it’s  good for your health and will allow you to reach your weight loss goal and maintain it over a lifetime.

Sustaining weight loss is actually the largest predictor of weight loss success. The only method that proves this possible is by making lifestyle habit changes to include eating a sensible and healthy diet. There are several components of healthy weight loss, and portion control is key.

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10 Ways To Lose Weight With Portion Control

At first, starting to lose weight with portion control can seem a little bit daunting. However, there are simple ways to help control your portions that you may not have even thought of. With time and practice you will set the habit, and it will become second nature.

1. Use Small Plates

This may be one of the simplest ways to control your portions. Grab a smaller plate when eating meals at home. Instead of using a large dinner plate, use a 6inch  plate. Once you eat what is on that plate, be done. The small plate can trick your brain into thinking you have consumed more food than you actually have and is therefore mentally satisfying so you can continue with getting your body used to smaller portions.

2. Portion Control Plates

You can purchase portion control plates that have separate sections for different food groups in appropriate sized portions.

3. Weigh and Measure Your Portions

If you have the time, you can weigh your portions. For example, you can weigh three ounces of meat, which is the Department of Health and Human Services average. You can do so before you cook or prepare it. You can also use measuring cups and spoons to serve out different types of food.

4. Use Your Hands

One of the simplest ways to lose weight with portion control, and avoid having to measure, weigh or count calories is to simply use your hands. For one portion, the following applies:

• Your palm = 3 ounces of protein (meat, fish, eggs, turkey, chicken)
• Your whole hand = one cup (vegetables)
• Your clenched fist = 1/2 cup (carbohydrates like grains, starches, beans, fruit)
• Your thumb = 1 tablespoon (healthy fats like oils, butter, nuts, seeds)

Use this graphic to make your plate, and you will be well on your way to permanent weight loss.

5. Meal Planning

Another simple way to control your portions and save money is to meal plan. Start on Sunday and create a menu for the week. Go grocery shopping for everything you need and pre-prep as much as possible and stick to your plan.

6. Share Your Plate

Are you going out for dinner? Most restaurants serve double, triple, and even four times a healthy serving size amount. When you go out, share a meal with someone, or order an appetizer instead of a main dish. If you do order a main dish, eat only ¼ of it, and take the rest home to make several more small meals.
7. Listen To Your Body

This is important.  Listen to your body to understand when you have had enough to eat. Science says that it takes 20 minutes for you to feel full. Eat slowly and give your brain time to register satiety. Keep in mind that you should feel satisfied instead of stuffed. This is often a foreign concept in our super-size world, but feeling satisfied means eating just enough food to satisfy hunger, feeling stuffed, gorged, or sick after eating always means you ate too much.

8. Don’t Skip Meals

Whatever you do, don’t skip meals. When you skip meals you become famished, which always results in eating too much and binge eating at the next opportunity. Feeling famished also makes it very difficult to make mindful eating choices.

9. Eat Every 3 Hours

Eat a small meal every three hours instead of three large meals. This helps boost metabolism, keeps the blood sugars stable, and prevents out of control cravings and binge eating.

10. Slow Down

Take your time when you eat. In our hectic modern world, we’re always on the run, wolfing down burgers between one errand and another. Losing weight with portion control means that you will be eating less food, so it’s important to sit down at every meal possible and really enjoy and be mindful of every bite.

Mindful eating also allows you to remember the meal, and what you ate, which is psychologically satisfying. Eating slowly can also aid in digestion and allow you to register satisfaction, considering the 20 minute rule.

The  Easy Way To Lose Weight With Portion Control

There are many ways to control your portion sizes. Controlling your portion sizes allows you to healthily maintain your weight without the yo-yo dieting nonsense. To take the guesswork out of weight loss with portion control monitor what you eat with an app like My Food Diary. It will help you to eat properly and be in control of your decisions, and by making healthy changes to your unhealthy habits you can lose all that weight and keep it off for a lifetime.