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I spent endless years trying to count calories. I say tried because I never experienced real success. Over the years, I’ve tried everything from Weight Watchers to imputing my calories into a calories counter app. No matter how simple the system claimed to be, I found counting calories to be really hard. As a result of finding it so hard, I just assumed that healthy eating was something I just wasn’t capable of doing.
It took a long time for me to learn that healthy eating is so much more than counting calories. It’s so much more than the type of food you’re eating. Over time, I learned that it is possible to eat healthy while still eating foods that I enjoy. The best part, I learned I could eat healthy without restricting myself. Everything changed when I began to focus on portion size. When I started to focus on eating the right amount of the right foods, my relationship with food truly started to change.
More Than Eating Less Calories
Portion control is about so much more than eating less. When most people think of portion control they automatically think about harshly restricting the amount of food on their plate. Followed by thinking about going hungry. However, there are lots of ways to control your portion size and without counting calories or starving yourself. Or even remotely feeling hungry.
Portion control, when done properly, can even have you feeling super full after your meal. As I mentioned before, the key is to be eating the right amount of the right foods. So, what does this mean? It means eating enough of the good food to keep you feeling full and your body nourished. For example, incorrect portion control would be eating a small portion of everything on your plate. But the truth is some foods, like most vegetables, don’t need to be restricted. These are good calories and you can eat a lot of them to fill your stomach without adding a bunch of calories.
So throw out the idea that correct portion control means eating less overall. Reframe your thinking to think of portion control as a means to make sure you are eating enough of the good foods.
Fresh Ideas For Portion Control
- Portion control containers. Portion control containers are my number one means of controlling how much I eat. And the color-coded containers make it easy to measure out food quickly and easily. Plus, without any real work, I know I’m getting enough of the good food and calories to help me lose weight. The containers make sure that you’re not restricting on foods you shouldn’t be. For example, no one should really be restricting the number of vegetables and protein they eat each day. Most people need to be eating more vegetables, and clean proteins. Portion control containers also help to ensure that you’re not taking in more oils, healthy fats or carbs than is needed to maintain weight loss. Personally, measuring out my oils and healthy fats was a big eye-opener for me as to how much I had actually been using. You can use portion control containers with or without a nutrition plan. If you want to have all the work done for you, a nutrition plan like, the Ultimate Portion Fix or the 21 Day Fix may be a good option. Otherwise, standalone containers are available online.
- Use a small plate. Trick your eyes into thinking you are consuming more than you actually are by eating off of a small plate or side plate. This is a great idea for meals where it’s easy to overeat, like pasta for example. Using a small plate helps you control your portion size and prevent unintentional overeating.
- Make half of your plate vegetables. Vegetables are one area where you don’t really have to worry about counting calories or portion control. In fact, it’s almost the other way around. I encourage you to eat as many vegetables as you can! Many vegetables count as zero calorie foods, meaning they are so low calorie that your body naturally burns them off over the course of the day. So aiming to make at least half of your plate full of bright vegetables not only fills your stomach but doesn’t add any calories to your day. The only vegetables that you need to watch are starchy veg like potatoes. Need some ideas of what vegetables to eat?
- All lettuces
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Cucumber
- Tomatoes
- Beets
- Cauliflower
- Green beans and more!
- Drink water before and during your meal. Be aware of the calories you are drinking. Intentionally drinking calories in the form of protein smoothies, vegetables juices etc are fine but fruit juices, soda pop, and alcoholic beverages are not. If you do want to indulge in a high-calorie drink instead of counting calories, try drinking from a calorie-marked glass like this one. It’s funny but it’s also genius. Otherwise, make water your primary drink of choice. Drinking water before and during your meal will help make your stomach feel fuller. Plus, it’s just good for your body and skin. Aim to drink roughly 2 litres of water a day. Need help keeping track of your water? Use a measured waterbottle or keep track using a habit tracker.
- Meal prep. Prepping meals is a great alternative to counting calories while still controlling your portions. Meal prep is the art of pre-planning your meals and making them ahead of time. This is generally done with the intention of meeting dietary needs and controlling food intake. For some people, this means making a meal the day before, for others it can mean prepping your entire meals for the week. Meal prep is great because it is a one-time effort for a week of healthy, portion controlled meals. Prepping also helps to cut down on overall food prep time and saves lots of money. You can read more about meal prepping, recipes and download templates here.
- Measure out pasta before you cook it. One of the biggest areas where people overeat is when it comes to pasta. It is so easy to eat way beyond the recommended serving size. To make sure that you’re not eating more pasta than is healthy, measure out the dry pasta before you cook it. It might not look like much before it is cooked, but trust that it will be more than enough when water is absorbed. Need help with measuring pasta? Check out this simple guide for measuring pasta.
- Eat clean proteins. Another way to control your portions is to consume clean proteins. Clean proteins are going to fill your stomach without adding a ton of extra calories. Examples of clean proteins are fish, tofu, legumes, beans, organic white meat, and seeds. Basically, proteins that are low in fat. Remember that not all protein is created equal. Some proteins are very high in fat, others are very high in cholesterol or are very oily. Eating clean proteins allows you to consume more food and leaves you feeling fuller for longer.
- NEVER eat from the bag or box. Forget counting calories! It can be almost impossible to control your portions when eating straight from a box. Therefore, one of the easiest ways to make sure you are controlling your portions is by never eating from a bag or box. Even if you only intend to eat the recommended serving size, ie. 11 chips, you’re still more likely to eat beyond what is recommended. This is partly because many people tend to multitask when they eat from a bag or box and are eating while distracted. Eating while distracted is one of the main causes of eating excess calories.
- Eat from measuring bowls. Much like eating from a smaller plate, eating from measured bowls or cups can help you know exactly how much you are eating. This is great for cereals, hearty soups, chillis, buddha bowls etc. Instead of guessing about correct serving size literally measure it out in the bowl. Check out these measuring bowls, they’re gorgeous!
- Split your meal in half when eating out. So all of my above tips are all well and good if you’re eating at home. But what if you’re eating out or ordering in? How to deal with correct portion size then? My general rule of thumb is to automatically split your meal in half. Portion sizes that come from restaurants are huge. When I started measuring out my food correctly, I found that a pasta dish from East Side Marios actually is three serving sizes for me! And once upon a time, I would have eaten that amount of food in one sitting. Nowadays, my husband and I split a lot of our dishes when we’re eating out to prevent us from overeating.
Stop counting calories!
Seriously though. It’s time to stop counting calories and time to start focusing on proper portions. Learning proper portions will help make you feel more comfortable and in-control around all different types of foods. You’ll also finally be able to “diet” without depriving or starving yourself. Give these tips a try and let me know what you think!
Chat soon,
Shannon
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