so hard to eat smaller portion

[darine]

I have to make a conscious effort of limiting my portion. If I don't remember... oh boy I eat.

Sometimes I am not hungry but there is something good so I eat. I know if I think smart and think about what I am eating, I will get back to my regular weight (I moved out of my parents and got married... changes in life will make you loose your habit and yes, I have gained weight. I never in my life felt that fat).

I know the key is decreasing my portion. I cook healthy (not when I first moved in... but now since few month, I do), still work out but I want a trick to help me decrease my portions.

please help! I need to eat only when I am hungry and control my portion and of course, what I eat.

HELP. I always say I will and then I just forget and get back to my habit. I don't feel good. I increased my cardio... I am tired of feeling fat.

 

[NurseMommy]

Darine,

I hear you, and I don't have any words to make it easier, but I understand just what you mean. In theory, it shouldn't be so difficult -- everything in moderation, listen to our true hunger, make good choices...but it's not always that simple! I also think that if I would just tune in to my real feelings of hunger and satisfaction, I'd be much better off. Anyway, just wanted to send a little support! One day at a time...

Allison

 

[Stebby]

I have this problem as well. Two things that have helped me with portion sizes are a weigh scale to weigh my food, and scoops/spoons that are a specific size (I have a 1 cup ladle and a 1/2 cup ladle, both from Weight Watchers).

Here are some other things that have helped me, although I am not being very faithful to them right now (but I know that as soon as I do I will have success again). I try to follow a rough rule of 1 protein, 1 carb and 1 fat for each meal or snack. For sit-down meals at home, I try to divide my plate visually: 1/2 the plate for green & other coloured vegetables, 1/4 for starchy carbs and 1/4 for protein. (And I just have one plate!)

Stebby

 

[Dela]

I don't even know why I'm answering, I'm probably the worst person to give eating advice, so I'm not going to give advice, just share my plan for this month. I weighed and measured myself on 1/1, and vowed not to weigh or measure again until 2/1.

I've been following a small and frequent eating of relatively healthy food, and trying to stick to one bigger/fun meal a week.

I'll eat things like a protein shake, oatmeal, a natural bar like Larabar, a salad with beans and eggs, an egg or turkey sandwich on whole grain english muffins with 2% or laughing cow cheese, protein pancake, greek yogurt with a walnut and honey, apple with peanut butter, low cal canned soups, chicken and potato or some kind of grain for my dinner meal, healthier tv dinners in the 350 calorie range like Cedar Lane and Amy's, fruit and milk smoothies, etc, and small amounts of almonds to ward off hunger.

If I get hungry I eat something, if it's in between a real meal or snack time, I try to eat something small like 10 almonds, wait a bit and gauge my hunger. And I'm trying to get used to making my dinner meal smaller, I'm having a hard time getting rid of the mental stigma of dinner needing to be the biggest meal of the day.

I'm not sure if I'm still eating too much, but I'm really trying to focus on hunger cues and eating as healthy as I can (for me ).

I have resumed a more frequent workout schedule as well, and I'll see on 2/1 how it's going.

I will say, I feel better, and I think I can see an improvement when I look in the mirror, and my jeans are starting to fit more comfortably again, but not exactly how I want them to fit yet.

As long as I'm moving in the right direction, no matter how slowly that may be, I'm happy with it. I've been enjoying my food, so I really hope I'm doing this the right way, as I'd like to continue eating this way, it seems to be working out well for me.

 

[MAYNARDSMOM]

Isn't it so easy to tell other people how to do it but when it comes to ourselves????
Same scenerio here too. 5lb gain from holidays & hard to get back on track. I keep a food diary & weigh/measure everything. I tend to nibble though.
I need to get my head back in the game & then maybe my body will follow.....

 

[darine]

Thx all for the support and advice.

I am feeling motivated

 

[janiejoey]

Darine,

For me, the trick is and from and from Tosca Reno book: When I eat lean meat, it will be the size of your palm. That is about 5 or 6 oz. A serving of complex carbohydrates from starches or grains is the amount you can hold in a cupped hand and a serving of vegetables you can hold in two hands cupped together.

I hope that helps, it really does work for me.

Janie

 

[patchworkpenguin]

One of the things my Hubby and I did was to eat frozen dinners for a month to get us used to the correct portions of food. We used Healthy Choice but there are a lot of different options. But by doing this we weaned ourselves off of going back for second and thirds.

I cook for just the two of us and I've found that using a Cooking for Two cookbook helps because we don't HAVE leftovers to deal with. HTH.

 

[michefit]

I make a nice big mug of Green Tea with splenda and this nips the overeats! It's soothing and fills me up!

 

[pepnchar]

I use my daughter's plates and bowls and that helps a lot. So they have Disney Princess or Hello Kitty on them -- A cup of cereal looks like a lot in one of her bowls, as opposed to my monster cereal bowls. Cereal is where I really need help in the portion control department!

 

[trigirl63]

I have to make a conscious effort of limiting my portion. If I don't remember... oh boy I eat.

Sometimes I am not hungry but there is something good so I eat. I know if I think smart and think about what I am eating, I will get back to my regular weight (I moved out of my parents and got married... changes in life will make you loose your habit and yes, I have gained weight. I never in my life felt that fat).

I know the key is decreasing my portion. I cook healthy (not when I first moved in... but now since few month, I do), still work out but I want a trick to help me decrease my portions.

please help! I need to eat only when I am hungry and control my portion and of course, what I eat.

HELP. I always say I will and then I just forget and get back to my habit. I don't feel good. I increased my cardio... I am tired of feeling fat.

with me it helps eating taking my daily calories and splitting in 5 small balanced meals. I am never hungry so i tend not to cheat. plus when you keep blood sugar even, you don't crave sweets so much. I can't scatter too far w/o eating or I start eating whatevers around.and keeping healthy foods that taste like cheat foods (there's alot around) that aren't, helps too.

Tammy

 

[nancy324]

Controlling portions is not the only way of losing or maintaining your weight. I'm really bad at portion control, so I've found ways to work around it. I think Jenny Craig or WW just recently discovered my method, but I came up with it first. I think they call it Volumetrics or something? Anyway, I eat all I want, but I only eat healthy low-fat stuff for the most part (although I'll occasionally scarf down an entire half gallon of ice cream). There is no one way of eating that works for everyone. You've got to follow your likes and tailor your eating to your personality. My personality insists upon "having it all" so portion control is not gonna happen.