One of the hardest things I have had to learn on my journey to health has been portion control. There is no easy way around making your portions smaller, you just have to train your stomach over time. I remember when I first moved home after university; I felt hungry all the time as my mum was feeding me much smaller portions that what I had been used to. I hate to think about how big of portions I ate while I was at university!
If you are on a health kick and are trying to lose weight you need to keep an eye on your portions, there is no point eating healthy food if you are eating too large of a portion! Portion distortion is very common thanks to the fact that the average portion size has increased by 25-50% over the past 30 years. In fact the average restaurant portion could feed 2 or 3 people sometimes!
To control my portions I follow recipes exactly. I don’t have much flair in the kitchen, so I have to do this anyways, but tools such as the above help measure out the correct quantities of food. Keeping Measuring Cups* and food Weighing Scales* to hand can really help keep your portions in line, so you can imagine how thankful I was to receive these from Confused.com in a Fitness Goody Box they put together for me. However when you don’t have any to hand, you need to learn to eyeball standard portion sizes. A good way to figure out your portion sizes is to compare your food portions to something visual that is easier to remember, you can see examples of this in the table above.
Other than learning about correct portion sizes there are a number of ways to ensure you keep your overall serving sizes in line. Here are a few tips I have learnt and have heard of;
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Eat from a smaller dish- This is scientifically proven to trick yourself into thinking you are eating a larger portion.
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Divide your plate up into half, fill one half with fruit or veg, the other half should have equal portions of protein and starch. This is the ideal balanced meal!
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Serve food according to the portion sizes and don’t go back for seconds unless its more veg!
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Put away leftovers straight away to stop grazing. Try freezing them into single servings so you can use them for dinners at a later date.
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Never eat directly out of a packet or bag… you will ALWAYS over eat by doing this!
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At restaurants ask for a smaller portion, or a half portion, and if you have the courage order a child’s meal.
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When at restaurants analyse your dinner and organise your dinner into the ideal portions and serving sizes as shown above and leave the rest on the side. Servings in restaurants can sometime be enough to feed atleast two people!
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If you have dessert, share it! I know this is tough to hear for people with a sweet tooth like me, but your waistline will thank you!
It's also important to remember that if you're eating correctly, a smaller portion shouldn't be as daunting as it sounds at first, as you'll be eating again pretty soon anyway. As always, a very informative and well put together piece.
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Really enjoyed this hun! I always try and fill the majority of my plate with the meat/salad or veg and keep carbs to a minimun! Totally agree about smaller plates too – I have two different sized plates (small and big) and if I use the bigger ones I always feel like I don't have enough on my plate haha!! Xx.
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I lost 46 pounds just practicing portion control. And I have kept the weight off for almost 5 years…just practicing portion control. I believe in this so much, I created my own portion control program. Myles Berkowitz
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This is definitely hard to learn. At home I struggle giving me a "right" sized portion and dean lots of food cos he can eat for england and is tiny.xx
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 😀
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Thanks Kayleigh, sounds like you have a great balance. Using a smaller plate is definitely a great trick 😀
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It just goes to show that it works! 😀
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It is hard, especially when living with men!
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Portion control is probably one of the best things you can do when you want to drop some weight. With the popularity of restaurants it can be difficult to gauge what a 'healthy' sized portion is supposed to be.Thanks for your helpful post and keep up the good work!
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I've lost 4 stone 2pounds and I still don't understand portions, lol xx1stepclosereveryday.blogspot.com
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My dear! It's me Marie (@mariehumanoid on twitter) I hadn't seen your blog yet! But I think it's AMAZING, I know why you were a finalist on Cosmopolitan Awards 🙂 such an inspirated blog! I love this "subject" I want to lost weight but my mother doesn't want me, so it's quite difficult haha. I will take this portion control and I'll practise this I think is useful! See you on the next post! Thank you! byee <3My blog -> Marie loves heels
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It really is hard with restaurants offering faaaar to much food on one plate! I'm so glad you enjoyed my post 😀 xx
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You've done well to lose so much without having to get to grips with your portions. I hope my post helped inform you a little xx
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Thanks so much lovely, it's great to hear someone enjoys your work 😀 I hope you manage to get to your healthy weight and that this helps you 😀 xx
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