Portion Control: The Key to Eating the Food You Love While Losing Weight

When you begin a weight loss regimen, your life has to change to fit with your plans. However, that doesn't mean that you have to start denying yourself your favorite foods. Simply cutting down on your portion sizes will help significantly in reducing the calories you take in.

Slow Down

One of the most important aspects of portion control is understanding when you're no longer hungry. It takes our stomachs twenty minutes to tell our brains that it's time to stop eating. If you're rushing through your meals, your brain is still receiving the message to eat when your stomach may already be full. One way to slow down is to put down your utensil or food between bites. Another is to have an excellent conversation partner to talk with; it's easy to take a moment between bites when you're talking!

Pay Attention

Stop eating at your desk and while watching TV. When we're being passively entertained, it's easy for us to just keep eating because we're no longer thinking about whether or not we're hungry. Focus on your meal and your fellow diners so that you can be more aware of when your stomach lets your brain know it's time to put the fork down.

Size Matters

Take a good look at what you're eating off of. When we use large plates or bowls, our instinct is to fill them. That leads to us portioning out far more food than we ever intended to eat. Instead of using larger bowls and plates at home, use smaller ones, like salad plates or children's bowls.

Pre-Portion

Cut the available food down to what you want to eat before you start eating. If you're at a restaurant, ask your server to bring you a to-go box with your meal. Most restaurants serve portions that are much larger than is meant for one person; if you go ahead and portion out your leftovers, you won't be as tempted to keep munching on them while you wait for the waiter to bring your to-go box with the check. When you're at home, go ahead and portion out individual servings when you make a meal. You'll have easy to heat leftovers ready for later, and you're more likely to stick to your dinner portion when the rest of the food is already put away.

Don't Forget: Indulge Sometimes

One of the biggest problems with diets is that we crave the things we deny ourselves. When we finally give in, we end up eating far more of the desired food than we intended. Don't let your cravings get to the point of needing to over-indulge. Head them off early. Just remember to portion your indulgences too. Instead of eating the whole chocolate bar, have a small square. Have half a cookie instead of eating three. Limit yourself to one slice of pizza instead of eating a quarter of the pie.

Consider Supplements

If you find that you need an extra boost in willpower to help you control your portions, an all-natural appetite suppressant may be a good solution for you. These supplements help to curb appetite and help you to feel satisfied after smaller meals. Having an all-natural weight loss supplement by your side may be the easiest and most effective aid in finally starting to control your portion sizes.