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Portion control is a major subject when you are looking to live a healthy lifestyle, keep off unwanted body fat and feel comfortable with your own size, weight and self imagine.
Many times you think you’re eating too much when you aren’t, other times you’re eating far too much. When you look at specific types of food, portion becomes an issues as well. Take carbs for example, many people are afraid of carbohydrates when we need them to fuel our bodies.
Much the same with fats, there’s a difference between healthy fats and unhealthy fats, which should all be considered when paying attention to portion control.
Here are some tips that will help with portion control:
Eat Small Meals Throughout the Day
This tip right here will instantly give you a better grasp of portion control. If you’re eating every 2-3 hours then you simply don’t want to over eat. The biggest issue when over eating, is eating too much at one time, which doesn’t happen when you feel like you’ve just had a meal.
Know Your Portion Sizes
It’s important to know your portion size for how big you are and what you’re looking to accomplish. Knowing your portion size a head of time will give you a better idea of what you should prepare, put on your plate and how much you should be consuming.
A good rule of thumb is:
- 1/2 cup of carbs (sweet potato, quinoa, rice, etc)
- 1/4 cup of healthy fats (nuts, seeds, avocado, etc)
- 1-2 cups of veggies (there really is no limit here, feel free to eat as many veggies as you like)
- fruit 1-2 cups or pieces a day (there is sugar in fruit so you should limit yourself)
Over Indulging
Eating small meals throughout the day will give you a much better grasp of over indulging which is why tip #1 is so important. Pay attention to when you miss a meal or don’t eat for 5 hours. You’re hungry, usually starving because your body wants and needs nutrients. This is a prime example of why it’s so important to eat throughout the day.
Be Prepared with Snacks
To make sure you’re eating throughout the day, always have snack with you, these snack could include:
- granola bar and apple
- 1 cup mixed raw veggies and 1/4 cup of hummus
- 1 banana, 2 tbsp of peanut butter
- tuna and crackers, etc.
Stress Eating
First of all it’s important to understand or know if you’re a stress eater or not. Many times we eat more junk food when we’re stressed out and don’t even know it. Little things can help if you’re a stress eater.
- Put your ice cream in a bowl instead of eating from the container.
- put your chips or popcorn in a bowl instead of eating from the bag
Take the first step in paying attention to stress eating. This could be as simple as eating extra dessert or more carbs (let’s say if it’s pasta night) then you can do something about it.
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If you need help with portion control we have a program where we plan your meals for you, which includes recipes and grocery shopping lists. We also plan your workouts, all at home, no equipment required. And then we put everyone in a private and supportive group in case you need some support of have questions. More details HERE.
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