PORTIONS AND WEIGHT LOSS

Portions which we will talk about here are food portions. Food portion/ portion size is the amount of food you eat at a time at home or at a restaurant. According to Lisa Young “portion does mean you have to eat tiny portions of everything”. 

To obtain or maintain a healthy weight how much you eat is important, too much food is impediment to your weight loss program but how much food is too much?. It’s important to tell since the plates and wine glasses in restaurant got bigger, the pizza pan has gotten bigger, now we have jumbo sizes in most food and snacks options. You need to understand how much food is enough for you. Foods and drinks have different serving sizes measured in cups, ml, ounces, grams, numbers, slices and pieces, an example could be one slice of wheat bread. Kindly note that a serving size depends on your weight, age, gender and how active you are.

How much do I really need to eat?

The amount of calories you need daily to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight depends on your metabolism, age, weight, gender and activity. A man who runs 6km daily will need more calories than a man with a stationary lifestyle who barely takes cool evening walks in less than 1km. you always have to check the serving size in package foods to know the amount of calories you are consuming daily. To help you know how much you eat, you can also get a weight planner or food journal. 

·        What is a serving size? It is the amount of food listed on a food product nutrition facts / food label. Serving size is different from portion size and different products have different serving size which are measured differently.  Let’s say you get a food product which contains 10 servings and a serving size is 1/2cup (60g) and the amount of calories in a serving size is 300. Your portion size could be smaller or larger than the serving size depends how much you choose to eat. So in counting calories if you eat two servings that’s 300 x 2= 600calories (do note that’s this figures are assumed). Remembering the ml and cups could be a bit tedious so serving sizes could be compare to familiar things like meat, fish, skinless poultry as the size of deck of cards, pancake the size of CD etc. view the illustration below for more details. 

What are in the portions? This is where balance diet will be discussed, every food must be on the plate but some more than some. Here food pyramid is important. We need to get the balance of food groups to make sure we get all the nutrients we need. The pyramids shows the one of the best way to portion your plate.

                                                                                         

How to keep Track; it’s not enough to check calories per serving, like I said earlier you have to keep track of what you eat. When I started taking care of my weight, I had a food journal where I wrote everything I ate and drank, the amount and time. They are apps you can download to help you keep track or if you’re old school like myself, you can write it down in a book or journal. It helps you know how you are eating and you can watch and know if you are falling out of line. The table below is what a food tracker could look like. you can decide what your goal is.

courtesy of NDDIK weight management

Watch and Decide; you could love eating out and they always serve with large plates and lots of toppings. Even at home if you are not watchful you could over eat. You don’t need to measure and count everything you eat or drink for the rest of your life. Here are few things you could do at home, restaurant/eating out, shopping.

·        At home;

1.     Use smaller plates when eating and smaller glasses when you drink.

2.     Don’t always go for second rounds wait at least for 20minutes.

3.     Always chew your food and eat slowly, it will give you sense of been full.

4.     Put away leftover in portion controlled containers and refrigerate or freeze.

5.     Never ever eat out of a bag or carton.

6.     Avoid eating in front of the TV or while busy, you tend to eat more.

7.     Avoid skipping meal because it may cause you to over eat, always eat little food regularly.

8.     Always drink enough water

·        At restaurants/ eating out;

1.     Ask for half or smaller size or order from the kids menu

2.     Do yourself a favor and kindly avoid all-you-can-eat buffets

3.     Share a meal with your friend.

4.     Kindly ask for the bread or chips basket be removed from your table.

5.     Order healthy appetizer or opt for grilled or steamed instead of fried.

6.     Never order the jumbo size or the large size for a discount.

7.     Always drink at glass of water before starting your meal

·        At the supermarket;

1.     Don’t buy mini-sized snacks, you then to eat more and the calories add up.

2.     Choose foods packaged in individual serving sizes. 

 

 As much as getting a healthy weight is important portions also help in high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and some chronic disease. so if you're battling any of the chronic disease or know warrior battling you should suggest portions but talk to your doctor first.

KALON WRITES👑