Portion Control
Do you struggle with feeling over-full, or bloated after a meal? Are you trying to get down to your healthy weight range, but have reached a plateau in your weight loss?
If you relate to either of these, one thing that might be the culprit is portion size.
Evidently it is very easy to underestimate the amount of food we consume day to day, and some of us may have the idea that if it’s “healthy,” the sky’s the limit. But the simple fact remains, that if we take onboard too many calories than our body needs for fuel, then these calories get stored as fat. A key to maintaining a healthy weight is a basic awareness of our total food intake at meal times.
Personally, I’m not too big on the idea of diets. That has something to do with my tendency to be all-or-nothing, and so I don’t find diets that helpful when it comes to keeping a relaxed, happy mind-set 
.
The other thing is that, in general, I find that diets are not that realistic for the long term. It’s only possible to impose so much structure day to day. The ideal of course is to maintain a healthy weight long term as a lifestyle.
And that’s where portion size comes in. Watching the amount of food we are eating, is one helpful habit we can maintain as part of a healthy lifestyle. It’s the practice of being aware of our hunger and eating only to the point of satisfaction, without getting over-full. It’s the decision to leave a little food on the plate if the portion is too large for our hunger.
And watch out for increasing package sizes – giant size coffees and tubs of popcorn at the movies and bottles of soft drink – these can be a problem as larger packages and items of food can distort portion control.
If this is something that has made a difference for you in reaching or maintaining a healthy weight, then it would be great to hear from you.
