Weight loss plans these days can be confusing to start and even harder to finish. Every single day a new diet book is published and is usually heavily marketed claiming to be the solution for you, no matter what your body type or your personal physical needs. Even experts change their minds seemingly by the hour: eat oat bran, now eat flaxseed, eat beef but not eggs, now eggs but not pork and on and on. It can make you want to give up before you even get started!
One thing that has gone by the wayside at times is the simple solution to weight loss through using portion control. We eat today larger portions of food than ever before especially here in America. For awhile fast food restaurants reduced the largest of the big sizes but I have noticed recently that the giant box of fries is back available at some fast food restaurants much to my dismay!
Our grandparents and even some of our parents were not raised with fast food or faced with choices like extra large super triple burgers and huge bowls of sugar coated rice bombs for breakfast and glasses of soda pop so you big you could practically classify the glasses as liquid tankers! These foods seem to be devilishly designed to make us eat them up and demand refills, and we love free refills even more. It can make you feel out of control and begin to think that you cannot ever achieve your weight loss goals in this lifetime. However, it is important to remember that ultimately you are in control of what you put in your mouth and although I agree that many times it feels like you can't stop eating; the truth is that you can stop. Even better controlling portions is cheap, easy and you can start today without any specials books or plans or tools!
Ways of measuring portions can be done through "ballpark" methods when you are out and about without a food scale. A portion of meat is about the size of your palm, an ounce of cheese is a one inch square or about half the length of your thumb and vegetables are generally all you can eat. A slice or two of preferably whole grain bread or a whole small bagel or half a supersize bagel and you're good to go. Throw in a small apple or orange about the size of a tennis ball or a handful of almonds or walnuts and you've really got a good meal and some nice snacks. Pasta servings are about the size of a hockey puck even though typically we eat four to six times that amount. It's really no wonder that we are struggling with our weight!
Although a first glance you might be panicked at the thought of how small these servings seem just experiment with it out for a week or two. You will be surprised at how easy it is to achieve weight loss goals and feel healthier and happier once you train your eyes to stop being bigger than your stomach.
No comments:
Post a Comment