Bradley Simpson

The volume of food you eat is undoubtedly of critical importance to any weight loss program. We can talk about ‘serving size’ until the cows come home, but what are some practical solutions to overcoming the problem of large serving sizes? Here are a few simple ideas you can try:

• Using a smaller cup size for beverages.
• Not clearing finished plates/food too quickly (there seems to be some subconscious mechanism in the brain that regulated energy intake, that may well judge how much you have eaten based on what is left over in front of you).
• Serve yourself 1/2 as much of any beverage (except water) that you take. Only have the other half if you feel like you really need it. There is a hell of a lot of energy in beverages, and they are so easily consumed. It is an area you can really stuff up, and quickly.
• Do not finish your plate if you don’t need or want it. It is a sunk cost, and if your host/family/friends can not respect your desire to lose weight and/or be healthy and/or perform well then I suggest you either resign to not achieving your goals, or find new people to eat with.

Occasionally I come across smaller persons who are trying to put on weight (usually muscle). If you are one of these people then simply reverse the above suggestions. ie:

• Use big cups for every beverage
• As soon as you are finished clear your plates, forget about what you have just eaten.
• Fill your large cups to the top, and drink it (relatively) quickly.
• Always finish your plate.

This entry was posted on January 13, 2009 at 5:33 am and is filed under Diet, Fat Loss, Food, Health, Nutrition, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, What I'm Eating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.