Are you eating until you feel very full? Do you have problems digesting your food or do you feel sleepy after your meals? You are probably overeating! The first key to controlling your portions is to never skip meals. When you skip a meal you feel extra hungry and are more likely to overeat. A high intake of calories is impossible to overcome even with rigorous exercise and will cause you to gain weight. We recommend eating 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 2 snacks.
So how do you know what the proper portion is to eat? When you are eating a snack or anything from the supermarket with a package, the box will tell you the proper serving for that item. These packages will usually have multiple portions, so be sure to stick with one. If you are eating more than the serving size, you need to multiply the nutrition facts by the amount of your portion. If you are eating out, here are the measurements you should adhere to each day:
Vegetables: 3 to 4 fists
Fruits: 2 fists
Protein: 2 to 3 palms
Grains (whole wheat): about 2 to 3 light bulbs
Dairy: 2 fists
Another way to effectively measure how much you should be eating is to analyze how you feel after eating. We recommend eating until you are about 50% full to lose weight. This means you could consume the same meal again and feel full! Cut your portions in half or take some of that food from the restaurant to go! From our test group, we have found that even with exercise 5x a week, weight loss was drastically reduced when the participant did not control his or her portions. Practice portion control and watch the fat disappear!