Portion control is my problem - help

[Anonymous]

It would help if you tell us some typical meals. What are you eating for lunch? Are your meal calorie dense but small in size or do they have a lot of volume and protein. Do you incorporate fat, protein, veggies and carbs in your meals? I find that having all of the above makes meals more filling and satisfying.

[Anonymous]

I try to make sure every meal has a significant amount of protein, and lots of veggies. I’m a volume eater and this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you limit your calorie intake to 1200-1500 per day, dividing that into 3 meals or 5 smaller meals you should be fine and you'll lose weight.

Or your body will hoard calories because you aren’t getting enough and you will not lose any weight.

[Anonymous]

You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

[Anonymous]

Drink a big glass of water before each meal. Serve your ideal portion on a smaller plate. Once you’ve finished, wait 15 minutes and then see if you’re really still hungry. If you are, then another smaller portion, and wait again after you finish that. Repeat as necessary.

This is what is working for me. On the smaller plates, I found a china set my parents had from the 50s/60s. Eye-opening. Current plates are the same size that serving dishes used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

I'm not getting 90 minutes of cardio daily -- typically I will get 90 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, the other days 30 minutes of cardio plus a walk or yoga or something like that.

There's a difference between what I want to eat and what I do eat because I'm trying to lose weight. But let's say a typical day, eating enough so I'm not hungry every day, would look something like this:

Breakfast - 1 light English muffin with avocado and two poached or fried eggs on it
Lunch - either dinner leftovers (a protein i.e. pork chop or chicken) plus vegetables or a canned soup & almond flour crackers and cheese, then will follow it up with a yogurt with keto-friendly granola or fruit or chocolate chips in it.
Dinner - large helping of the night's protein, chicken, salmon, beef, whatever, plus vegetables, try to avoid the night's carb that I've made for the kids (potatoes, mac & cheese, rice, dinner roll) but usually succumb and have a small helping.

Also throughout the day it's not inconceivable I'll also snack a bit or have sugar-free ice cream or something for dessert.

But this is not what I'm eating right now, as I'm doing WW and actively trying to lose weight. The previous menu is a menu that would keep hunger at bay for me. My current eating (yesterday) looked like this:

Breakfast - none. Just coffee with a splash of milk
Lunch - two scrambled eggs with leftover baked salmon.
Snack - Oikos zero yogurt with raspberries
Dinner - homemade buffalo chicken wrap - low carb tortilla, lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken breast w/ buffalo sauce, little bit of low-fat blue cheese dressing, little bit of corn and black beans, six veggie tots
I also did 110 minutes of cardio yesterday, 20 minutes in the morning (Peloton) and then another 90 minutes after lunch (cardio tennis workout).

Thanks for help; would love to thank you in a few months!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

I'm not getting 90 minutes of cardio daily -- typically I will get 90 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, the other days 30 minutes of cardio plus a walk or yoga or something like that.

There's a difference between what I want to eat and what I do eat because I'm trying to lose weight. But let's say a typical day, eating enough so I'm not hungry every day, would look something like this:

Breakfast - 1 light English muffin with avocado and two poached or fried eggs on it
Lunch - either dinner leftovers (a protein i.e. pork chop or chicken) plus vegetables or a canned soup & almond flour crackers and cheese, then will follow it up with a yogurt with keto-friendly granola or fruit or chocolate chips in it.
Dinner - large helping of the night's protein, chicken, salmon, beef, whatever, plus vegetables, try to avoid the night's carb that I've made for the kids (potatoes, mac & cheese, rice, dinner roll) but usually succumb and have a small helping.

Also throughout the day it's not inconceivable I'll also snack a bit or have sugar-free ice cream or something for dessert.

But this is not what I'm eating right now, as I'm doing WW and actively trying to lose weight. The previous menu is a menu that would keep hunger at bay for me. My current eating (yesterday) looked like this:

Breakfast - none. Just coffee with a splash of milk
Lunch - two scrambled eggs with leftover baked salmon.
Snack - Oikos zero yogurt with raspberries
Dinner - homemade buffalo chicken wrap - low carb tortilla, lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken breast w/ buffalo sauce, little bit of low-fat blue cheese dressing, little bit of corn and black beans, six veggie tots
I also did 110 minutes of cardio yesterday, 20 minutes in the morning (Peloton) and then another 90 minutes after lunch (cardio tennis workout).

Thanks for help; would love to thank you in a few months!

You are hungry because you are not eating enough. Add some veggies to your scrambles eggs and a piece of toast.

How much do you currently weigh and what is your goal weight?

Diets like WW want you to lose weight quickly because then you will feel like it is working and be more likely to keep paying them, however, the calories tend to be so low that you are constantly deprived and hungry which then leads to a binge/going off the rails on the weekends

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

I'm not getting 90 minutes of cardio daily -- typically I will get 90 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, the other days 30 minutes of cardio plus a walk or yoga or something like that.

There's a difference between what I want to eat and what I do eat because I'm trying to lose weight. But let's say a typical day, eating enough so I'm not hungry every day, would look something like this:

Breakfast - 1 light English muffin with avocado and two poached or fried eggs on it
Lunch - either dinner leftovers (a protein i.e. pork chop or chicken) plus vegetables or a canned soup & almond flour crackers and cheese, then will follow it up with a yogurt with keto-friendly granola or fruit or chocolate chips in it.
Dinner - large helping of the night's protein, chicken, salmon, beef, whatever, plus vegetables, try to avoid the night's carb that I've made for the kids (potatoes, mac & cheese, rice, dinner roll) but usually succumb and have a small helping.

Also throughout the day it's not inconceivable I'll also snack a bit or have sugar-free ice cream or something for dessert.

But this is not what I'm eating right now, as I'm doing WW and actively trying to lose weight. The previous menu is a menu that would keep hunger at bay for me. My current eating (yesterday) looked like this:

Breakfast - none. Just coffee with a splash of milk
Lunch - two scrambled eggs with leftover baked salmon.
Snack - Oikos zero yogurt with raspberries
Dinner - homemade buffalo chicken wrap - low carb tortilla, lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken breast w/ buffalo sauce, little bit of low-fat blue cheese dressing, little bit of corn and black beans, six veggie tots
I also did 110 minutes of cardio yesterday, 20 minutes in the morning (Peloton) and then another 90 minutes after lunch (cardio tennis workout).

Thanks for help; would love to thank you in a few months!

NP Good info. I'm doing similar. It's working but I'm impatient now. I can't wait to reach my goal weight. Finally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had this problem and Noom changed my life. Look into it.

Have you ever used Lose It!? And how is noom different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

I'm not getting 90 minutes of cardio daily -- typically I will get 90 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, the other days 30 minutes of cardio plus a walk or yoga or something like that.

There's a difference between what I want to eat and what I do eat because I'm trying to lose weight. But let's say a typical day, eating enough so I'm not hungry every day, would look something like this:

Breakfast - 1 light English muffin with avocado and two poached or fried eggs on it
Lunch - either dinner leftovers (a protein i.e. pork chop or chicken) plus vegetables or a canned soup & almond flour crackers and cheese, then will follow it up with a yogurt with keto-friendly granola or fruit or chocolate chips in it.
Dinner - large helping of the night's protein, chicken, salmon, beef, whatever, plus vegetables, try to avoid the night's carb that I've made for the kids (potatoes, mac & cheese, rice, dinner roll) but usually succumb and have a small helping.

Also throughout the day it's not inconceivable I'll also snack a bit or have sugar-free ice cream or something for dessert.

But this is not what I'm eating right now, as I'm doing WW and actively trying to lose weight. The previous menu is a menu that would keep hunger at bay for me. My current eating (yesterday) looked like this:

Breakfast - none. Just coffee with a splash of milk
Lunch - two scrambled eggs with leftover baked salmon.
Snack - Oikos zero yogurt with raspberries
Dinner - homemade buffalo chicken wrap - low carb tortilla, lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken breast w/ buffalo sauce, little bit of low-fat blue cheese dressing, little bit of corn and black beans, six veggie tots
I also did 110 minutes of cardio yesterday, 20 minutes in the morning (Peloton) and then another 90 minutes after lunch (cardio tennis workout).

Thanks for help; would love to thank you in a few months!

You are hungry because you are not eating enough. Add some veggies to your scrambles eggs and a piece of toast.

How much do you currently weigh and what is your goal weight?

Diets like WW want you to lose weight quickly because then you will feel like it is working and be more likely to keep paying them, however, the calories tend to be so low that you are constantly deprived and hungry which then leads to a binge/going off the rails on the weekends

I'm 160. The weight's been creeping up over the last two years. I would like to get down to 140, which for me is not skinny but healthy and lean. Re: not eating enough and adding veggies to the scrambled eggs; I felt like salmon was a good addition to the scrambled eggs in terms of protein and keeping me full longer.

I think the issue really is just that I have a big appetite and always will, so need to get used to hunger. If there's a pizza, I could easily and happily eat four slices. I am jealous of those people who say they are totally full after 1 or 2!

[Anonymous]

According to the other thread, Ozempic is the answer to your problem.

[Anonymous]

I think your answer is to add things to your diet that give you a lot more food volume. Leafy greens, lots more vegetables, snack of carrots/celery/peppers, etc.

[Anonymous]

I do believe it's different for all people so YMMV, but I find that when I'm eating "zero sugar" stuff it just leaves me unsatisfied. I feel better when I'm eating foods that are less processed. So I would try swapping out the yogurt for full fat Greek yogurt and the ice cream for dark chocolate squares or something. The more whole foods I'm eating, the better and fuller I feel. If you have the munchies, sit down with some grapes or carrots and go at it.

How many calories are you eating a day? If you're already in the 1200 to 1500 range, then it may be that this is too low for you. I would try bumping up, not down, and eating better food. Instead of veggie tots, eat a salad with a few roasted red potatoes, etc.

But I don't know if I should be giving anyone advice here because I gained the dreaded COVID 19 (plus) and I don't know if I can lose weight in my 40s like I did in my 20s. I'm just aiming for feeling good and eating well, and if I lose weight, great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are eating the wrong stuff. It isn’t a portion thing it is a choice thing. If you truly are working out/decent cardio for 90 min a day, you are eating the wrong things.

Can you type of schedule of everything you typically eat in a day and when/how long/what you do for cardio/exercise.

I will help you and then in a few months you can thank me.

I'm not getting 90 minutes of cardio daily -- typically I will get 90 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week, the other days 30 minutes of cardio plus a walk or yoga or something like that.

There's a difference between what I want to eat and what I do eat because I'm trying to lose weight. But let's say a typical day, eating enough so I'm not hungry every day, would look something like this:

Breakfast - 1 light English muffin with avocado and two poached or fried eggs on it
Lunch - either dinner leftovers (a protein i.e. pork chop or chicken) plus vegetables or a canned soup & almond flour crackers and cheese, then will follow it up with a yogurt with keto-friendly granola or fruit or chocolate chips in it.
Dinner - large helping of the night's protein, chicken, salmon, beef, whatever, plus vegetables, try to avoid the night's carb that I've made for the kids (potatoes, mac & cheese, rice, dinner roll) but usually succumb and have a small helping.

Also throughout the day it's not inconceivable I'll also snack a bit or have sugar-free ice cream or something for dessert.

But this is not what I'm eating right now, as I'm doing WW and actively trying to lose weight. The previous menu is a menu that would keep hunger at bay for me. My current eating (yesterday) looked like this:

Breakfast - none. Just coffee with a splash of milk
Lunch - two scrambled eggs with leftover baked salmon.
Snack - Oikos zero yogurt with raspberries
Dinner - homemade buffalo chicken wrap - low carb tortilla, lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken breast w/ buffalo sauce, little bit of low-fat blue cheese dressing, little bit of corn and black beans, six veggie tots
I also did 110 minutes of cardio yesterday, 20 minutes in the morning (Peloton) and then another 90 minutes after lunch (cardio tennis workout).

Thanks for help; would love to thank you in a few months!

You are hungry because you are not eating enough. Add some veggies to your scrambles eggs and a piece of toast.

How much do you currently weigh and what is your goal weight?

Diets like WW want you to lose weight quickly because then you will feel like it is working and be more likely to keep paying them, however, the calories tend to be so low that you are constantly deprived and hungry which then leads to a binge/going off the rails on the weekends

I'm 160. The weight's been creeping up over the last two years. I would like to get down to 140, which for me is not skinny but healthy and lean. Re: not eating enough and adding veggies to the scrambled eggs; I felt like salmon was a good addition to the scrambled eggs in terms of protein and keeping me full longer.

I think the issue really is just that I have a big appetite and always will, so need to get used to hunger. If there's a pizza, I could easily and happily eat four slices. I am jealous of those people who say they are totally full after 1 or 2!

You missed my point. The issue isn't that you have a big appetite it is that you are not eating enough or the right combination off foods fill you up. Most people can overeat pizza, but you know what they won't overeat.. broccoli and chicken breasts. Adding in more protein will help keep you full but you also need veggies and the fiber they provide.

You are likely eating too few calories which is causing you to overeat at other times.
Give your current weight and goal weigh you could eat closer to 1500 cal/day (1400-1600) and still lose weight. Aim for at least 100g of protein and 25 g of fiber a day. Center meals around protein, vegetables and a small serving of carbs and some fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the other thread, Ozempic is the answer to your problem.

Really? If I could get a doctor to prescribe it I would do it if it worked.