Portion sizes- Are you in control?

Too often these days people struggling to lose weight are faced with the problem of portion control. I have been given the “But I eat really healthy, I don’t know why I’m not losing weight” line many a time before and when I go over their food diary its evident that yes they may eat mostly healthy but they are eating WAY too much food for the rate they are burning it. Ipso facto- fat storage.

Portion control is something that can be difficult for some people to get their head around, many try and they fail and I’m going to explain why.

See, once your stomach is used to a certain amount of food creating that “full” feeling then giving it anything less than that is clearly going to leave it less than full and feeling like it needs more (at first). So when people first begin reducing their portions they will probably feel hungry because their stomach is sending messages to the brain saying “hey buddy I’m not full yet!” Many convince themselves they are STARVING and turn around and increase to bigger portions once again.

This is where your mind needs to do some hard yards and ignore those conflicting messages from your stomach because within a matter of time, it will become used to the new portions and adjust accordingly.

Please note I am in no way referring to starving yourself. I’m talking about matching the food you are consuming to the exercise expenditure you are doing which is how weight loss occurs. Calories in vs calories out. Let us take an example.

Brian is 35 years old and works in real estate so spends a fair bit of time seated at his desk. He attends the gym 4 times a week for 45 mins. Some days he does weights other days he walks on the treadmill or the cross trainer. Here is one sample from Brian’s daily exercise and eating log.

Monday

Breakfast – 2 pieces of wholegrain toast + 2 poached eggs + 1 large cap on skim milk

Snack- Large fruit salad and yoghurt

Lunch- 250 grams Chicken breast with vegetables and large brown rice and small wholegrain roll

Snack- 6 Corn thins with Peanut butter plus an apple

Dinner- 300 gram steak, potato, vegetables, 1 piece of wholegrain bread no butter

Exercise= 45 mins on the cross trainer at lunch (burns 250 calories)

Breaking this down we can see that Brian’s diet is what you would call “typically healthy” He has fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, protein, some good fats. So where has Brian gone wrong you may ask? Portion control- his energy in doesn’t compete with his energy out.

Looking at his daily activity apart from Brian going to the gym for 45 mins in the middle of the day he was seated at his desk for the most part. Therefore the immense amount of energy in calories he has consumed haven’t really had a chance to be expended. He then goes home from work to eat a large meal (containing a decent amount of carbohydrates) that won’t be expended while he is watching tv that night and therefore Brian will go to bed that night with having consumed more energy in calories than he has expended. Calories in greater than calories out = weight gain.

The next day Brian may have a different day and consume less calories than he expends at the gym but because of his lack of consistency he is still going to struggle to lose those extra kilos.

It’s not rocket science but it does take some time to think about your own diet and whether you really need to eat all that food. Of course overeating on healthy items is going to be better than overeating junk but at the end of the day overeating is overeating. It starts with the word OVER because it means TOO MUCH.

I hope this post gives people something to think about if you have been struggling with weight loss and please feel free to comment below if you have questions regarding further info on your own portion sizes and controlling energy in vs energy out J

 No fit FREAK this week unfortunately but not due to lack of time more so lack of time to find inspiration. I have been searching but am yet to find my next fit FREAK who really stands out so stay tuned next week. Until then I recommend you guys check out the channel BroScienceLife on youtube- absolutely hilarious (and pretty accurate) portrayal of some guys in the gym.

Until next time eat CLEAN (and watch your portions), train MEAN and keep on living LEAN J