Have you been working out with good intensity, regularity and under the guidance of a fitness professional for 30 days or more and you have not lost any weight or felt your clothes get looser?
If you say no to any one of those, first go address and remedy that. (I know a good fitness professional with a great program if you need a name ;D ).
If you said yes to all 3, then you my friend probably have a bit of an issue with food portions; sticking to them, knowing them and/or measuring them. You see in the end after all is said and done about manipulating time frames, rotating carbs and counting protein grams, it’s still about calories in and calories out.
If you’re like me, counting calories is kinda crazy-making and unless you eat 100% of your meals at home, it’s not always realistic or easy to count every calorie accurately which makes me crazier.
An easier way is to watch your portions. It’s pretty easy, you can do it with any meal, made by anyone and it works!
Look, you can work out until you drain every last drop of sweat out of your body but if you’re calories are too high, you won’t make progress. Take the time to look over these tips and start on them at your next snack or meal.
At Home:
Pay attention to how many servings any given recipe you’re making makes and then, as soon as you finish preparing the meal, portion it out. Either onto plates for your whole family, or in individual storage containers to put in your fridge or freezer. You may soon see that what is supposed to feed 6 has only been feeding 3 or 4. And by divvying it up right away, you’ll be less tempted to eat more than one serving.
Measure out your snacks instead of eating them right out of the bag. It is possible to eat 2, 3, 4+ servings of your favorite snack in a matter of minutes. Or, maybe you graze all day and don’t realize how much you’ve eaten. Hand-to-bag snacking needs to stop.
This is an add-on to the above tip, when you measure out your snacks, go ahead and measure out the whole package so that you have a properly measured and therefore calorie controlled snack ready to go at any time.
Another add-on: Servings sizes of pretzels, crackers, chips, and even grapes and berries are probably smaller than you think so get a food scale or use measuring cups (a scale is best) for accurate portions.
Eating Out:
Share an entree with someone else. Most restaurants serve much too large of a portion size. And you’ll save money.
Use the same portioning technique you use at home; as soon as your meal comes, ask for a to-go container and put away anything over 1-serving size. Since it’s not sitting on your plate looking, smelling and tasting all good, you’ll avoid being tempted to keep eating for taste.
Skip the buffet. The very nature of these types of places promote and encourage overeating, I mean, it’s not a “deal” if you don’t pack away tons of food right? But packing away all that food ends up packing itself right on your belly and thighs.
Parties and Other Social Events:
Eat BEFORE you go to the party. Going to a party hungry leads to mindless munching and being tempted by every yummy tray of food that is in sight. And since most party food is not low-cal, eating more than one serving of those foods can lead to major calorie overload.
Wear those tight jeans! Or slim fitting top or dress. The point is to wear something that fits your body closely and will instantly remind you that you need to stop munching (cause it’ll get a little too tight real quick). If you go to a party in a big maxi dress, palazzo pants or anything loose, you’re giving yourself more leeway to chow down. Plus, wearing something fitted will remind you of why you make the choices that you do- cause you want to look good at parties! (and other things of course).
Bottom line, every once in a great while, we all go crazy on a bag of pretzels or Hershey’s kisses but in your day-to-day life, you gotta clean it up. Measure up!