Portion Control: Real Life, Real Food

Portion control, in addition to eating real, whole foods, has been a key part of my ability to lose more weight than I ever had before. Here are some examples and tips on how you can use portion control to aid in your weight loss.

This is part of my weight loss series – scroll down to see all the articles it contains. Some links in this article are affiliate links and if you click on them and purchase I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

After sharing with you my history, how I lost weight eating real, whole foods, and then the tips and “rules” I implemented to lose the weight and keep it off (part one and part two), I thought I’d share with you what I actually eat in a typical day (or two).

In order to keep it simple and visual, I took pictures of the food I ate over the course of a couple of days (except for lunch- apparently I forgot to take a picture on day 2…). You will see that although I emphasize protein, I do have grains and carbs at each meal – I’ve just cut down drastically the amount I used to eat.

I want to mention that if you Google “portion control” you will find lots of well-respected sites with pictures and articles showing that a piece of chicken should be the size of a deck of cards, or that a serving of pasta or rice the size of a hockey puck. These visuals have never worked for me, probably because food never seems to be those sizes to me on the plate (square chicken? flat rice?).

Or possibly because I have no idea how big a hockey puck is.

If these mental pictures work for you- wonderful! If not, maybe my photos and thoughts on real life portion control will be helpful.

Real Life Portion Control Examples

Breakfast Day 1

I think I’ve mentioned I’m a creature of habit in many areas of my life and breakfast is one of them. I love eating my homemade granola topped with cranberries, walnuts, and chia seeds each morning. I don’t have to think about it, it’s satisfying and I know it’s healthy.

By the way, I’m aware that Sally Fallon (of Nourishing Traditions fame) calls granola (unsoaked at least) one of the most dangerous things you can eat (digestion-wise). You can imagine that did not sit well with me. {smile} Until I have a problem that I think forgoing my morning granola will help, I’m not going there.

All by itself in the photo above, though, that doesn’t look like too small of a portion, does it?

Which is why I took this picture (after I poured my milk, unfortunately). The bowl on the left is a typical cereal bowl which holds about two cups and has never seemed that big to me in the past.

I keep a 1/3-cup measure in the granola because that is the typical serving of this nutrient-dense cereal (important for children- they will pour the granola like a flake cereal and fill the bowl!). I don’t fill it all the way so it’s about 1/4-cup and that’s what you see in the left bowl. Even with milk this bigger bowl would still be only half full. Update: I now keep a 1/4 cup measure in the granola to be more accurate!

Compare that with the smaller 1-cup bowl on the right which seems full after pouring the milk (I add a couple tablespoons of dried cranberries and 3-4 crushed walnut halves). Visually and mentally, it seems like a larger amount in the smaller bowl.

Moral? Use smaller bowls when you can. It does help.

Breakfast Day 2

If I do have something else for breakfast (usually on the weekends) it’s an egg with toast or this peanut butter and homemade jam on homemade toast. My homemade bread is not as big as store-bought loaves and I always take the smaller end pieces, so you can see this is about the size of a half-piece of typical store-bought bread (especially the larger loaves).

I include half an apple which I might eat then or a couple hours later, depending on what I’m doing that day.

I should mention that all our mornings start with a cappuccino that Brian makes shortly after we wake up (I’m so lucky – but you can be, too, if you follow his steps in this video!), and most days includes another cup between 9 and 10am. Both these drinks have milk (mine are more cafe au lait than straight coffee) which is more protein (I find protein = fullness and satisfaction for me), plus it is one of my tips to use liquids to fill me up when I’m feeling hungry between meals.

Lunch

Though I have only one lunch picture, this is pretty typical – leftovers. I have no problem eating leftovers at all. Sometimes knowing I can have more of something I love the next day is the only way I can eat a small portion at dinner! If I don’t have leftovers, I make a quick salad.

This is a 1.2 cup container that is filled about 3/4 full with leftover bean and pork stew. Half an apple and a small piece of homemade bread round out the meal. (Note: I only buy Snapware Glasslock containers now which are the BEST I’ve found with airtight seals and side snaps that don’t break as easily as some that shall remain nameless, but are found at World Market…DON’T buy them.)

I usually do add butter to my bread, but this stew was a “dipping stew” so I knew I’d be using the bread that way. Sometimes I butter and sometimes I don’t.

Snack

Between 3:30 and 4:30 I get hungry. Remember tip #3? Drink afternoon tea. With tea all I need are a few nuts (did you know a serving of almonds is only about 8 or 9?) and a granola bite made with almond butter. Many times I eat only the granola bite or just the nuts, but this day I must’ve been feeling pretty hungry.

This little green bowl is one of the measuring “prep bowls” I mentioned in my tip #5. It’s a 1/4-cup bowl, but has a line at the 1/8-cup mark as well. Nuts are a great protein and are nutrient-dense (meaning there’s a lot of nutrition packed in them) – good things, but which leads to high calories. I use this 1/8-cup measure to make sure I don’t go over that amount, which is easy to do with these little guys.

Here are some small prep bowls that are similar to the ones I use:

• Set of 6 multi-colored “pinch” bowls (2-oz. capacity)
• Set of 16 stackable glass bowls (4-oz capacity)
• Set of 5 nesting measuring cups (1/4 cup to 2 cups)

Dinner Day 1

Dinner for day one was a chef’s salad using a cup of lettuce, onions, carrots, olives, smoked salmon, feta, and a hard-boiled egg dressed with a simple homemade vinaigrette. It was a substantial salad that filled me up – I actually remember not being able to eat all of it.

This was a quick meal we pulled together, hence the Kettle brand salt and pepper potato chips (my favorite!). Notice the chips in a small bowl – tip #2: never eat out of a box or a bag. You can see there’s about 8-10 chips, just enough to not feel deprived, but well within a small serving guideline.

Dinner Day 2

Day two’s dinner was pasta with sausage and homemade Roasted Tomato Sauce from the freezer. I have to say that pasta is not my favorite meal, but it is my daughter’s and so we have it weekly. When we do have it, I don’t mix the sauce with the pasta, but dish it up for everyone so I can have a little pasta and a LOT of sauce.

I’ve cut the amount of pasta I serve in our soup bowls in half (one of the things I did right away to start the weight loss). These bowls are part of our dish set and I used to fill them halfway with pasta (or rice) because it seemed like a small amount in these large bowls (using smaller bowls isn’t possible all the time). Now I serve 3/4 to 1-cup (or one large spoonful) portions like this and then add lots of sauce.

Yep, I usually use a spoon to eat it (is it soup? is it pasta? who cares!). I eat what I like the best first (tip #8) and leave the rest if I’m full, which in this case was the pasta.

I’ve heard people say that leaving a little bit of food on their plate psychologically helps them to stop eating and eat less. I don’t know if this is the case, but I do know that there is a feeling of accomplishment (empowerment?) if I leave a bite of something I love, like chocolate cake.

Pasta? That’s easy to leave.

Do you have some tips for portion control? I’d love it if you’d share here in the comments or over on AOC’s Facebook page!

All the articles in the Losing Weight with Real, Whole Foods series:

• A Weighty Issue – My history with weight and body image
• How I Lost Weight Eating Real Food {More Than Ever!}
• Tips, Tricks, and Techniques For Weight Loss 
• More Tips, Tricks, and Techniques For Weight Loss
• Is Exercise Necessary For Weight Loss?
• A Simple, Easy Workout {+ Printable}

 

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