8 ways to keep your portions in check and your diet on track

We have all been in a situation where we thought we were making awesome progress with our weight loss journey, but that scale still isn’t budging. There are a number of reasons why we see weight loss plateaus.  Overeating is one of the most common missteps and it is particularly frustrating and difficult to pinpoint when you feel like you are making healthy choices. While it is always better to reach for the sweet potatoes instead of the sweet potato chips, we still need to be mindful of our portions. 

Take a read through these tips to keep your portions in check and your diet on track:

1.Take the guesswork out of it. Measure everything. This is especially important if you are just starting out on your journey to a better relationship with food. Get to know how much food you need to maintain or lose weight. After a while you will find that you can visualize most portions without measuring, but don’t take that step until you are confident. If you find yourself dining out or at someone else’s home and you are unable to measure, here is a way to use your hands as a portion guide:

2. Just because your plate is big, doesn’t mean your meal should be. Most portions will not fill a dinner plate. I repeat, most portions will not fill a dinner plate. If a big, empty, white plate messes with your head, choose a smaller plate.

3. Take your serving and move to the table. We all know and love family style dining. Sitting at the table with your food spread in the middle is great for holidays, and likely leads you to reach for seconds, thirds…. and more. Avoid the mindless scoops by not tempting yourself. Take your appropriate serving from the stove and move to the table for dinner.  You will probably find that you are not as hungry for those extras.  And it makes those holidays that much more special.

4. Keep your food scale, measuring cups and measuring spoons in an easy to access spot. The more you measure your portions, the better you will get at serving yourself.  In the beginning, have your tools super handy so that measuring your portions doesn't feel like an extra step.

5. Don’t overdo it, but don’t go hungry. Creating a sustainable diet is a long term project.  Whether you are following a Downs Fitness meal plan or are going it on your own, find food portions that leave you feeling satisfied. This is why clean eating can be so effective. You will likely find that proteins like chicken, turkey and lean fish make up the majority of your dinners and beef becomes more of a special occasion

6. Serve yourself. We are all for social eating - but be sure to make your own plate. You can’t expect others to know your portions

7. Find meals with easy portion control built right in. If you can afford it - grab a few meals that are single serve. We love Fresh Meal Plan because it does all the work for you.  Healthy, pre-portioned, clean eating delivered right to your door.  Visit https://www.downsfitness.org/fresh-meal-plan for more details

8. Keep track. Whether you are counting macros or keeping a food journal, keeping track of what you are eating is a very important step when creating a healthy lifestyle. Once you establish a solid baseline and see results you are happy with, you can likely relax on tracking and still sustain your healthy life.  But there is no shame in food journaling for life!  It can also be a great way to spot any food sensitivities!