How To Get To Grips With Portion Sizes -Weight Management

In this Motivation Assist Podcast Aisling Connolly and Meabh Coyle talk about how to get to grips with portion sizes and the steps you can take to help you avoid those situations where the quantity of food on offer is an issue.

The key to portion control is that once you readjust your portion sizes and follow the guides in the food plan booklet, you will realise that the portion sizes as prescribed are adequate – you ‘wont feel hungry or deprived.

The real eye opener for clients is the realisation, that for (many) years that their portion sizes have been way too big.

The problem is exacerbated by the sizes of modern portions. If you think of the traditional scone that you’d have bought or perhaps your mother made some 15 or years ago and look at it’s modern equivalent; its probably three or four times the size.

In addition, research shows that when someone is presented with a portion of food, a scone in this instance, they are quite likely to eat it all.

So, even though we know it’s a large serving to being with, we tend to finish it off.

The key here is that we are letting the food industry dictate the portion sizes and how much is enough.

Look at the bagel. A few years ago it was 3 inches in diameter and about 140 calories. Today, its’ about 6 inches and 220 calories. What changed? Why do we need an extra 70 calories when the original 3-inch bagel was sufficient.

We are programmed / conditioned to take for granted that we are getting better value with bigger portions.

A really good habit to get into is to save a portion of the huge portion for a snack or lunch the next day.

Part of the challenge for people can be a lack of assertiveness, such as not asking for a doggy bag in a restaurant. That is one of the areas that Motivation helps clients with: to be able to take control in situations where you should stop eating and ask for the remaining food to be wrapped to take away.

Check out the How To Get To Grips With Portion Sizes podcast below and get some handy tips on portion control.