Portion Control: The Easy, No Calorie Counting Way to Lose Weight

Tired of counting calories but afraid that you’ll lose all semblance of control if you stop? Try portion control instead. No more math at dinner time.

Weight loss is simple: the calories you consume must be fewer than the calories you burn. Do that, constantly and consistently and *BOOM*, the pounds drop off…

…except any woman who’s ever tried to lose weight before can tell you that weight loss is not a simple mathematics equation.

For one, math doesn’t take your health into consideration. When I was 19 I wanted to lose weight. I cut out food groups (byeeee carbs! See ya later fats!). I spent hours at the gym, sometimes twice a day. Did I lose weight? Yep. Was I healthy? Hell no. I was so unhealthy, in fact, that I was diagnosed with an eating disorder before I finished my sophomore year.

On top of that, counting calories will just never be as accurate as you think it is (unless of course you are counting calories in a lab). From farm to fridge to digestive tract, there are discrepancies every step of the way. Calorie counts can be off on both sides of the equation for so many reasons.

• The nutrient content of the soil directly effects the nutrient content of the plant or the animal.
• How far your food had to travel, and how long it spent on a shelf before you ate it, matters.
• There are multiple methods for food manufacturers to estimate the calorie count used on labels so the FDA allows up to 20% inaccuracy (read that again)!
• When you track that apple using the calorie counts from the food database, is it a small apple, a medium apple or a large apple?
• How you cook your food matters in terms of what nutrients are available for your body to digest.
• And even if all of the nutrients are still available when you consume it, your absorption rate is affected by your gut-biome, your ancestory, the medications you are on, how stressed you are, if/when/how hard you worked out and a whole slew of other factors.

That’s a lot to take in.

The point is, calorie counting is inaccurate at best.

At it’s worst? It’s a guilt-trip. It’s anxiety and shame and reduces the amount of satisfaction and pleasure you take from a meal.

So what do you do instead?

(The good news is that You Don’t Have to Be a Calorie Counting Expert to Eat Healthier).

Portion Control

Studies show that most people under-estimate food consumption by as much as 30-50%. That’s a massive fluctuation from reality. It is also the likely culprit explaining why the weight of American adults is steadily creeping up (the average BMI is almost at the cut off for obesity).

The key to getting it under control and finally getting an honest idea about what you actually consume is awareness.

Portion control is a guide to creating awareness. It’s a tool to understand how much you are actually eating so ultimately, you can start to make changes to your diet without stressful, guilt-ridden tracking and counting.

Why Portion Control Works

Portion control is not so much a diet as it is a learned, practical approach to healthier eating. And it can work for anyone.

Portion control works because it…

• includes any and all food groups. It doesn’t cut out entire food groups, like carbs or fats. It allows for the treats and sweets that keep you sane and allow food to maintain it’s place in celebrations and family gatherings.
  
• focuses on nutrient-dense, high-quality foods. The easiest way to learn portion control is to focus on eating whole foods, as close to their natural form as possible. That alone will improve your health and cut out the junk food that contributes to weight gain.
  
• it’s portable. Your hands go where you go. Rather than having to carry measuring cups or spoons around with you (nottttttt), you simply check your portion size to the size of your hand. Which means that the portion control method I’ll give you here works just as well at home as it does at a restaurant, at a BBQ and at a fancy-schmancy charity dinner (your scale won’t fit in the mini-purse).
  
• it’s naturally personalized. Smaller people tend to have smaller hands. Smaller people also tend to need less food. Larger people tend to have larger hands it just so happens that they also tend to need more food. If you need to customize according to the results you are getting and the results you want, simply add or subtract a portion (typically of carbs of fats), to your meals.
  
• fits most goals, including weight loss. If your goal is to step on stage in a sparkly bikini, you might need a more aggressive tool. But for most people and for most health and physique goals, hand portion control is all you need.
  

How Hand Portion Control Works

This method uses your hand(s) to determine how much of each type of food you should eat. The size of your hand directly correlates to a certain number of grams/portions of protein, carbs, veggies and fats.

Your palm represents your protein portion. That’s roughly 20-30 grams of protein per serving.

Your fist represent your veggie portion.

Your cupped palm determines the size of your carbohydrate serving. That’s roughly 20-30 grams of carbohydrates per serving.

And your thumb represents the size of your fat portion. That’s roughly 7-12 grams of fat per serving.

Of course, to make this method work you need to understand the difference between protein, carbs, veggies and fats. That’s a good thing if health and healthy eating is going to be a part of your life long-term.

When in doubt, you can download this free Healthy Eating Grocery List to help you decide between a wide variety of healthy food choices in each category.

Making Hand Portion Control Work for You

How does all of this translate to YOU taking ACTION? I’ll show you…

First, for most, active women, a good place to start is 4-6 servings of each food group per day.

Next, adjust according to your own needs and health/physique goals. If you are very active you may need to add another serving of fats or carbs to your day. If you are trying to lose weight or not getting the weight loss results you want, adjust by removing 1 serving of fats or carbs.

Pay attention to how your body responds to the changes you make. You’ll have to adjust accordingly.