A Guide to Portion Control: Everything You Need to Know

Hello Ziddis! We have often heard what you do and what you eat contributes 80% to your physical fitness. If you are all set in your workout and do not pay attention to your eating habits that still could cause an issue. Especially if your goal is weight loss. That is when portion control helps you. Let us understand how.

What is Portion Control?

Portion control is the practice of limiting the amount of food you eat in one meal or single sitting. As we know balancing the plate is better than overloading it, that is the exact principle of portion control. Being mindful of how much your body needs and ensuring that your serving sizes are according to that is what starts the practice of portion control.

What Are the Accurate Food Portions?

The practice of controlling food portions starts with understanding what is the right food portion. If we go by the dietary guidelines of how much food and nutrition your body needs on an average, it would be something like:

• The proteins required are roughly the same amount of protein as your weight but in grams. For eg. if you weigh 70kg, aim to consume 70 grams of protein every day.
• Do not exceed carbs in your plate more than protein.
• Vegetables or fibres should fill half of your plate.
• Fats should take up about a small bowl or closed fist.

To understand what food portion your body needs you could try these:

• Understand what is your goal.
• Figure out how many calories you need in a day.
• Divide the calories into the macro intake.
• You could try calculating your daily intake via an app.
• For accurate weight of your portions use a weighing scale for food.

Relation Between Portion Control and Weight Loss

How much can portion control even impact weight loss? A lot. There is a deep relationship. This prevents you from overeating and helps you maintain a calorie deficit. You could start with

• Using smaller plates
• Avoid excessive calorie cravings
• Walk between the meals
• Only load up healthy snacking options to help you reach your goal sooner.

Portion Control for Weight Loss

How can you make the most of food portion control for weight loss? Simply start it and observe the changes in your body. Some simple tricks to maximise the benefits of portion control for weight loss are:

• Avoid sugar in your morning beverages.
• Reduce the number of servings of carbs. You could start by reducing the serving size. You would get bored and avoid getting up to get more servings that way.
• Read the labels. Some foods may seem like protein but could be filled with carbs and topple your calorie deficit diet
• Snack wisely and only when truly hungry not bored.
• Eat slowly to avoid overeating.

Portion Control Diets

Focus on reducing the quantity on the plate, not the variety. Don’t avoid rice but try to either substitute half its portion or reduce the serving size. Some tried and tested methods are:

• Prepare the meals beforehand thinking of the portions.
• Divide your plate into sections of carbs, proteins and vegetables.
• Have more veggies on your plate than anything else.
• Double your daal portions and reduce your rice or roti portions to half.
• Carry fit foods so you do not end up overindulging while snacking.

Portion Control Diet Plan for Females

Women’s bodies have different caloric needs than men. In women’s case, they need nutrition-rich food for their hormonal balance. So instead of avoiding food, most focus on portion control diet plans for women. To make sure women get enough nutrition, this diet plan can be used:

• Breakfast: A slice of whole-grain toast with a spinach and egg omelette or tofu filling.
• Snack: A small handful of almonds/ a fruit/ protein bar/cup of yoghurt/ some berries for more anti-oxidant goodness.
• Lunch: Chicken curry or daal with quinoa
• Dinner: One serving of fish or some grilled paneer cubes along with a large serving of veggies.

Diet Plate for Weight Loss

Divide your plate into sections to make sure you are sticking to your portion control plan. This could be called the diet plate for weight loss. You can use this to create your diet plate:

• Half a plate of vegetables
• A quarter plate filled with lean proteins like daal, eggs, tofu, chicken, etc.
• A quarter plate has whole grains or complex carbs like quinoa, brown rice, wheat roti, etc.
• A small serving of healthy fats which could also be some ghee on your food.

Takeaway

Portion control does not mean starving yourself. You just need to optimize your servings to eat the right amount to fuel your body to reach your fitness goals. By portion control diets and diet plates, you could also ace your portion control and help yourself in managing your weight. If weight loss is a concern for you, try adding some weight loss supplements to your diet.

Start small, stay consistent and avoid indulgence to reach your fitness goals.

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/portion-control-for-weight-loss