Proportionate Portions

​Food can and should be delicious, and our bodies need food to survive and thrive.  However, many of us each too much, too often.  Even if we are eating whole, nutritious foods, we can easily eat more than our bodies need, thus leading to unintentional weight gain.  When we eat out regularly, we are even more likely to have unintentional weight gain for a number of reasons.  Primary among them is portion size.  I love to eat out, and always will (who doesn’t like it when they don’t have to do the dishes?!) but it is important to keep your goals in mind when you do so.
 
Let’s look at one quick example of how portion size can derail your goals.  Most men should be eating between four and six cooked ounces of protein at each meal, and most women should be eating two to three ounces. If you are a smaller woman, when you order an eight ounce steak and eat the whole thing, you’ve just eaten up to four times as much as you should be eating!  If you eat out several times a week, even if you are staying on track at home, those meals can make the difference between losing weight or gaining weight over time.
 
So how do we avoid overeating when someone else is responsible for the portion sizes?  Here are a few tips:
 

1. Eat a small meal or snack a few hours before dining out.  If you aren’t starving when you get to the restaurant, you will be less likely to order too much food and/or to overeat.
2. Choose appetizers for entrees.  Many of the portion sizes for appetizers are far better suited for people’s actual needs than the entrees, so see if something on the appetizer menu sounds, well, appetizing!
3. Eat slowly, and stop when you begin to feel full.  Enjoy that steak by savoring each bite, putting your fork down and having conversation between bites.  This will help you to realize when you have actually eaten enough and to stop before you overeat.
4. Divide and conquer.  Separate your plate into what you plan to eat and what you plan to take home and stick to it.
5. Ask in advance for half of the meal to be served to you and half to be packaged to take home.

 
Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want, with a smile, so that you can enjoy yourself and meet your goals at the same time!