Lose Weight By Reducing Portion Sizes

You may have heard it repeated many times that if you want to lose weight, eat less. It is true that it is good to learn to eat smaller portion sizes so that you can lose weight in a healthy way. However, you should not restrict your diet too much, or else you may suffer from a lack of nutrients and your pounds will return when the strict diet ends.

In this article, we’ll give you tips on how you can eat more sensibly and follow portion sizes.  Eat less and you will reach your ideal weight without starvation or avoiding your favorite foods.

Eat less

The stomach has one ideal virtue: it adapts quickly to changes in food intake.  If you are used to eating large doses, you may feel hungry and your stomach will squirm when you start reducing your dose. Eventually, the stomach gets used to the new dose size and you feel full.

Eat less and this can help you reach your goal weight quickly. However, you need to be sure that you are giving your body all the nutrients it needs, otherwise you may suffer the opposite effect, where a starved body stores fat and you do not lose weight.

How do I get my stomach to adjust?

When you first start controlling the amount of food you eat, follow these steps:

• Take a break between meals for a maximum of 4-5 hours.  Four hours of fasting has been a long time. It is important to give your body time to digest the former meal before enjoying the new one, but you should also not starve yourself between meals. This can lead to overeating at the next meal.

• Enjoy yogurt, fresh fruit or whole grains between main meals.  These snacks satisfy the craving for snacks and keep the stomach happy. At the same time, you get plenty of nutrients.
• Enjoy plenty of fluids throughout the day, either tea drinks or water, between meals. Sometimes the feeling of hunger is due to thirst, so adequate fluid intake keeps extra snacking under control.

Recommended reading: Eat bread with a diet regimen

How long does hunger last?

Studies have shown that the real feeling of hunger does not last longer than 15-20 minutes after starting to eat. For this reason, you should chew food slowly and eat in moderation, as it will take time for your stomach to fill up and you will not accidentally eat more than you need.

You can test the theory by chewing each mouthful carefully before swallowing. This will also improve your digestive function and allow you to eat less but still feel full.

“Emotional” eating

Why do most people who eat too much do so to feel full and satisfied? People easily eat their emotions, and feeling full is combined with pleasure and contentment.

In many cases, overeating is associated with mental needs  that are not met in any other way, seasonal sadness or grief, stressful and tiring periods.

The body tries to fill the mental gap by giving itself energy, but if you don’t control what you eat, the end result can be negative. Comfort food can often be unhealthy, fatty, salty and sugary, so weight builds up quickly. This leads to a disgusting vicious circle where you adjusted yourself to gain weight and became more and more stressed, which in turn leads to continued overeating.

Recommended reading: Reduce stress – internal balance through food

The secret lies in the figure of 80%

Teach yourself to stop eating when you feel full. This moment is when you’re no longer hungry, but it feels like the stomach could hold even more before the sudden. Often at this stage you should eat a second serving or grab a dessert. Don’t do that but stop eating. So eat your stomach 80% full. 

For the first few days, you may feel hungry and you can fight the craving for snacks. Try eating a digestive-accelerating tea instead of a dessert or snack, which takes the urge to grab a piece of cake or a biscuit. You will soon find that your lingering hunger will disappear and you will be able to control what you eat without tea.

When you eat only 80% full, you make sure your digestion works better. You don’t overload the stomach and intestines, but let them work effectively to digest less food. This way, your body takes less time to recover from digesting food and you feel energetic. Heavy and high doses have the exact opposite effect and can make you feel tired and too full.

By eating a particle less you are more active and you can exercise without feeling pink and heavy. During the night, the liver works more efficiently and you sleep better when you have not filled your stomach with a large amount of food. You wake up fresh in the morning and are ready for the day. So eat less and feel better!