Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Portion Size -vs- Calories

I am specifically trying to work on portion size, but the devil side of my subconscious plays with me saying, "But that is soooooo low cal.  You can have two or three times that amount and you won't gain any weight." Or even better, "That was SOOOOO good.  A little more won't hurt."

I had that struggle at lunch today.  Trying to piece together a lunch from left overs, I mixed leftover veggies and Israeli couscous with chicken broth and a poached  chicken breast.  There were probably four cups of "soup", but I was convincing myself that since it was so low calorie, I could probably finish it all, totally forgetting that I am really working on portion control right now, not calorie counting.

That is the problem I have with rules.  I have to focus on ONE thing or I rationalize myself out of doing the right thing.  So, I stopped at two cups and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.  Admittedly, even two cups of that soup was probably a better choice than home made cream of tomato basil soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, a meal with which I have much less self control.

2 comments:

  1. Yeah! If I ever tried to follow two "modes" of food control, I would find myself actually eating twice as much. I started out focusing on just one serving, (for about a year) then moved to considering how big of a portion that one serving was, and am only now beginning to consider the calorie content or type of food in my portion. I mean, I always thought about the nutritional aspect. I never thought about the calories in what I was eating.
    I'd rather not think about them now, but it's the next logical thing. Adding a new layer of thought any time I seem to be sticking at the same weight for a while has worked well for me so far.

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  2. Portion control is the best place to start, IMO, in part because it attacks gluttony itself. It does kind of mess with your head to be avoiding overeating things like plain okra, but I'm firmly convinced that distending your stomach even with pure veggies is still something that trains you to expect "stuffing" yourself is normal. The habits carry over to times when the side dish is french fries or something soaked in dressing, you know?

    here is a related post

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