How big is your plate??

So by now you know cutting carbohydrates from your diet and increasing your servings of lean protein is the number 1 way to lose body fat – easy! Mix that in with regular metabolism boosting exercise, such as resistance training and intervals and you’re on to a sure winner – what could be easier? So you’re doing it, you’re following the rules, being good, and still your jeans are cutting off the blood supply to your legs. So what’s going wrong?

Well part of the problem is that the winning formula assumes we only eat when we are hungry, and then only until we are full. It presumes we are not affected by the often overwhelming external cues to eat.
We are constantly up against the food industries monster advertising budgets and the over load of tempting, addictive sugary food every where we look. BOGOF, supersize, 3 for 2, buy, buy, buy and what you buy, buy, buy you will eat, eat, eat – ahhh!!!!

Much of what we eat is triggered by emotional and psychological factors rather than hunger. The fact is we are just eating far too much.
We are choosing quantity over quality when it comes to food, we want more for less, we expect bigger portions in restaurants, we buy the bigger packs as they offer better value, and we supersize when we only really needed a snack in the first place.

In his book Mindless Eating Brian Wansink demonstrates time and again how our emotions override our hunger and cause us to overeat.

In one experiment he gives two groups of unsuspecting parents at a PTA meeting a bag of M&M’s each, one group got a half pound bag and one group were given a one pound bag. The half pound group ate an average of 71 M&M’s the one pound group ate an average of 137, almost twice as many, 264 calories more. (Do that even once a week for a year and that’s 4lbs of mindless fat you will gain!)
He discovered that people tend to eat 92% of what they serve themselves, and that on average we eat 20-25% more from the larger packages – whatever the food, pasta, cereal, salad or M&Ms! When we buy supersize packets of food, we eat supersize portions!

Another time our judgment becomes distorted is when serving up meals. In 1950 the average dinner plate was 9”, by 1980 this had grown to 11” and today it can be as big as a 13”
By eating from bigger plates we can easily underestimate the portion size, a normal portion of pasta (about a mug full) looks lost on a 13” plate, whereas on a 9” plate it seems more substantial.
An average Swiss muesli portion is 30 grams; if you were to take a medium sized breakfast bowl you could probably fit 3-4 servings in the bowl. How do you eat your cereal in the mornings, do you fill the bowl? If so you will be consuming 3 times as many calories.

I don’t advocate counting calories or weighing food as a rule, but maybe if you’re sticking with the rules and the fat isn’t shifting its time for a reality check.

Try following these rules for the next week and see the difference

Before you eat ask yourself, am I hungry? Physical hunger will subside with a snack or meal, emotional hunger is virtually impossible to satisfy.

Don’t leave food in your line of sight, do not have serving bowls on the table, serve your food away from the table. Hide away tempting foods; don’t have food in jars on the side.

Downsize your cutlery, plates and glasses – don’t eat off of anything larger than 9 inches across

Split large packages of food into their correct portion sizes

Eat only at the table, not in the car, in front of the TV, computer, or anywhere that distractions will cause you to eat mindless calories.

Cook only what you need or if you want to prepare enough for two meals put leftovers away immediately, into the fridge or freezer.

Let me know how you get on, these small changes can help create the calorie deficit you are looking for. If you ate 115 calories less a day (that could be a thinner slice of pizza or a smaller serving of ice cream) in a month you would have lost a pound, and in 10 months 10 pounds. That’s 10 mindless pounds gone without too much effort – easy!!!
Now imagine the possibilities if you apply those strategies whilst cutting out the carbs and crap, upping the veggies and protein then nailing the workouts – Boom!!!!!!!

Portion sizes a rough guide

Meats and proteins – pack of playing cards
Fruit – size of a tennis ball
Veggies – a handful (but don’t let that stop you – pile them high!)
Dairy – tea cup of milk
Pasta – a mug full (but give it a miss if you want to reduce your waistline)
Pizza – 1/3 of a 9” plate (again, just as the occasional treat if you want to shrink your booty)