Portion control is the act (or should we say art) of limiting the amount of food you eat to a single serving. Or in plain English: to keep yourself from stuffing yourself until the button on your pants pops off.

And while portion control is essential, keeping track of every single serving at every meal can seem pretty overwhelming. Especially if you're not familiar with the portion sizes of the many different foods we consume.

But don't worry! It's actually not as difficult as it sounds, especially with our 10 simple tips for successful portion control .

But first: why is portion control important?

Note: We don't want to encourage anyone to eat fewer calories than they need. This article is meant to give you tools to properly divide your daily calories throughout the day to avoid overeating at individual meals. If eating enough calories overall is difficult for you, check with your doctor.

The 3 BIG benefits of portion management

When you eat without knowing exactly how much food you're consuming, you may be eating too much or too little to meet your daily needs. But when you get your portions right, three significant benefits can occur:

You will cover your daily caloric needs

Calories are more than just pesky numbers on the package that tell you whether or not you should eat what's inside. They're also essential for maintaining proper bodily function and high energy levels. And if you regularly consume too many or too few calories, important systems in your body can become unbalanced, like when you and your pet Chihuahua are on a seesaw together.

Daily calorie needs are different for everyone and range from 1,500 to 3,000 calories per day [1]. Your specific needs are influenced by your height, age, physical activity level, metabolism, taste in music, and can change over time. (The music taste was a joke, we were just testing if you were still paying attention.)

To determine your personal calorie needs, learn more or visit a nutrition professional, such as a registered dietitian, to calculate your specific energy needs [1].

You will get additional health benefits

In addition to meeting your calorie needs, managing portions can provide many health benefits, such as [1]:

• Balance blood sugar levels
• Maintain a stable metabolism.
• Improve digestion
• Relieve symptoms of intestinal discomfort during meals and snacks (i.e. stomach cramps, flatulence, difficulty defecating; we'll spare you more examples)
• Stabilize your weight in the long term

You will save money at the supermarket

Regular overeating can add up to a big grocery bill, especially if you consume a lot of fresh produce and other foods marketed as "healthy," which are typically more expensive. So managing your portions can result in a less full shopping cart. It also makes it easier to run down the aisles.

Now for our tips! Grab a pen and paper, this will be what you need to do on the test.

10 Simple Tips for Successful Portion Control

Practicing effective portion control won't happen overnight, but with a little effort, you'll be a master of the craft before you know it. To make it easier to integrate portion control into your meals and snacks, try these tips:

1: Start with a food diary

Before you can effectively get started with portion control, it’s good to understand how much food you currently eat in a day. A great way to do this is to start a food diary or journal – a tool to determine how much food you eat in a day and the emotions you associate with these foods [2]. You can use a notebook for this, and if you want to avoid excuses like “I forgot my notebook,” you can use an app like MyFitnessPal . (We’re going out on a limb here and assuming that you’re not likely to forget your phone. Are we wrong here? I don’t think so.)

To get started, track your eating patterns for a week and include the following information [2]:

• What food did you eat, how much did you eat (in weight and calories) and what time did you eat it?
• What you were doing while eating (for example: sitting without distractions, watching TV, working on a computer, yelling at the pigeons from your window, etc.)
• Describe your mindset while eating (e.g. stressed, irritated, uninterested, etc.)
• How did the food make you feel (e.g. happy, content, guilty, etc.)

 
At the end of the week, evaluate your daily food intake. Compare the results to your daily calorie needs and recommended food portion sizes. This can be conflicting, but you can always wipe your tears with the donut you won't be able to eat right now. And hey, you've learned something!

2: Try intuitive eating

Intuitive eating (also known as " mindful eating ") is the activity of engaging in the practice of eating food on a mental, emotional, and physical level [3]. Basically: not mindlessly inhaling your food (resulting in finishing your popcorn before the movie even starts).

But how does it work? These guiding principles of intuitive eating can help you [3]:

• Honor your hunger and your health
• Discover satisfaction
• Feel your fullness
• Face your relationship with food
• Respect your body

Portion management isn't a central focus of intuitive eating, but it helps you understand how much food your body needs and teaches you how to honor those feelings.

3: Start with a glass of water

Drinking at least half a liter of water before each meal or snack will keep you hydrated, increase your satiety, and reduce your hunger [4].

Research has found that drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before eating will help us distinguish between hunger and thirst [4], because apparently we're just stupid primates who can't tell the difference. Sipping on plenty of water helps us control our portions and reduce the chance of overeating.
Eating more slowly increases your awareness of your body's satiety signals.

Eating food mindlessly or too quickly decreases your awareness of being full. It takes at least 20 minutes for your brain to register whether the food you've consumed has met your body's energy needs [5]. So if you're eating fast, you're likely to overeat.

Slowing down your eating gives your body, specifically your gut, and your brain time to communicate your level of satiety [5]. So put down your fork every now and then! Give them a break! Your cutlery needs a break too!

Try these strategies to eat more slowly [5]:

Don't eat while distracted (i.e., while working, using electronics, watching TV, listening to a fascinating podcast about the mating habits of bats, etc.)

• Avoid eating on the go
• Take your time to eat and enjoy your meals
• Take small bites
• Chew carefully before swallowing
• Practice intuitive eating techniques

5: Eat more foods that keep you fuller for longer

Foods that keep you feeling full longer help with portion control by decreasing hunger throughout the day.

The most effective foods for increasing long-term satiety are high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats. You can also opt for “bulk” foods that contain a lot of water or air per serving [6]. Specifically, fiber slows stomach emptying and increases digestion time, while protein and fat provide the appetite-controlling hormones ghrelin and GLP-1 (which sounds like a cough) [6].

Foods that can increase your satiety for extended periods are [6]:

• Eggs
• Watery fruits and vegetables (such as watermelon or cucumber)
• Nuts and seeds
• Oatmeal
• Fish and lean meats
• Beans and legumes

6: Do not eat from the container.

Have you ever eaten from a bag of chips and started to feel really full, but the bag is almost empty and you keep wolfing it down? Eating from a container or package that contains multiple servings reduces your awareness of appropriate portion sizes. Eating from super-sized containers can lead to you consuming up to 129% more food than usual [7]!

To avoid overeating due to bulky portions, try:

• Measure portions with utensils or a scale before cooking.
• Portion before serving and pack the rest before eating.
• For snacks: Put some in a bowl and save the rest for later.

7: Serve on a small plate

The larger the plate, bowl, or cutlery you use for meals, the more likely you are to eat.

A larger plate has a subconscious effect on the food you eat and decreases the feeling of satiety by giving the illusion that the portion is smaller. Yes, our brains are that gullible. More often than not, this illusion can lead to overeating, up to 77%, without us having any idea that we are eating more than usual [8].

Switching out your dishes and cutlery for a smaller size to help you maintain accurate portions and increase satiety can solve this portion problem. Off to the elf shop!

8: Learn the portion sizes of different foods.

Understanding portion sizes can seem overwhelming, but it's actually not that difficult if you know what the proper portion sizes are for different food groups. By measurement, these are [9]:
 

• Proteins : 85 g
• Grains and carbohydrate-rich foods : 40 g
• Fats and oils : 16 g
• Vegetables and fruits : 75-150 g

Let's say you don't have access to measuring tools, or you have an irrational fear of using them. In that case, visual measurements based on your hand size can be a good rough reference. Like [10]:

• Protein: Palm-sized serving
• Grains and carbohydrate-rich foods: Serve with cupped hands
• Fats and oils: thumb-sized portion
• Vegetables and fruits: Fist-sized portion

 

9: Enjoy smaller portions at restaurants

Food served at restaurants often comes in huge portions. On average, the standard restaurant portion per plate is 2.5 servings and can be even larger [11]. If dining out is something you enjoy doing, that's fine. Live your life! Spend that hard-earned money! Just keep in mind that large portions at restaurants can make it difficult to control your portions.

Here are some ideas for limiting portion sizes when eating out, which most restaurants will happily accommodate:

• Order half of your order
• Order a children's plate
• Order a starter or side dish as your main course
• Share a full meal order with someone else (and if you don't have the same taste, have a rap battle to decide who gets to choose)

10:  Consider purchasing portion control food products

When you're in a hurry to prepare meals or have to eat on the go, you may not have enough time to focus on portion control.

In this case, there are always portion-controlled food products to count on. Just make sure you buy them from a company that creates nutritionally complete, high-quality products. Like us! Jimmy Joy! We do that! Just check out our portion-controlled meal shakes , meal bars , or meal pots .
With 400 kcal per meal and exact measurements of all the nutrients it contains, you know exactly what and how much you are eating.
 
Practice portion control today!
 
We hope these 10 simple tips have shown you that managing the portions you eat at meals or during snacks doesn't have to be complicated. You can integrate it into your life slowly. In the long run, portion control will bring you many health benefits and a big decrease in the number of buttons that pop out of your pants.

Author :
Allison Lansman, RDN, LD