Lose Weight With Portion Control

Losing weight is a challenge almost everyone will meet at one point or another in their life.

If you are interested in losing weight, a little or a lot, there are two critical factors that will directly affect your success. These factors are:

1. What you take into your body through food consumption.

2. What you do with that 'fuel' after your body has processed it.

The major reason for weight gain is that an individual is consuming more fuel (or calories) than the body can burn off. The body then takes this excess fuel and stores it for later use (as fat). The catch is, if this same individual keeps taking in more fuel than is necessary, the storage unit, or the body, physically increases in size and shape (or weight gain). This increase in weight not only puts pressure on the body's infrastructure, in the form of sore backs and joints, but also increases lethargy (the "I'm tired but haven't done anything? feeling) and opens the door for heath problems such as heart disease and increased cholesterol (to name a few).

Changing your eating habits is the most important, and challenging, factor in working towards a healthy lifestyle and body weight. If you are one of those people that has gone to the gym for years and you still find you can't lose weight then you're food regime is likely the critical factor preventing you from meeting your goals. Keep in mind that when we say "going to the gym? we mean actually going to the gym and working up a sweat, at your target heart rate, for an extended period of time. We don't mean going to the gym, getting on the bike, reading a magazine and socializing. You can do all of these things after you're real workout has been completed. The basics of eating and exercising well are the key factors to reaching your goal.

When you sit down to eat dinner are you famished? Perhaps you skipped out on breakfast and had a burger from the fast food joint for lunch. It makes sense that you should fill up on dinner to compensate for the rest of the day, does it not? Wrong.

The first problem with this scenario is that no breakfast was consumed. Ideally, you would awake from an eight to ten hour sleep, drink a large glass of water, exercise (burning off the stored fat, or fuel, in the body) and than eat breakfast. The reason for working out first thing in the morning is to allow the body to burn off the extra fuel stored in those love handles rather than the eggs and toast you had for breakfast. The reason for eating breakfast, in the first place, is that it acts as a kick-starter for the body's metabolism. Without this jump start, or boost, first thing in the morning you're body is going to metabolize food at a lower rate throughout the day. You can affect the rate of your metabolism! Be sure to eat breakfast in the morning.

The second mistake would be that a burger from a fast food joint was consumed for lunch. When people are hungry they tend to make poorer food choices than if their bodies were satisfied (this is also applicable when grocery shopping). If you were to purchase the burger as part of the meal, and upped the size of the fries and the drink, you can be sure that you have exceeded your fat gram intake for the entire day. Pack your own lunch and snacks to resist the temptations of the food court and vending machines at work.

Compensating with a larger than normal dinner for not eating well all day is not good. Eating a large meal takes a long time to digest and makes you feel lethargic (tired) after. The body takes twenty minutes to realize that it is full; therefore, eating until you're stuffed is going to hurt you for a long time afterwards.

Ideally, after working out in the morning, a total of six small meals are optimal throughout the day. Consuming the bulk of your carbohydrates during the day and sticking more to proteins and vegetables at night helps your body to use food when it needs it, instead of storing the extra surplus around your stomach, back, and thighs.

Carbohydrates should be portioned out so that one serving equals about the size of a tennis ball. The following fruits and vegetables may surprise you, they are considered carbohydrates: potato, corn, squash, strawberries, apple, orange, melons, beans, yams and sweet potato. These complex carbohydrates (as in not refined) also include brown and wild rice, oatmeal, yogurt, and whole wheat breads. Pasta is also a good carbohydrate if you eat it in the right portion. One portion equals the size of a tennis ball, not the size of a baseball. These carbohydrates are optimal; try to stay away from refined carbohydrates such as white bread, and white rice.

Proteins include lean meat, poultry, fish and seafood, egg whites, low fat cottage cheese and ham. Beans are a carbohydrate before a protein and if you are a vegetarian you should make sure that you're getting your required intake of protein. Believe it or not, a portion of protein consists of the size of a deck of playing cards. The racks of ribs and plates of steak consist of about four, or more, servings of protein. Your body does not need this much protein in one serving! It may be difficult to cut back at first but remember you should eat six servings of protein and carbohydrates throughout the day at three-hour intervals.

Items that are high in fat, like cheese, also may be eaten in portion sizes. One portion equals the size of a domino.

If is best to eat at least five servings of vegetables a day, combine them with your meals to balance your day out. If you feel hungry in between meals it is because your body is dehydrated. Your should aim to drink ten glasses of water a day. You may strive for the optimal goal, to drink a gallon of water each day. If you break it up during the day it becomes quite manageable, think of it as three 1.5 litre bottles of water a day. Keep one in your car, at your desk and at the gym. At first you will be going to the can more often than not as your body replenishes itself. If your urine is light yellow, this is a good thing. If it is dark yellow and has a strong odour, you are dehydrated.

To lose weight and feel better, limit your caffeine intake. For every glass of pop or coffee you have, match it with a glass of water. If you are a heavy pop drinker you may be able to lose up to ten pounds in one year by switching to water. This works because excess sugar in the body becomes excess pounds. Try to limit your salt intake; it is better for your heart. Try adding spices to your meals to make them taste better, and different, instead of salt.

If you combine eating well, with the correct portions and exercise, you are going to experience efficient weight loss. By adopting this method into your lifestyle you will keep the weight off. This is not a diet or a fad (diets do not work), it is about eating small meals throughout the day, consisting of good quality food (instead of recreation eating) and drinking lots of water. With determination and hard work anything is possible, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.