3 Tricks to Eating Smaller Meals or Snacks

Food is something that we all have to eat to survive. If you can begin looking at food as a source of nutrients that you must consume several times a day instead of a distraction from stress, a reward or a solution to other emotional issues then this can be the first step in reaching or maintaining your ideal body shape and size.Cutting back on portion sizes can be an effective way to trim excess calories, fat and sugar from your diet, but it can also be quite challenging. Restaurant and fast-food portions are far larger than those appropriate for a healthful diet or food pushers are offering you what they feel is love on a spoon or fork.

Ask yourself these questions as the answers may be the link for you need for 
re-creating and implementing new tricks/habits and consuming smaller meals:

When is the last time you weighed the amount you wanted and kept it there for two years?

How did you feel when you were at that size and shape?

Were you keeping busy or distracted?

Were you happy or in a better state of mind?

Was someone else in charge of your meals or meal prep?

Were you in charge of cooking for someone else?

Did you live in a different city? (a healthier minded city)

Did you have friends that had healthier habits?

Getting used to eating smaller portion sizes is a matter of being mindful about what you put on your plate, over and over, until it becomes second nature. Of course, in a perfect world we’d be precisely measuring all our food before we eat it. But in the real world, it helps to have hacks.

3 Tricks to Eating Smaller Meals or Snacks

1. Don’t skip breakfast. Break-the-fast. Ideally you will have at least 20-26 grams of protein for breakfast. I recommend that you either have fruit first and wait 30-60 minutes and then consume a higher protein meal or have a shake for breakfast first then a mid morning snack within 2-3 hours later. People that skip breakfast tend to back load on calories at the end of the day right before bed. This is not ideal as you are less active at night and likely tired from the day. You may find yourself sitting around or going to sleep on an overfull digestive system. I still believe it’s ideal to have 12 hours from your bedtime meal until the next meal so if you need to have breakfast later in the day and all your meals get pushed back to odd times then so be it. My preferred time for lunch is 1-2 p.m. which is right before the 3 p.m. snacking craving for carbs most people have arrives with your body cycle.

2.  Keep restaurant meals in mind for take home meals– We all know that many restaurants serve larger portions than needed for one sitting. One client often says during his workouts “I was over served at X restaurant last night!”  Isn’t this a funny saying? I think so, it’s true that our society has many signals and cues that make it difficult to eat the proper portion size or even the right foods. Wait…am I defending the restaurants and deflecting the blame off of you? You are responsible for what and how much goes into your mouth! When the meal comes and you see it’s too much, immediately ask for a to go box and put the “over-served” amount in there for a later meal that week.

3.  Love your carbs correctly – do you know the difference between carbs? Root veggies like squash, sweet or regular potatoes, carrots and other night shade veggies are labeled category 2 veggies. Individuals that are trying to lose or maintain their weight need to have only one serving per day. The best way to do this is by combining your category 2 vegetable with a few category one veggies like green leafy ones in your lunch time meal if possible or reduce your portion and have at night. This means no sneaking potato chips or crackers when you are starving. Have those carbs and enjoy them properly and this will be the correct combination and meal timing your body needs.

Consider these guidelines or bright lines you don’t cross for your optimal body success. Success for you might look different than someone else living in your household or that you work with. Remember that you are worth making the changes for.

A saying I like so much more than “I was over served” is “Feeling good and being beach body ready is better than constantly caving and making excuses for my lack of results” Of course I also like having a flat belly all the time and not having to look in my closet for clothes to hide my bad choices in which many of you can relate to now or sometime in your past.

If you are ready to let us be your nutrition coach or personal train you, just give us a ring, text or email.

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