Would you like to “Super Size” that?
We started hearing this question at fast food restaurants sometime during the last 15 – 20 years. At first it seemed like a bargain. You know… get about twice the fries and drink for a nominal up-charge.
We fell for it… took the bait, hook, line and sinker. And they had America hooked on something that would change the health and well-being of unwary people for years and years to come, perhaps even for generations to come.
Portion distortion. I can’t remember when I first heard that phrase, but it caught my attention, even way back before I began my own weight loss adventure. It rang true when I thought about it.
Meal portion sizes have continuously grown and grown and grown, to the point where it’s just plain ridiculous. And as the portions have grown, so have we. We have slowly been conditioned to eat these gargantuan-sized meals and leave the table so full that we’re belching for hours to come.
It really started back when we were kids. You know… we were told to eat everything that was put on our plates, whether we were still hungry or not. And so it began. Our minds were trained to see our dinner plate and eat everything on them, even if we were full.
As we carried that idea into adulthood, it began to catch up with us and we began to put extra weight on. We don’t think much of it at first. We are, after all, getting older, and we’re supposed to gain weight as we get older, right?
Wrong! Getting involuntarily heavier as we get older is a myth that needs to be shattered. And it’s something I’ll be covering in a later blog post.
So how do we break the portion distortion problem in our own lives?
How do we take charge of our eating habits and retrain our minds (and our stomachs) to settle for less than what they’re used to?
First, it takes us making a decision to change. Until we make that decision and resolve to stick to it, there’s not a diet plan or weight loss plan in the world that can help us. We can want to lose weight all we want, but until we take the reigns and actually make changes in our eating habits, we will stay overweight. Plain and simple.
So now that we have that behind us, let’s talk briefly about reducing our portions so you can start implementing it.
Hold your hand out in front of you. Go ahead. It doesn’t matter if it’s your right hand or your left hand. Just hold it out.
Now, make a fist. Turn your fist over and look at it from all directions. Now, get that image burned into your mind, because it’s the model for all future portions!
That’s right. Your fist is the size that your stomach is supposed to be! Now look down at your stomach area. If your stomach was actually the size of your fist, you wouldn’t see it sticking out or hanging over your pants. Pretty shocking, isn’t it?
So as you prepare meals or dish out your meals onto your plate, keep two images in your mind. First, the size of your fist. And if you need a reminder, just hold your fist out in front of you and glance at it for a second. And then create your portion sizes accordingly.
And the second image to keep in mind is your stomach, and the rest of your body for that matter, and picture what that portion size will do for your body. It will either help it or hurt it. This has to be something that you can use both as a deterrent and an encouragement.
Use it as a deterrent to keep you from overeating. But use it as an encouragement to keep you motivated to do the right thing and choose small portions.
Every time we overeat, we add more fat and more pounds to our body. The heavier we get, the harder our heart and lungs have to work to keep us alive. Not to mention the damage we do to our knees, ankles and other parts of our body that have to support and carry our weight around.
It will take some time, typically a couple of weeks, to completely train your mind to accept this new portion size concept, but once you get it, it will be hard to break!
So, starting today, right now, put this into practice the next time you eat. The best way to do it is to just do it. Don’t try to work into it slowly. Just jump in and do what you know you need to do to begin losing that weight.
Look… I know that losing weight can be tough. I’ve been there! But you can do it. Seriously. You can do it! You just need to want to lose weight. So remind yourself of how bad those excess pounds are for your heart, lungs and the rest of your body. And then remind yourself that being overweight takes years off of your life.
Now that makes it a little more serious, doesn’t it?
Would you like to “Super Size” that?
No! Absolutely not!
Keep it lean.
Curt
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