My Mantra: Portion Control = Weight Control

I wish I could take credit for that mantra, but it was my own personal trainer, shout out to Richard Puou, that used to hound that into me, but once I because a trainer I realized that he couldn't be more spot on.

You don't need any fad diets to lose weight.  The truth is, it's common math.  Ready for your math lesson?

In order to lose 1 pound you need to burn 3500 calories.  Simple right?  Gets better....
Break it down to lose 1 lb / week.....3500 calories / 7 days = 500 calories a day that you need to lose.  Or as we say you need a 500 calorie daily deficit. 
Gets better....
You can either cut your food back by 500 calories, workout and burn 500 more throughout your day, or he's the happy medium...eat 250 calories less and burn 250 more. 

Sound simple?  It is.  No pun intended, but this way , you can bite off more than you can chew!  When you make it easy like this, the pressure is less to lose weight and you won't get as frustrated. 

Just think, eating 250 calories less, means, for most of us, a lower portion of carbs at night and maybe 1 slice less of bread.  How hard is that?  Now, get on the treadmill for 1/2 an hour and walk at about 3.5 mph and you just burned about 120 calories.  Add some resistance training for 1/2 an hour and you just added another 150+ caloires depending on how hard your train.  You just decreased your daily caloric intake by 500 calories!

OK...portion control.  On another forum that I write for, some people are saying that they swear they're only eating 1200 - 1500 calories.  Yeah I did too, until I started measuring for real.  If you're not losing weight, and maintaining, chances are you're eating more than you think.  A woman that is around 5'2" + that needs to lose 20 lbs or less can easily live on 1200 calories / day, be fulfilled food wise and lose 1 lb / week.  No problem.  If you need to lose more than that or are at least 100 lobs overweight, then to drastically reduce wouldn't be safe.  If you have more than 50 - 100 to lose let me know and I can help you on your diet so you lose safely.

Richard used to tell me, take little bowls to work (think little tupperware) and put your food in that.  WOW what a difference, I did take less and ate less.  Tom and I at home shrank our bowls for pasta and stirfry and that helped to.  Also, don't cook more than you can eat at one sitting, unless you're making extra protein for the next day. 

If you spread your calories out, you'll feel full the rest of the day.  Here's a sample of a 1200 calorie day for me....ready?

2 egg whites = 30 calories
1 piece whole grain bread (miltons) = 110
whipped butter (yup not margerine, butter is better and whipped is less calories than stick) = 60 calories / tbs (I take less) = 30 caloires
coffee with half and half:  35 calories / cup  (yup my other cheat is cream in my coffee)

Breakfast total:  205 calories

Snack:  60 - 100 calories: Cheese stick, fruit, almonds (pick one, not all!!!)

Lunch:
3 oz protein = approximately 120 caloires (chicken, fish, turkey)  + cheese sometimes = 80 calories
salad = free basically
sometimes I throw in some pasta or rice = 140
dressing:  Here's an old weight watchers tip...dip your fork in the dressing on the side and into the salad = 30 calories (even the fattening ones!!!)

Lunch total:  350 - 400

Snack if you need it:  same as above.  If I eat less for lunch on the calorie side, I might have a 180 - 200 calorie protein bar if I'm doing Tae Bo that night!

Dinner:

Protein:  120
carb:  140
veggie / salad = free
dressing:  30 - 60

Dinner total:  350ish

OK.....4 meals with snacks:  1200 calories
If I'm under, I get dessert for 120 calories.....

Questions?

Tomorrow.....Myth Busters....stay tuned!
Posted by Cara at 10/7/2009 11:26 AM
Categories: uncategorized
 

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