Portion Control, or “How Do I Know When I’ve Had Enough?”

Answering that question can be tricky. And yet, mastering the art of listening to your body is a fundamental principle in mastering the art of loving your body.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what our bodies are saying to us, especially regarding appetite, hunger, satisfaction, and fullness. For years, I was out of touch with what it felt like to be physically hungry, because I never allowed myself to become physically hungry. If food was around, I’d eat it. If food wasn’t around, I’d find some. And then we have my grad school years, when I’d ignore my body’s signals for hours upon hours: “I’m too busy to eat!” or “I can’t stop what I’m doing to eat!” or “Let me get just one more thing done, and then I’ll eat!” or, and this is my favorite, “What I’m doing is more important than eating.” You have one guess as to what would happen at home every night. I’d eat anything and everything in sight. And lots of it.

Listen to your body’s physical hunger signals. Be aware of how your body feels between meals. Gurgling, growling stomach? Weakness? Dizziness? Shakiness? Headaches? When you’re physically hungry, eat.

“I don’t have time to eat.”

Carry food with you. A granola bar (I like the ones on the market right now with 9 grams of fiber), an apple, a banana, a yogurt--whatever tastes good to you--keep it in your bag, and when you feel your stomach growling, eat.

Carry water with you, too.

“I eat out almost every day.”

This can be one of our biggest challenges. We all know that restaurants provide huge portions of food, sometimes doubling or tripling standards serving sizes. So here are a few tips to help you honor your body’s requirement for fuel when you’re at a restaurant:

Split a meal.

Eat half of what is served, and take the rest home.

Or ask for a take out container, and divide the meal when it arrives. Or ask the server to divide the entree in half before bringing it to you: half in a take out box, and half on the plate. Eat what’s on the plate, and take the rest home and enjoy it for lunch the next day.

Eat something before heading out the door. We all know what happens when we show up at our favorite restaurant and we haven’t eaten in several hours.

Ask questions about how the food is prepared.

Listen to your body’s signals for fullness. Know the difference between feeling satisfied, feeling really full, and feeling like you’re going to burst.

“Ok. So--what do I do when I’m at home?”

You may not want to hear this, but. . . take just one day and get familiar with portion sizes by weighing and measuring what you put in your mouth. We tend to underestimate the amount of food we eat, and so knowing what a cup of cereal looks like in your bowl, or knowing what three ounces of chicken looks like on your plate--that can be important in seeing how much food you’re really eating. If this sounds like a drag, make it fun! Reward yourself for empowering yourself with the knowledge of what serving sizes look like. By doing this, you’re taking exquisite care of your body. (If one day of weighing and measuring your food is too much, try it for just one meal.) You may be surprised at your discoveries.

Listen to your body’s hunger signals, and honor them. Your body will honor you in return.




Up next: “I Hate Exercise!”