205.2; Food and Your Portions

Sometimes I feel as though my weight, my efforts to lose weight and all that surrounds it overwhelms my life.  It's as though I am always thinking about it.  Yet I read stories such as this one in the local paper:  Better Eating Is A Tall Order and realize that obecity is overwhelming our population.  Then I don't feel so badly about being focused on it.

I tried to explain to someone I work with that the portions I eat are nothing like the portions that many/most Americans eat.  I can easily split and entree with Pete at a restaurant and walk away satisfied, if not full.  And yet, I see plates of food coming to people at my table or other tables and I know that they will finish the whole entree themselves.  My co-worker asked me if I judged those people.  My quick response was no, but the more I thought about it, I may do just that.

Before you get upset, let me explain.  It's similar to what I said yesterday about the clothes and the women at Stella's.  It's not that I judge them for eating that much, I judge them against what I used to be.  Better explained, I used to be that person who ate everything on my plate at a restaurant.  I know now, that I don't need to do that.  Others, who haven't gone through what I have, don't see it that way.  And that's ok, it's not me making the choice for them.  And honestly, I saw people sharing plates prior to having surgery and thought it was dumb.  Now I realize that it's just what works for Pete and I.

When I read the story above (which is about how Farmer's Markets are trying to entice people to use them), what stuck out is that we are desensitized to the large portions that we are served every day.  And it's true.  I never thought anything about eating the whole sweet potato, the 6 ounce steak, the whole caesar salad and 2-3 rolls at Texas Roadhouse.  Yet today there is no way in hell I could eat that much.  That plate to me, now, is overwhelming.  Yet people go there every day and consume that meal. 

Now is it easy to scale back your portions?  Nope.  Your body and more importantly, your brain is so used to the portions sizes that scaling back seems like you are depriving yourself.  It's a huge mind game to make even me believe that I don't need more than 1-2 cups of food at ANY meal and still survive.  But I'm here to tell you that it's true. 

What's all this mean?  Look at your portion sizes at the next meal.  Think about when you were satisfied while eating, not full.  Can you walk away satisfied and not reach full?  What happens when you do?