Portion Distortion

Ok I totally stole the title for my post from this picture I found on pintrest.  This picture totally shows one of the biggest challenges for me in weight loss...portions.  I just don't know what a healthy portion size is of most foods.  Everything is super-sized and I just have lost the ability to judge a portion size.  So I spend a lot of my time at home measuring things, reading labels and trying to figure out what a portion should be.  This means that eating out is really hard right now because I just don't have the skills to easily judge a portion and yet I know what they brought me is way way way too much.  There is also a lot of hidden fat in restaurant foods.  I've read that some places put butter on top of their meat before serving to add extra juiciness, if it can be fried they'll do it and there are a lot of sauces with sugars and fats in them.  We are programmed to like unhealthy food and too much of it.  

Good Ole Meat and Potatoes

The second problem I face is that I grew up in a meat and potatoes family, not that my parents were bad, they cooked fairly healthy food and worked on helping us discuss healthy portions and eating.  However, I'm learning that for my body, starch just doesn't work, I am very efficient at turning starch into fat.  So I need to rethink what I put on my plate and how I plan a meal.  So instead of picking a meat and starch and then adding a vegetable, I need to pick two veggies, a lean protein and just a side of starch.  So far this is actually working and feeling pretty good.  I do crave starch but it's not because I'm hungry but because so many of the foods that I am familiar with or find "comfortable" are starchy.  So once a week I give myself permission to have a starchier comfort meal.  In addition I'm continuing my attempt to eat vegetarian 3 times a week, to break my habit of relying on that old meat and potatoes.  I also know that eating vegetarian is actually better for the environment, lowers my carbon footprint and is healthier.  It also can be cheaper in some cases because meat is quite expensive especially when you are buying smaller amounts like I do because there is just me.  A small package of 3 chicken breasts is 3 meals for me but costs more than the super pack of 12 (which is a ridiculous 12 meals) in comparison a can of chickpeas is a lot cheaper :-)

My new plate looks more like this

Also I lost another pound this week, despite a fall of the tracks Saturday, so I'm proud of myself.  I fell off the tracks but got back on and pulled it together again, which is why this isn't a diet so much as a healthy lifestyle.  In a healthy lifestyle you sometimes make bad choices but you realize it, forgive yourself and next time make better choices.