Lose Weight after Pregnancy with Portion Control

Have you ever had someone say to you that you 'lose weight with portion control!' What exactly do they mean by this and how can lose weight by with healthy portion control?

First, I want to emphasize the key point that immediately after pregnancy your focus should be on 'YOU' with regards to your postpartum recovery. You must give your body time to heal. And only then can you think about losing weight.

Quality vs Quantity

We often judge value for money on quantity rather than quality. As a result, many food items we select are larger than what we really need. Many fast food places allow you to 'super-size' drinks or meals as we see this as value for money.

Free refills on drinks only encourage people to drink as much as they can so that they feel they are getting value for money.

The bigger the portions and the more free refills we have the more calories we consume and this is what leads to weight gain. When we consume more calories than we require we gain weight which predisposes us to increased risk of weight-related diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Important Point

To maintain a healthy weight you need to do more than just choose healthy foods and exercise. You must also consider how much you eat and that means paying attention to portion size.

One key PregActive goal is to provide you with the information need to be able to sustain healthy eating throughout your life.

And this involves keeping it simple and not having to weigh food or measure everything out. Instead, we want you to develop the ability to recognise standard serving sizes when dishing up a meal.

Portion Control Tips:

1. Replace your large plate with a smaller plate.

2. Don';t feel guilty about leaving food if it is too much.

3. Eat breakfast every day to give you the energy you need to function.

4. Avoid eating in front of the TV as you lose track of just how much you eat.

5. Stop eating when you begin to feel full.

6. When cooking large batches, freeze food that you will not serve right away.

7. Freeze in single-meal-sized containers to avoid future over-eating.

8. Eat slowly so your brain can get the message that your stomach is full.

9. Know that pre-packaged foods often contain more than 1 serving size.

10. Choose vegetables or salad instead of high-calorie foods like desserts.

11. Avoid skipping meals as this can lead to over-eating during main meals.

12. Avoid eating out and take-way foods.

13. Choose an entree for main meal.

14. Share your over-seize restaurant meal with a friend.