Portion control is a key in keeping you on track with your nutrition!
Keeping your nutrition in check is so important for your overall health. Focusing on nutrient dense food is priority, but another thing you can focus on to help keep you on track is portion control. Portion control allows you to have better control over your calorie intake. Portion control can also help you to work more foods that you love into your diet with ease.
Here are some ways to help you with your portion control:
Take food out of containers.
Eating food straight out of containers can cause you to eat more than you think. It's much easier to eat more than you are aware of when you don't go ahead and portion out a serving size before eating.
Pack leftovers.
Go ahead and pack leftovers up right away. This can help keep you from going to get more when you are actually full. You can also pack your leftovers up into meal size portions so they are ready to grab and go. When eating out you can ask for a to-go box and go ahead and pack part of your plate to help keep your portions in control. Restaurants typically serve 2+ servings in each plate so this can definitely help you to eat out with control easier.
Use smaller dinnerware.
Sometimes our eyes trick us, so filling up a smaller plate can make your head think you're eating more than you actually are. If you are trying to break some habits of overeating, this can help. Or if you do like to get seconds, using a smaller plate can help you to do that with more control as you're adjusting that habit.
Track your food.
Tracking your food allows you to stay aware of how much you're eating. Seeing those numbers for a while can help you to develop habits of portion control because tracking gives you more of a visual.
Make already portioned versions of big meals you like.
This is a great meal prepping strategy. A great example of this is using a muffin pan to make different meals. To give you an idea of this, check out this video of making mini chicken pot pies in a muffin pan.