Avoiding Seasonal Weight Gain
November 1 by Reginald Adkins | Lifestyle, Uncategorized
I suppose this article is timely only for those in the hemisphere that is currently approaching winter. All you lucky ducks heading for bright lights and sunshine will just have to file this one away for a few months.
For those of us moving into the long dark tea time of the soul known as winter, an ominous question presents itself.
Do you pack on the extra pounds in the long dark hours of winter?
Joking aside, many people add extra pounds during the seasons which have less light. This may be due to having fewer daylight hours to be out and about. Or it may be due to people deciding this would be a good time to have another slice of warm pie by the fire. Personally, I believe it has a lot to do with the unconscious snacking we do while sitting in front of the sports network.
But, whatever the reason most people consume far more calories than they realize, especially in winter. The solution might be a sharpened sense of portion size.
Understanding the concept of standard serving sizes is essential to good nutrition.
Take a look at fast food restaurants. Most chain restaurant employees automatically offer “super-size” or “value” meals when taking an order. These meals which I have named “impulse upgrades” often contain an entire day’s worth of calories and much more than a day’s worth of fat.
If you figure taking in an additional 148 calories per day (that’s conservative) and adding no additional caloric burn, you get a formula that packs on an extra 15 pounds every year.
But, even if calories from fat are decreased— we make up for lower fat intakes with larger portion sizes. More calories from larger portion size lead to weight gain, period.
But, what is a portion size? You can use the following visuals to approximate portion sizes:
- A computer mouse = one serving (three ounces) of meat, poultry, or fish.
- Half a baseball = one serving (one-half cup) of fruit, vegetables, pasta, or rice.
- Your thumb = one serving (one ounce) of cheese.
- A tennis ball = one serving (one cup) of yogurt or chopped fresh greens.
When at Home:
- Take time to “eyeball” the serving sizes of your favorite foods (using some of the models listed above).
- Measure out single servings onto your plates and bowls, and remember what they look like.
- Serve up plates with appropriate portions in the kitchen, and don’t go back for seconds.
- Never eat snacks out of the bag.
When Dining Out:
- Ask for half or smaller portions.
- Set the rest aside that which is more than a portion and ask for a take home bag.
- If you order dessert, share it.
Reg Adkins writes on behavior and the human experience at (elementaltruths.blogspot.com).
“Serve up plates with appropriate portions in the kitchen, and don’t go back for seconds.”
Actually, I haven’t had a problem with going back for seconds unless I’m actually trying to achieve a specifc number of calories.
If you dish up a half-cup of pasta, take it to the table, and eat it, you may or may not be full. If you really are still hungry, go get another half-cup of pasta. You may end up eating the same amount of food as you were before. But now instead of thinking, “I had spaghetti for dinner” you’re thinking, “Wow, I had 2 (or 3, or 4) servings of spaghetti!” which fends off late-night justifications of, “I didn’t have THAT much dinner… surely it would be OK to have a fudge bar…”
I’ve had GREAT luck with this theory on snacks. Don’t EVER take the bag of chips out of the kitchen. (Nor dump the bag of chips into a big bowl, which is the same thing.) Take out a sandwich-sized ziploc bag, and place therein ONE serving of snack food. (Check the lable — you’d be amazed at how small that is.) Take that to the TV room, and munch away to your heart’s content.
Again, I would never stop you from going back to get more snackage. My only purpose here is to make you aware of how much food you’re getting. By the time you’ve gone back for your 20th serving of BBQ Potato Chips (and calculated 20 x calories/serving) you’ll figure out your own way to cut back.
Instead of talking about portion sizes and the like, why not stress the fact that we all need to exercise more?
Put another way, we are being calorie conscious and exercise unconscious.
Kaiser,
You have a good point. It is important to be aware of the amount of exercise we get. I think we are so mentally exhausted after a long day of work that we don’t really consider that we spent most of that day at a computer keyboard.
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I find one easy way to reduce weight is to simply go for a low fat diet. There are a large number of tips for a healthy low fat diet at http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/lowfat.php But you should also look at your calorie balance ie calories in vs calories burnt.
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