Bill wants to lose weight. He's heard of portion control, but he doesn't understand it. The very thought of lumps of food the size of his fist doesn't even make sense. A lump of what? Plum pudding with hard sauce? Steamed green beans? The first is high in calories; the second has almost no calories. They can't possibly be equivalent. Besides, if he's already happy with the amount he eats, doesn't portion control mean that he'll have to be hungry? Bill is confused about portion control, and doesn't want to do it.

Bill has already tried traditional dieting. He lost some weight initially while on a low-fat diet, but then gained it back plus another thirty pounds. Then he switched to a low-carb diet, but he loves beans, fruit, hot cereals and nuts, all of which he will have to feel guilty about eating for the rest of his life.

He doesn't want to count calories or any other food value. He knows this will only increase his food focus, and besides, he doesn't have time or concentration at the office cafeteria to be counting what's in his food. Bill doesn't realize that ever since his attempt at the low-fat diet, his portions have become even bigger than when he started dieting, and his weight is still rising.

How is portion control different from calorie restriction?

The conventional wisdom that calories matter most is correct. However, there is a problem with how calorie restriction is often implemented. Bill mistakenly believes that he needs to alter his food so as to reduce the calories within the food. He has tried altering it by reducing the fat, and he has tried altering it by reducing the carbs. But neither is correct. Altering his food has led to meals that are less than delicious and are not quite suited to his taste. That's why he couldn't last very long on the food-altering diets. What Bill needs to learn to do is to reduce the overall calories on his plate by making his portions small, regardless of their content.

How can I make portion control work for me?

Here are the basic principles that will help Bill succeed at losing weight permanently.

You might not be hungry if

If you are not truly hungry, you will be able to drink a bottle of water, and be fine for another hour or two. Here are some circumstances in which you might discover that you're not actually hungry yet:

If you've ruled out greed, stress, and emotions, you might be hungry if:

Where can dieters go for more information?

Click to join dietsurvivors

Bill could learn a little more about portion sizes from reading about The Zone Diet or The South Beach Diet, as long as he remembers that sugar really is acceptable. In fact, all foods are acceptable. He can also search the Web for "low-carb" and "glycemic index" to Find out more information.

But even better, Bill could subscribe to the free e-mail newsletter, Diet Survivors™ (View a sample without subscribing.)

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Bill might also like to buy the book How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever by Linda Moran. This book will help him with his thoughts and self-talk as they are directly related to portion control. Learn more.

Learn how to use portion control to survive your diet.

Linda Moran, author of How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever, understands that portion control scares people. After struggling with dysfunctional eating, Moran discovered that portion control has some guidelines that make it easy. It turns out that you don't have to go hungry if you start eating less food! Moran was so anxious to share this discovery that it led her to write this book. Order today.

Tired of dieting?

How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever

  from
  Betterway
  Press

Click on the book cover
for more information

Or order from Amazon.com today

What about other diet problems?

To read more about how to solve diet problems, click on Solve your dieting problems. Diet problems are also addressed in How to Survive Your Diet and its companion newsletter, Diet Survivors™.

To learn more about normal eating, read what is normal eating?

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