In terms of losing a few pounds, it isn’t about simply what you eat … it’s additionally about how a lot you eat.
After all, sure meals and vitamins may help you are feeling happy and management your urge for food: wholesome fat from nuts; fiber from fruits, greens and entire grains; protein from eggs, beans and meat. That’s why many Nutrisystem meals and snacks are loaded with each fiber and protein.
However even “good” decisions can sabotage your weight reduction progress if you happen to eat an excessive amount of. For instance, two tablespoons of almonds offers filling, wholesome fat and about 70 energy. On Nutrisystem, that quantity counts as one PowerFuel. However if you happen to snack mindlessly on them, the energy in almonds add up: One full cup of entire almonds is 828 energy.
This may be the distinction between consuming an quantity that helps you keep full, energized and on monitor together with your weight reduction versus an quantity that causes your “wholesome” snack to result in weight acquire.
The issue: We’re actually dangerous at estimating portion sizes, so we’ve hassle controlling them. Research present that once we don’t measure, People appropriately guess the dimensions of a portion solely about half the time. And we’re particularly dangerous at estimating portion sizes relating to snacks and sweets.
That’s why portion management is the cornerstone of Nutrisystem: The meals and snacks we ship you’re completely portioned so you recognize precisely how a lot you’re consuming, and comprehend it’s an quantity that’s serving to you progress in direction of your weight reduction targets.
However relating to your grocery add-ins and Flex meals, portion management is important. Use these six tricks to hold all of your different parts beneath management and keep on monitor.
1. Measure and retailer meals in wholesome parts—earlier than you’re hungry.
Whenever you’ve bought an urge for food, it’s possible you’ll wish to seize one thing and eat it—quick. Measuring out parts prematurely may help you make sure that these two tablespoons of almonds don’t balloon right into a half-cup or extra: You may merely seize the bag or container the place you’ve pre-measured the snack you need, and also you’ll know the way a lot you’re consuming.
This may be particularly helpful for meals that you recognize you are inclined to binge on: If you happen to purchase a block of cheese and know you are inclined to eat a bunch of it once you’re feeling snacky, flip it over and have a look at the vitamin label once you get residence. If it’s bought 16 servings, reduce the block into 16 servings instantly, then put these in containers or luggage. Or if you happen to are inclined to seize a bunch of sandwich cookies, contemplate pre-portioning your entire bundle into servings as quickly as you get residence. That means, once you do snack, you may seize a serving that you recognize matches your plan.
The Nutrisystem Grocery Information may help you identify what these wholesome parts must be, so you may load your cupboards and fridge with pre-portioned snacks and substances that suit your plan. You can even chop up some non-starchy greens that are limitless meals—like cucumbers, carrots and bell pepper slices—so that you’ll have tasty, pre-prepared snacks which you can eat in massive parts.
All this snack prep has a bonus: Analysis exhibits that extra time spent prepping meals within the kitchen is extremely correlated with consuming a higher-quality, nutritious eating regimen—and with higher well being outcomes!
2. Purchase pre-measured parts.
Don’t have time to pre-measure all the pieces? Benefit from pre-portioned choices. Smaller luggage of chips and crackers, 100-calorie packs, or different pre-portioned meals may help you retain monitor of how a lot you’re consuming.
Nutrisystem IS a giant assist right here: Our snacks, just like the Chocolate Chip Cookies and White Cheddar Popcorn, are already pre-portioned, so you may eat your entire bundle and really feel happy whereas staying on plan. No measuring wanted.
3. Use your arms to assist.
Typically the serving measurement on a label—and even the quantity listed within the Grocery Information—will be complicated: How a lot salmon is in three ounces? How a lot tuna is in a half-cup?
If you happen to don’t have a meals scale or measuring cups/spoons useful, you should utilize your arms or frequent family objects that can assist you estimate the correct portion measurement. Try the infographic beneath for some frequent examples:
1 oz. = 1 thumb or 3 cube
Examples:
PowerFuels: lowered fats cheese
2 oz. = about ²/₃ palm of hand or deck of playing cards
3 oz. = 1 palm of hand or deck of playing cards
Examples:
PowerFuels: 2 oz. meat, poultry or fatty fish, or 3 oz. white fish
1 tsp. = 1 fingertip or 1 cube
Examples:
Extras: honey, jelly, maple syrup, mayonnaise, oil and seeds
1 Tbsp. = 1 thumb or 1 poker chip
Examples:
PowerFuels: 1 Tbsp. oil and nut butter, or 2 Tbsp. nuts and seeds
Extras: avocado, ketchup, low-fat espresso creamer, mild salad dressing and reduced-fat mayonnaise
¼ cup = ½ cupped hand or 1 egg
Examples:
PowerFuels: avocado, ricotta cheese, and shredded, grated or crumbled cheese.
SmartCarbs: dried fruit and hummus
½ cup = 1 cupped hand or pc mouse
Examples:
PowerFuels: 1% cottage cheese, canned tuna, edamame and lean floor turkey
SmartCarbs: brown rice, quinoa, entire grain pasta, beans and starchy veggies (corn, potatoes and peas)
1 cup = 1 clenched fist or baseball
Examples:
PowerFuels: low-fat milk
SmartCarbs: recent fruit and berries
Extras: unsweetened almond milk and air-popped popcorn
4. Don’t eat straight out of a full-sized bag or field. Use a plate or bowl.
If you happen to can’t eat from a bundle the place the entire contents is the same as one serving, don’t eat out of the bag or field. It’s robust to know the way a lot you’re consuming, and simple to be carried away … as anybody who’s lounged with a bag of chips can inform you.
As an alternative, measure the portion onto a plate or right into a bowl earlier than you sit right down to eat. That means, you gained’t must depend on your willpower to cease—you may clear your plate and know you’ve eaten a wholesome portion that matches your plan.
5. Pair a salty snack or candy deal with with a vast meals.
If you happen to love consuming in giant portions, strive pairing a wholesome portion of a salty, candy or fatty meals you crave with one other limitless meals, akin to carrot sticks, slices of cucumber, inexperienced pepper slices or broccoli florets. These meals are limitless as a result of they’re stuffed with vitamins your physique wants with out many energy. By combining these two forms of meals on a single plate, you’ll get to eat a few of the meals you’re keen on, and eat the amount that can fill you up.
6. Work out what you’re actually craving. Eat a portion of that.
If there’s a meals you’re actually craving—like a favourite ice cream, or a chocolate chip cookie, or a cheese-flavored snack that all the time hits the spot—Nutrisystem dietitians say you may truly go overboard consuming different meals attempting to keep away from your meals craving all collectively. You understand the sensation. You actually need a cookie, however you find yourself choosing at different stuff—a pretzel right here, a cracker there—and by no means actually really feel happy … however you’ve piled up a bunch of additional energy.
The answer, our consultants say, is to provide into that craving … with a managed portion. If you happen to’re actually craving a selected meals, measure out a portion that matches the Grocery Information pointers, and actually get pleasure from it. That’s the fantastic thing about Nutrisystem’s program: No meals is off limits when eaten in the correct portion. So savor that wholesome portion, log it within the NuMi app, and keep on monitor to your targets!
