We really enjoy watching the biggest loser. This past week we also learned that we already do some of the things that they discussed on the biggest loser which helps us control our weight and also save money – Split Meals at Restaurants! Portion control is one way to manage your weight and we have taken this to restaurants that we go to by splitting meals and reducing the amount of food we actually eat when we go out. This step also helps us to save money as well when we go out. It is an inspirational show, we actually learn a few things about diet and about how to manage our food intake.
Split Meals at Restaurants – Portion control!
Portion control is really the biggest thing to help you control your weight, lose weight, and manage your diet. Eating less also has a side benefit. You spend less money buying food and preparing food! It is the old adage, energy in must be less than the energy you burn if you are going to lose weight. So one way to manage this is to control the size of the portions you are eating and also save money.
If you are at home, use a small plate. I know for myself if I use a large plate, I have a tendency to fill it up, while I do the same thing with a small plate, there is only so much food I can put on the plate. BY the time you have finished the food on the small plate you are starting to feel full and if you can wait 5 minutes, you will definitely feel full. Sure you might go back for a second helping, but again you are using a small plate and it will only hold a small amount of food. Sure you are tricking your mind and your stomach, but if it works why not use every trick you can to lose weight.
When you are out of the home dining in a restaurant, it is a bit more difficult, so we have another suggestion that will also help to save some money as well.
Split Meals at Restaurants – when dining out!
As we travel around the country, one thing we notice is that the size of the meals served at restaurants is huge. Portion sizes at restaurants have gotten out of hand. Many restaurants and I guess their patrons as well feel that they must serve large portions to attract their guests.
We have found that for many meals if we split the meal it is more than enough for each of us and we save money at the same time. The restaurants for the most part are ok with this, and sometimes will even split the meal for us, serving it on two separate plates. Sometimes they will bring us a second plate and let us split the meal ourselves. Either way, we eat less and we save money. What a deal! Many of our meals cost us half of what it will cost other people! Some would call us stingy, but I am more concerned about weight and on top of that I get the side benefit of spending less.
There are some places that want to charge a fee for splitting the meal. We just do not go back to them and we tell people as well. They end up losing business as a result. So when you go out to eat split your meals.
Portion Control and Buffets
Buffets are really difficult. You cannot split meals here and you cannot save any money as well, so unless it is a really good deal, it is best not to go to them. If you have a problem controlling how much you eat, it is probably best if you avoid going to a buffet. With all of the excellent food, it is usually best to just not go, because it is human nature to overeat when all of that food is just sitting there. Use the small plate approach and eat slowly, but we are pretty confident that you will still overeat in this situation.
Eat slow, Wait 20 Minutes So your Stomach Feels Full!
This post is about saving money, however, it is also a message about controlling your weight so we talk about eating slowly which in the end will save you money as well. This is one of the best ways to manage the portion size and how much you eat. Apparently it takes a little time for your stomach to register that it is full and let your brain know that you have eaten enough. Some people say to wait 10 to 20 minutes and then decide if you are going back for second helpings.
Fast eaters tend to over-eat, so if you wait even 5 minutes before getting that second helping you may find that you have eaten enough. We find that discussing topics over the dinner table is a great way to slow down your eating and also get that full feeling. Let’s face it you cannot eat when you are talking, at least you should not, just for good manners. Talking slows you down and forces you to enjoy the food more and provides time for your stomach to register the fact that you are full. maybe you will realize that you are full and will avoid going for that second helping!
Use Every Trick in the Book
Aside from just deciding to not eat as much, we are suggesting that you use every trick you can to control how much you eat and save some money as well. If you use a couple of little tricks to manage your eating, so what. At least you are losing weight, or controlling your weight.
Bottom line, you need to deal with the long term reason regarding why you have overeaten. Using these tricks will help you get going. But to maintain your weight or lose weight you do have to deal with the reasons why you overeat.
There are probably a lot more that can be used as well. If you know some of these tricks to control the portion size, why not leave us a comment and let our readers know about it. Spam comments will be auto-deleted! Split Meals at Restaurants and save money, control weight, and have fun.
July 19th, 2012 on 7:07 am
We always eat too much when we go out, we feel way too full afterwards and uncomfortable. Splitting a meal is a great way to lose weight or at least help to lose weight and you save some money too. Restaurants never seem to have a problem with us splitting. They are happy to get the business.