Dr Macklin Talks Portion Sizes

Weight loss fads may come and go, but in the end, your weight is determined by the difference between the number of calories you consume and the number of calories of energy you use.  

So if a healthy weight is determined by "how much" food we eat, how are we doing as a whole? As it turns out... poorly. The average North American is eating 400 calories more than they did 40 years ago. If I started eating 400 more calories each day compared to what I eat now, I would gain 48 pounds of fat in a year!

Our food world is oversized and it is difficult to figure out what the "correct" portion size is. Here is the problem: The average female weight loss diet is between 1200 and 1600 calories a day while a recent study of popular chain restaurants found the average entree to be 1400 calories!

Knowing what a correct portion size amounts to is only part of the battle. Most of today’s hardened dieters can tell you what a portion looks like, or at least those who want to know. A protein portion is the size of a deck of cards. A grain portion is a slice of bread, half a bagel or a half tennis ball of rice. A fruit portion is the size of a tennis ball. One serving of dairy is a glass of milk or a piece of cheese the size of four dice.

Now, how do we determine how many portions we should be eating? The number of portions we should eat of each food group depends on our metabolism - which is different for everyone and it depends whether we want to lose weight or maintain our current weight.

If you are interested in losing weight you should determine the number of calories you use each day and then the right number of calories to eat to lose weight at a healthy rate. A healthy rate of weight loss is another way of saying losing fat exclusively rather than losing fat muscle and protein. For example an average 5 foot 6 inches tall, 200 pound, 40 year old woman with a moderate level of activity will use a total of 2200 calories per day. If she eats 2200 calories each day her weight will go nowhere. I would advise this woman to learn how to eat a 1450 calorie diet. This would create a weight loss of 6 pounds per month.  

So the real question is how will this woman learn what 1450 calories a day is, how many portions and of what food group? I find the most effective answer is to break up each meal and snack into a certain number of calories and execute those numbers during the whole weight loss effort.

In our example, the 200 pound woman could be eating a 250 calorie breakfast, a 100 calorie snack in the morning, a 500 calorie lunch, a 100 calorie snack in the afternoon and a 500 calorie dinner. By sticking to these numbers, the woman can be assured that she should not be hungry at any point in the day, and that if she is feeling hunger, chances are that those are cravings based on times she overate in the past.

You can use an online calculator to figure out how many calories is right for your weight loss effort, (doing a simple search will find many online calculators that work for children and adolescents as well as adults.) Use these tips to help you use that information:

• Spread your calories through the day to avoid hunger
• Use your knowledge of portions to create balanced meals and snacks  
• Never go three or so hours without food
• Eat slowly to allow fullness signals to reach your brain  
• Use small plates to help your brain know that you have eaten enough  

This, plus moderate exercise, is a great launching point towards a sustainable weight loss effort.

Dr. David Macklin is X-Weighted's obesity expert and will be featured throughout season 5.

This post is a repeat, but look forward to more original content to come in the future.