10 Ways Portion Control Can Help You Lose Weight Quickly

I believe that portion control and losing weight quickly go together just as well as chips and salsa! In fact, I just recently went to a Mexican restaurant–in celebration of Taco Tuesday, of course–and found myself at a loss of control when the waiter plopped those big bowls of chips and salsa down right in front of me. My sense of moderation went right out the window!

They tasted amazing and since I don’t believe in restricting myself to the point where I binge eat, I don’t regret munching on them at all. Chips and salsa, when I have the healthier versions, actually make for a good snack. However, when I’m at home snacking on chips and salsa, I make sure to put one serving of both the chips and the salsa into bowls to ensure that I don’t over eat.

When I went to that Mexican restaurant and ate more than one portion of chips and salsa, my taste buds were having a fiesta, but afterward, my stomach was doing the opposite. Talk about bloated!

This is fine every once in a while. I almost expect to be bloated during a cheat day, but it’s definitely not something that should occur daily. That would lead to weight gain rather than weight loss. And, let’s not forget that it would also lead to daily discomfort–something I definitely don’t want or need!

Since we’re aiming to lose weight here (especially after overindulging during the holidays), it’s incredibly important to control your portions. If you don’t believe me, read on to discover 10 ways portion control can help you lose weight quickly!

1. Fewer calories

Portion control means actually understanding how many calories and nutrients are in each food, and portioning out the correct serving size of that food. So, portion control also means eating fewer calories. I know that when I eat chips right out of the bag and dip them directly into a jar of salsa, I eat way more than the recommended serving sizes. This means that I also eat way more calories than I eat when I portion out servings into bowls.

Eating too many calories, of course, means that gaining weight is much more likely. Eating less calories, of course, means that losing weight is much more likely. It’s even been said that eating even less than 100 extra calories a day can lead to gaining at least 10 pounds in a year.

I don’t know about you, but I’d choose the losing weight option over the gaining weight option any day!

2. Meal prep

Controlling your portions and meal prepping go hand-in-hand, and we all know that meal prepping is a great weight loss technique. Having your meals prepared and ready to eat makes controlling your portions as easy as pie! Plus, when you meal prep correctly, not only are you ensuring that you’ll eat the correct amount of food. You’re also creating an opportunity to fuel your body with the right foods–weight loss foods!

Check out our 31 Best Weight Loss Foods and start incorporating them into your meal prep!

3. Feel full sooner

When I first started controlling the portions of my meals, I wasn’t necessarily full after eating. Now, however, after meal prepping smaller meals for myself for quite some time, I find that I sometimes get full before even finishing my meals.

I know that it’s very important to listen to your body when it tells you that you’re full, so when it does, I simply stop eating and feel great. Because smaller meals now fill me up, I eat much less and am able to lose weight much faster. Yay for portion control, quick weight loss, and a happier me!

4. More energy

I’ve discovered that a really great benefit of controlling the portions of my meals and snacks has been that I have way more energy. I used to feel pretty sluggish after meals–that dreaded food coma would always hit me hard. I would even use it as an excuse to not exercise, because after consuming so much food, I’d get a cramp from just walking too much.

Now, I can exercise pretty soon after eating. Instead of getting cramps, I find that I just have more energy to put toward strengthening, toning, and slimming my body! One of my favorite workouts for this is our High-Intensity Total Body HIIT workout!

5. Aids in digestion

Controlling how much you’re eating may also help improve how well your body digests food. It’s a bit embarrassing for me to share this with you, but in the hopes of persuading you to better your body and mind by losing unnecessary weight, it’s worth me sharing. When I used to over eat, I was constantly finding it hard to go to the bathroom. Constipation became a big part of my life and I was, therefore, always pretty uncomfortable.

Now that I eat smaller portions of more nutrient-dense foods (which meal prepping has helped me with), I rarely feel that discomfort and am able to digest my food more efficiently. This has not only made me feel lighter…I’m actually lighter now, too! I guess I’m living proof that portion control really can help you lose weight quickly!

6. Change in mindset

Once you start portion controlling, you’ll have a much better understanding of how much food your body needs and, therefore, how much food you should be feeding it. This understanding–this change in mindset–follows me wherever I go, whenever I’m eating.

When I go to restaurants now, I realize that the food on my plate is not necessarily one serving and I shouldn’t necessarily eat all of it. Just because the chef put it all on my plate, doesn’t mean my body needs it all to feel satisfied. Because I’m more aware of this, I’m able to stop myself from eating more than I should even when I’m out to eat at a restaurant–which has really helped me to drop the pounds and keep them off!

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