Do you know the best three ways to manage calories? The quantity of the foods you eat affects your body fat. There are several ways to reduce fat. In this article, you will see how to manage calories to lose weight. Body fat is the difference between the food you eat and the activities you perform. Fat loss happens when you eat less food or perform more activities.
Hannum S.M. et al. (2004) conducted a scientific research study and found that eating portion-controlled food reduced body fat in the participants. It is easier to eat less food than to perform more activities. You can use portion control to find the balance between feeling hungry and managing calories.
There is an amount of food that you can eat to reduce body fat while not reducing the energy you need to perform activities. When you don’t have the power to perform actions, it makes you sluggish and lethargic. When you have more energy than you need to perform activities, it prevents you from burning body fat.
The goal is to eat the right amount of energy to burn body fat while not reducing the power you need to stay active. Portion control gives you the ability to eat the right amount of energy to burn body fat while staying active. The three most effective portion control methods to manage calories are calorie counting, hand size, and the fitness nutrition plate.
You can count calories to manage your calories.
Calorie counting is one of the most effective portion control methods to burn body fat. So here is the technique of how to use portion controls to lose weight. It takes 3500 calories to burn a pound of body fat. When you eat 3500 calories less in food than the calories it takes for your body to function, then your body burns a pound of body fat to get the additional calories it needs to work.
The best way to track calories so that you are sure to create a calorie deficit is to use technology. There are plenty of programs like MyFitnessPal that track your calories when you enter or scan the foods you eat. The essential foods to follow are the condiments like barbeque sauce, coffee creamers, and salad dressings because they hide calories that can sabotage your efforts to burn body fat.
You can use your hand and stomach to manage calories.
Using portion controls to lose weight with hand size is another method you can use to burn body fat. There is a connection between your hand and your stomach. Your stomach is the size of your fist. Your stomach can expand up to four of your fists. The hand size method uses:
- Palm for proteins
- Fist for vegetables
- Cupped hand for carbohydrates
- Thumb for fats
When using hand size, how you transition to burn body fat determines your portions. Consequently, when making a hard transition, use one hand size for each macronutrient. Likewise, when making a smooth transition, use two hand sizes for each macronutrient. Finally, when making a balanced transition, use a hand size somewhere in the middle of a hard and smooth transition.
You can use your plate to manage your calories.
The plate you eat off of is another method you can use to burn body fat. Your plate can allow you to visualize a balanced meal. Balance is the magic pill for burning body fat. Your plate should contain:
- Half of the plate for vegetables
- A fourth of the plate for proteins
- An eighth of the plate for starches
- An eighth of the plate for fats
Calorie-dense foods such as fats have smaller portions and higher calories, while calorie-light foods like vegetables have higher portions and lower calories.
When you are putting it together, no one size fits all.
The method you choose to manage calories must be based on your personality and skill set. As long as you eat the right amount of energy, your body will take care of the rest. But the question is how to use portion controls to lose weight. Some other actions you can take to eat the right portions are to drink water with every meal, chew your food slowly, listen to your stomach, and take your time.
Your stomach talks to you through hunger and fullness. If you give your stomach enough time before, during, and after meals, it will tell you when you need to eat or stop eating. Quality over quantity means that while quality is an essential thing, quantity is not that far behind.
Reference:
Hannum, S. M., Carson, L., Evans, E. M., Canene, K. A., Petr, E. L., Bui, L., & Erdman Jr, J. W. (2004). The use of portion‐controlled entrees enhances weight loss in women. Obesity Research, 12(3), 538-546.
