Friday, August 17, 2012

Portion Creep, Weight Creep, and the Big Wake-Up Call....and the Good (bread) Plates Come to the Rescue. :D

Um, well, dang. Today, the scale said, "Hey, you're gaining too much weight, Missy."

174.4

The lowest was, for a brief few days, 169.8. Then back to the 170s.

I've had a bad case of portion creep. Or portion dump. Appetite came back with a vengeance with the release of tension once hubby found a nice job.

I've just been dumping food on my plate and going to town.

So, today, I went to the cabinet and got out the gold-rimmed heirloom Bavarian china that's decades old, plates I inherited from my mother-in-law. I figured if I was gonna eat less, I was gonna eat it in style.

Breakfast today got served on very small, very shiny/gleamy/pretty plates that are about 6 or 7 inches wide (though the serving area is only like 5 inches, the rest is rim.  They're pretty much bread plates. Or VERY TINY salad or appetizer plates.

Here's how I put the pretties to use: One for my protein. One for my fruit.

To keep the beautiful vibe going, I had my coffee in a matching ivory and gold-rimmed (though not Bavarian) Noritake teacup (so pretty) and Ralph Lauren saucer (so classy). I had acquired those years ago at a big sale where mismatched stuff got hugely discounted over at Macy's. It was a steal. The Noritake cup had no saucer. The Lauren saucer had no cup. But the pattern and colors matched, so I snapped them up super cheap. Less than 15 bucks for both, real china, real gold. SHAZAM! I use them when I am in the mood to jazz up my coffee or tea.

Those small plates means not a lot of food, but lots of eye-nourishment to help make up for it.

I figure my first meal of the day had crept up to 800 calories in the last couple weeks.

Today, it was 420. Much better.

I need to maintain or reverse the gain and lose some more again. The time of portion insanity ends...today....

Are you letting portion creep into your life?
Are you using old dingy plates?

Make your smaller portions prettier!

Use color or go get one of those "special china" pieces and use it, cause YOU are special, and once we're dead, the china does us no good. Use it now.

And on we go, in the fight against fat.

Next project--tackle the sloth and get back to movement. AKA "Where have my lovely muscles gone?"

Take care, all. Be well...

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I use Whole30's meal planning template in which foods are portion measured using your hand. Works quite well for me. It's on the below Whole30 page link, in the Ready To Start? paragraph. I have crappy old dishes, but you have inspired me to look for a china teacup! :-)

http://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/

sixty-five said...

Great idea to use the pretty china. As a frustrated grandma I recently picked up and read the wonderful "French Kids Eat Everything", which could just as aptly have been called "The French Paradox Explained". An eye-opener for me in many ways. The French DO eat everything, but in small, beautifully prepared amounts, and ONLY AT MEALTIMES. No snacking! EVER! Macronutrients are not that big a deal, but pleasure IS. You might enjoy! Happy to hear the stress is behind you.

Caron said...

If I stop weighing and measuring, it doesn't take long for me to start seeing a portion as much more than it should be.

I love using small plates so that it looks like a lot more food. I do it all the time. :)

Karen said...

I track at my fitness pal and keep my carbs 50-100g. I look at my weight graph and make assessments on my weight trending. I'm a picture person, so I look at it like data.

I've been shopping in the discount section at Anthropology to get small salad plates that look fabulous.

Welcome back! Keep focusing on your goals. Life will happen and you will get through it. Karen P

PlumPetals said...

I've definitely noticed that if I'm not careful, my portions can get out of control. I have to make a conscious effort.

Good luck getting back on track :)

Bluezy said...

Don't forget to hold up the pinky when drinking out of the fancy cups!

Julie said...

I like that idea Mir. I could stand finding some smaller dishes. I'm also going to check out the idea from Suzan.
Take care Mir and have a blessed week!

Val said...

Love your ideas! At Hubby's cousin's wedding a few yrs ago, our reception "favor" was the cup & saucer our tea had been served in...

Deniz said...

Love the pretty plates plan. Using smaller sized (and beautiful) plates has helped me too.

Jane Cartelli said...

Special dishes, a fancy table cloth, meals eaten with the TV off and the atmosphere set for calm eating - these all work in helping me keeping the pounds off. This last week I was in Disney World with family for 8 days and it was wonderful for family time but no for meal time. Limited healthy choices, no quiet place, no fancy dishes unless we paid fancy prices. I wish the family was still here and I wish we could have eaten all our meals at home!

Karla said...

yes that scale will creep back ... danged thing :(

I am still fighting to get back to my lowest, man it is a never ending struggle...

I miss the ignorance stage

when I thought I would lose the weight and life would be "happily ever after"

yeah right

keep fighting the good fight

Lisa said...

I just love that you're using your pretty dishes! Why do we always save these for some special occasion? I would totally do this if it wasn't for the fact that I hate washing dishes by hand lol.

Susan said...

Portion control is key - and eating slowly! I hate it when I have extra hungry days for no apparent reason. I've been following Marcelle Pick's 30-day Eating Program out of her book "Are You Tired and Wired?" I love it! Recipes are yummy, I don't have to think about what to make and they're chock full of veggies and fruit. I highly recommend!

Honeybee said...

I like the idea about making small portions prettier. It's very common that people save beautiful plates for special events only :)

http://herweightlossdiary.blogspot.com/

Beth said...

Thanks for your supportive comments to me, Mir. I hope that you are able to get your thyroid into balance even on a lower dose of meds. I've been on meds that cause heart palpitations, not nice at all. I'm so sorry to hear that the meds are causing the side effects.

Indeed we keep fighting, one bit at a time.

And the dishes sound lovely, far too often I end up eating out of plastic dishes (which are intended to be picnic ware) and not use the nice ones.

I've recently noticed that yet another big loser blog has stopped updating (after a big loss) - I'm so glad that you are sticking around through the tough times and the good ones.

And as far as muscles - what are those???????..... 2 months in a psych ward and mine are all gone, that's for sure...sigh. (They had treadmills but no body used them, heck, the meds make you want to move like a snail, lol.

Debsdailylife said...

You were on my mind quite a bit today!! Said an extra prayer!!!

Debsdailylife said...

You were on my mind quite a bit today!! Said an extra prayer!!!