Rose<\/a> asked me about portion control.\u00a0 I’m going to try not to get too long winded with my answer! :p<\/p>\nWhen I first started eating healthier, one of the first things I did was cut my portions down a great deal.\u00a0 I knew I was overeating but I wasn’t sure by how much.\u00a0 I cut my portions down to small scoops of whatever I was having and if meat was involved then I only ate half and saved the rest.\u00a0 Over time I realized that I didn’t need huge portions of something in order to feel content and happy.\u00a0 I also slowed down how fast I ate.\u00a0 Back in the day I was an extremely slow eater.\u00a0 The type who everyone else is waiting on to finish their meals?\u00a0 That was me.\u00a0 While everyone else was done and cleaning up dishes, I wasn’t even halfway through my meal.<\/p>\n
I realized that this helped me keep portions in check and reduce overeating.\u00a0 I strived to get back to that.\u00a0 While I’m not quiet as slow as I used to be, I’m back to being a slow eater.\u00a0 I finish my meals before Scott does but that’s only because my portions are smaller.<\/p>\n
In doing all of this, I also realized that my body never lies to me.\u00a0 It always tells me what it needs, when it needs it, and how much.\u00a0 Always! I <\/em>just needed to pay more attention.\u00a0 I learned that if I ate until I felt “full” or had a “full” type of feeling, I had already overeaten.\u00a0 If I’m “full”, it’s only a minute later and I will start feeling “over full”.\u00a0 That uncomfortable bloaty type of full.\u00a0 For a long time I thought this was normal and that I was doing well!\u00a0 Then I realized that for me this is not normal. I don’t want to be uncomfortable or feel icky after a meal!\u00a0 I want to be happy and content.\u00a0 I started paying closer attention to how I feel and now I’ll stop eating when I’m not hungry any more.\u00a0 Sometimes I’ll know right away and sometimes I’ll stop eating and wait a few minutes.\u00a0 If I still feel hungry then I’ll eat more, if I don’t, then I’m done.<\/p>\nI do not count calories or measure out my meals.\u00a0 That feels too restrictive to me.\u00a0 Having to get out a measuring cup to make sure I only have 1\/2 a cup of rice or whatever would drive me bonkers.\u00a0 Because it would feel like a ration and like my intake is being monitored and limited.\u00a0 Life is too short for measuring cups!\u00a0 I put out a scooping and call it good.\u00a0 Either I eat it all or I don’t.\u00a0 I listen to what my body says.<\/p>\n
I also go by what I have eaten that day.\u00a0 If for some reason my schedule is off and let’s say I don’t have a normal for me lunch but something smaller, then I make sure to have a bigger than usual dinner.\u00a0 And vice versa, if I have a huge lunch for whatever reason, dinner will be smaller.\u00a0 If I know I might feel like a treat later in the evening, I might not eat as big of a dinner.\u00a0 That’s my way of balancing things out without feeling like I’m restricting or limiting myself.\u00a0 I believe in balance and moderation, not elimination.\u00a0 Again, life is too short to tell yourself you’re never going to have something ever again because it’s “bad”.<\/p>\n
I did get long winded! 
\u00a0 The easy answer is no, I don’t measure anything.\u00a0 I sort of just eyeball everything and go from there. 
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hi guys!\u00a0 I had thought about running this morning but as I was going to bed last night at 12:30am (way past grandma’s bedtime!), I decided to play it by ear.\u00a0 When I got up at 7am because Rocky was pitching a fit, I noticed it was raining.\u00a0 Coupled with the fact I was drag-ass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-1Ux","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Coffee](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-31-09_coffee-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Coffee")
<\/p>\n![\"Yogurt,](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-31-09_breakfast-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Yogurt,")
<\/p>\n![\"Salad](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-31-09_salad-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Salad")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Watermelon](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-31-09_melons-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Watermelon")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Smoothie](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-31-09_smoothie-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Smoothie")
<\/a><\/p>\n