Our portions are getting bigger and bigger

The trend of ever-increasing portions is not just a phenomenon of recent years. It turns out that the amount of food depicted in the painting 'The Last Supper' has steadily increased over the centuries. In paintings from the past 400 years, the meal portion is on average 70% larger than in paintings from the period 1000–1300 AD.Source: Smartsize me. Steenhuis, Poelman and Overtoom.So, unnoticed, portions have become larger over the years, while we actually need less and less. We move less, and that means we need less energy.

Awareness is a good starting point

Everything you do frequently becomes automated. Only 51% of what you do is part of your conscious behavior. This means that 95% happens unconsciously. Eating is something you do multiple times every day. It is understandable that this quickly falls under your subconscious behavior. As soon as you can no longer zip up your pants or look in the mirror and see that you have gained weight, you think... oops... Investigating your eating habits is a starting point for discovering what can be done differently. The best method to do this is by keeping a food diary. That is quite a bit of work, but it provides insight into types and quantities. It is important, however, that you record everything you eat and drink in a day. Only then will you gain the best insight.

What is the best way to fill out your food diary?

There are many types of food diaries. MINT Personal Training works with Virtuagym's food diary. Virtuagym offers the option to add food, and the coach can monitor how you are doing. Always start filling out the food diary by recording entire days. So, not just breakfast or just dinner, for example. To gain insight into your eating pattern, it is important that you record everything for a full day, including snacks and what you drink. It can be difficult to note down exact quantities. Try to do this as accurately as possible, but don't fixate on it. Don't focus on the calories either. Your coach will primarily look at your eating patterns to arrive at sound advice. Because it is quite a task to fill everything in, we recommend filling in three weeks, two weekdays, and one weekend day, and varying these days. That means picking different days and a different weekend day each week.

Even eating healthy food can lead to overeating.

Many clients tell us that they eat healthily and therefore do not understand why they are not losing weight. Everything you eat contains energy in the form of calories. This is also true for healthy food. Suppose you eat a salad with two avocados every day. Realize that one avocado contains 358 calories. That is quite a lot. Replace avocado with onion and tomato, and your meal will be much leaner. Similarly, we often see cheese added to everything. Cheese is full of saturated fat and salt. So be careful with this.

This is how you prevent overeating

A good tip to prevent overeating is to fill out your food diary before you eat. So start planning and fill out your food diary in advance. You will see that it becomes easier to stick to the agreed portions. Also, make sure you never eat directly from packaging. Serve everything you eat in small bowls or on plates. It has been proven that you are less likely to take another portion if you handle your food this way. Do you want to get started with your portion control? Then come train at MINT Personal Training in Delft. The intake is always free.