Scared of overeating / the struggle of letting go of portioncontrol

[KayB]

Hey Folks

As I'm preparing to start my first W30 on Wednesday 21th, I'm finding that I'm starting to get very stressed and confused about portions and the idea of letting go of my preconcieved notions of what constitutes a portion.

I was reading the "how many eggs fit in your hand discussion" which is funny since I have bantamchickens so a portion for me would be around 6-7 (bantam)eggs which is a huge amount in my idea. It's the number. I'd have less trouble eating two geese-eggs which is probably even more protein. So this is an indicator that something is off in my mindset... Good to know beforehand.

The idea of using your hand to indicate portionsizes speaks to me on a rational level. But on a deeper level I'm getting stressed feelings. I'm worried about eating too much ánd eating too little at the same time. I'm worried about not buying enough produce tomorrow ánd worried about overspending on things that will be to much to eat within a reasonable time. So in short: my mind is going "aaaaaaarghhhhhhhh"

I'd love to hear some thoughts and experiences of you veterans and fellow noobs alike... please chime in and let me know your ideas on this topic.
Rock on and rrrraaaaawwwrrr

[laura_juggles]

You're not letting go of portion control. You're just shifting your frame of reference. 

If you're worried about buying produce and you are able to get to a market more than once per week, buy a little less than you think you need and make a second trip to round out whatever you're needing later in the week. 

[ladyshanny]

When you are making those meals, you'll get to learn how much YOU need and what changes that requirement. The week before your period you'll probably want larger meals, the week of your period probably smaller ones. If you exercise you might be hungrier than if you take a week off the gym.

The meal template is a range and it's just a start. Eat 4 bantam eggs with 3 cups of veggies and half an avocado and see how you do. Can you make it 4-5 hours until the next meal wihtout wanting to chew your arm off? If so, good, probably a good meal composition for you. If not, try adding another egg or a bit of cooked protein to go with it the next day. Then see how you do. Do this for all your meals and eventually it won't be "portion control" that you are thinking about, but "here's how much food Kat needs". 

I hate that the "diet industry" has had so much say in our lives that "they" regulate how much we get to eat. You are different from me who's different from laura and we're all different from week to week and sometimes even day to day. It's OK to eat and it's ok to take up space.....especially when that "space" is you advocating for yourself to yourself about how much food you need/get to eat.

[hotwheels]

Sounds totally normal to me, I think it is hard to switch the way we think about portions. Sometimes, the whole30 meals I made seemed huge, and previously, I never would have felt so free to eat that much. But when it is all good protein, fat and veggies, you know you can eat it and still not feel gross afterwards.

In the beginning, it can be challenging to find the right amount of food that keeps you satisfied for 4-5 hours. It took me a week or so of experimenting to know how much I needed. I realized for me, it was the fat I was missing if I got hungry after 3 hours. Plan on maybe having some hunger in between meal 1 and 2 and again between 2 and 3 and have some compliant options if you need them--you are not supposed to feel hungry. But be wary of snacking too much, even if it's compliant. I had a few nuts between lunch and dinner during my first week but after that I was fine and didn't have a snack after that unless it was a pre or post workout mini-meal (not considered a snack). 

I go to the store 3-4 times a week because I like having fresh produce and lots of variety but if that's impossible, you could have some frozen veggies on hand in case you run out of fresh. You will eat a lot of veggies! Good luck!

[lwolford]

Hi! I totallllllly understand how you feel, I had the same worries. GOOD NEWS- Your body starts to regulate it's hunger signals within the first few days, which means you will eat the perfect amount that your body wants and then you will stop. No over eating, you actually may under eat if your experience was similar to mine. And to ease your mind even more, take it from me as a binge eater and a woman who has had a ton of disordered eating throughout her life. My favorite thing about W30 is that my hunger signals are loud and clear and worrying about portions isn't even a thought in my mind anymore. Let me know how it goes, I am on Day 16!

[KayB]

On 19-3-2018 at 3:46 PM, ladyshanny said:

It's OK to eat and it's ok to take up space.....

On a deeper level, this says so much... <3

[KayB]

Laura, Hotwheels and Lwolford, thank you so much for letting me feel like I'm not the only one going through this. Today I did some more shopping, just to get by till sunday. After all I have the luxury of having stores open within a 5 mile radius every day of the week. Might as well enjoy that luxery. As I wrote in my daily log I ate a lot yesterday so I'll learn to feel what being comfortably full is like before going into the search for the point where I get hungry. I need to get out of my diet-mindset...