Hi y'all....

Had an interesting discussion at a cafe today with a girlfriend of mine. As with most girlfriends, one topic we discussed was weight & food.

I told her I was interested in trying out "French women don't get fat" in part due to culinary & diet boredom (and you want to avoid that in order to keep losing lbs!)

In a nutshell, the book (for those of you who have not read it) basically advocates portion size and a food scale (especially in the beginning when you're still learning how to tell what a portion/serving is via sight).

I'm still a calorie counter, but I was intrigued by her idea of just portion/serving size instead of counting calories in order to lose weight (vis-a-vis The French Paradox).

Then my friend happened to mention that "well, that's how her grandparents and great-grandparents did it to maintain their weight-- or lose." They didn't have nutritional information on the back of food products at the turn of the 20th century or before then. *Many foods were just made at home.*

They just ate sensible portion sizes of various foods.

I also then remembered that plates were also a LOT smaller back then in the US of A Even in the 1950s (and I remember some of my grandmother's family plates from that era), they were not gigantic as some dinner plate sets are today.

So here's my question for the weekend:

what works best? counting calories to lose weight or portion/serving size?

~ tea

The book is great. It doesn't only advocate portion size but fresh food, physical activity, and learning how to enjoy the experience of eating. I try to incorporate some of these principles. For example, I walk to the market every day to get the fresh things I need for dinner rather than buying everything all at once one day a week. I also spend most of my time in a grocery store shopping the perimeter of the store where the perishable foods are rather than do aisle shopping for processed foods. I like to eat slowly and eat with company. I need to reread the book and reinstill some practices though, thanks for reminding me.

If you've ever been to Europe you'd know that portion sizes are much smaller than they are here in the US. Eating at a restaurant here can be quite frightening to someone who's visiting from Europe. The plates are gargantuous, and the food is piled high. Even the glasses are huge. There are no Super Big Gulps in Europe, the idea of that much sugary soda is ridiculous if you think about it.

I think portion control and calorie counting work together. For people like me who have grown accustomed to eating massive amounts of food I must get used to eating low calories - portion sizes decrease by default.

Eating based entirely on portion sizes is something I foresee in my distant future, once I have retrained my appetite and can recognize which foods I can eat more or less of on sight. Right now I'm still depending on calories. Maybe you're at the point where you CAN do it though!! And you should!! You've lost a lot of weight and it looks like you're ready for this next step. Good luck, but let us know how it's working out.

That's just the thing. For me, my *sensible* portion size meter was/is broken. ESPECIALLY in the beginning when I first started my journey. Of course, now it's another matter. And what's to stop me from going back for another *sensible* portion. If not immediately, but in another hour or two even.

So for me, hands down, it's calorie counting - THAT tells me WHAT my portion/serving size should be and how often it should be. I simply can't/won't rely on anything else. To me, it makes the most sense, the most logic. To have a calorie budget and stay within those parameters. Why guess or take a chance with something so vital as your health? That's just my feelings.

There's no difference between counting calories and restricting portion size, in my opinion. Restricting portion size is a method of counting calories, that's all, and like robin said, calorie counting is a way of restricting portion size.

So it's not an either/or thing, they are both ways of achieving the same result.

I like posing philosophical questions from time to time since I learn from others on this forum in order to keep improving my own eating/exercise habits!

~ tea

And I appreciate it! It was while pondering this question that I came up with my answer. So thanks for that.

I think portion control is very important. Like Wannabeskinny said, portions are smaller here in Europe. But sometimes, they're still too big.

As a child, you're taught to always finish your plate. Or at least, I was. And as a child, when you're given portions that are good for a child, that's okay. But think about it: when you go to a restaurant, and you order a plate of food, they give you a certain portion. That portion is meant to satisfy every single adult who comes to that restaurant, so that means short, skinny woman and tall muscular men. Naturally, they will give the portions that will satisfy the tall muscular men, and that is (way) too big for the short skinny woman.

Now, to add something of my own life to this: I'm a really short girl. (It's true. XD) I lived with my grandmother for a very long time, and she would give me portions that were really too big for someone my size. But I always had to finish my plate, so I did. After every meal, my stomach felt full, really full. But I thought is was supposed to be like that.
Now, I was a kid, and didn't gain weight. But when I stopped growing (around the age of 12), I kept eating large portions. And when you finish 2 large plates of pasta... that's not going to be good calorie-wise. ^^ So I guess that's what started my weight problems.

Now, I've learned that it's fine to not finish your plate. My grandmother still seems to feel offended when I don't finish my plate, but I just tell her: "It's delicious, but I'm full now." (Also, I don't live with her anymore, so I can cook in smaller amounts, which also helps.)

So, anyway, portion control is important because people have to know what portions are good for them. Usually, when you count calories, you will control your portions. But there are exceptions: I have stuffed myself with lettuce and cucumber up to the point where my stomach really hurt. Calorie-wise, that wasn't a problem, but I was still stretching my stomach...

When I'm trying to lose weight I find calorie counting best because I'm short and it's very easy to eat too much. I really need to be structured and disiplined to lose weight. For maintaining weight I do portion sizes.

Controlling portion size works IF - and ONLY IF - you control your portion of ALL foods.
Example:
If I use portion control alone, and eat Fettuccine Alfredo - I can eat a half cup portion. But that half cup can have anywhere between 300 and 600 calories in it, depending on how much pasta, how much sauce, the sauce ingredients, etc.

Thus, while controlling the size of my portions was a critical piece of my success, it couldn't stand alone without calorie counting. I needed to KNOW how many calories I was eating and what that looked like.

The first time I ever lost a decent amout of weight (it was about 35-40 lbs), I didn't count calories at all. I didn't follow any kind of diet. I just ate when I was hungry. When I started to get full, I stopped. I ate healthy foods. And when I was with other people (my main problem is eating too much alone), I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted. Seriously, whatever I wanted, and whatever amount I wanted. It was the first time I ever really ate in public! I also worked out.

So I didn't count any calories, I just watched my portion size 80% of the time (the time that I was eating alone--I suppose this worked well for me as I was living alone!).

I've also lost weight by counting calories. That's what I'm doing now, and although I think I could do what I did before (with that plan I was totally able to eliminate binge eating), there was more uncertainty for me. Now I know exactly how many calories I'm putting in my body. I've thought about going back to that first way of losing weight, just because now I have so much anxiety about social occasions.

In short, for me, both ways worked. As long as you are able to understand the signals coming from your body! I guess the real challenge is keeping it off! (never been able to do that!)

BTW--The thing with the French that people often don't realize: they don't eat like that every day. They don't have rich foods at every meal. And with those rich meals comes loads and loads of fresh fruits and veg. They have those big rich meals maybe once, twice a week, and the rest of the time, they eat modestly. I lived in Paris from Sept 08 to this past June, and I saw on the tv all the ads they had for diet foods (yogurt, special K, etc.), foods that will help you "maintian your figure" as they say. They are obsessed with weight, they're just better at managing it than we are!

I've heard that alot of French women smoke also, so that helps with keeping the weight down (I read that on a fitness guy's blog, anyway-hehe).

This reminded me of when Oprah had a lady on that had lost quite a bit of weight using the principles in the "French women" book and it showed her sitting down to eat about 4 slices of apple with very thin sliced parmesean cheese on top of it, and a glass of wine. Oprah said "so, that's a snack?", and the woman replied, "no, that was lunch". It was pretty funny.

I think portion control can work--if you can stick to it.
I'm a binge eater, so I have trouble with that

Oh my gosh, that IS funny. Lunch? Ummm, no, not for me. My lunch usually consists of an ENORMOUS salad eaten out of a serving bowl.

Yikes, what would the French think of me? Not that I'm terribly concerned what they think of me.

You do bring up a good point though about the smoking.. But quite frankly, I'd rather stick to my serving bowl sized lunches and far away from cigarettes, thank you very much.

MY problem is that I could do reasonable portions... of all of my favourite and fatty foods. One right after the other lol! I think this could very well work for some people but I really don't think that it could work for me.

Smoking definitely didn't help my weight any