Stop Dieting and Practice Portion Control for Weight Loss Over 50

As older women, we keep finding things to blame for weight gain. Many of us hold menopause responsible and get sucked into every diet program out there. Health marketers love us and bombard us with diet pills and supplements meant to melt fat in less than 6 weeks.

The drug Ozempic is all the rage. Oprah lost a ton of weight using it but it still doesn’t solve the main problem which is portion control. Once you go off the drugs or a diet program, your weight will usually come back with a vengeance.

I eat a Mediterranean-style diet and avoid processed food, soda, and sugary treats. My blood tests are excellent and I’m not on any meds. I don’t have high blood pressure and my energy level is fine. Still, my stomach keeps enlarging. That’s because I eat more food than I should.

I began to gain weight when I hit 50 and tried hard to limit the amount of food I ate. Writing in food diaries, counting calories, eating on small plates, and cutting out certain foods got old after a while. Soon, I was back to my gorging ways. My portions got bigger and I snacked on hunks of cheese between meals. I needed something that would give me more discipline to reduce my food intake without torturing myself.

If I ate like a bird, weight gain wouldn’t be a problem

I know people who eat like birds but not me. I’d eat like an elephant if given free rein.

It’s been proven that you can eat whatever you love if you practice portion control, so I bought myself a portion control plate. It has dividers for carbs, vegetables, and protein. It’s not enough to eat on a smaller plate. A portion control plate will help you balance out food groups in the correct proportions.

Watch my short video review of my portion control plate

It doesn’t work for all of my meals. For instance, if I eat a bowl of turkey chili, the carbs, vegetables, and protein are all mixed in. The same is true with pasta dishes. Instead, I watch how many carbs go into that one-pot meal and eat it in a smaller bowl. Within a week of using my plate, my pants got looser.

Purchase this plate on Amazon here.

It’s designed for people with diabetes, which I do not have, but will help people avoid it. Ozempic is prescribed for people with diabetes, but it is expensive and has side effects. Instead of sticking yourself with a needle each week, practice portion control instead.

My dry January wasn’t so dry

During the holidays, I celebrated and drank more booze than usual. I’m not a big drinker, by any means, but I was enjoying some whiskey because it was cold outside, and consumed a few bottles of wine. My daughter got married in Cabo that month so there were Margaritas and champagne that I didn’t turn down.

I had avoided weighing myself for several months and was flabbergasted when I had a doctor’s appointment and found out that I had gained 10 lbs. My stomach in the wedding photos looked like I was having twins. That was after climbing up and down staircases at our resort and putting in 10,000 steps a day! It was a wake-up call.

Portion control is free and it works

I’m not a doctor, but I’m convinced that portion size is the end-all and be-all for successful weight loss. Other factors help as well.

• Eat real food and avoid anything that comes out of a package.
• Limit sweets. I will eat a piece of dark chocolate (over 70%) occasionally.
• Stick to a precise eating schedule. I have been practicing a moderate form of intermittent fasting for almost a year. I eat dinner between 5-6 pm and then have a small breakfast of yogurt with nuts and oatmeal balls at about 9 am. I often eat some type of protein on one piece of sourdough bread for lunch. Snacks include a hardboiled egg, some raw nuts, or a Cutie orange. Dinner is protein, some type of carbs, and vegetables.
• Eat slowly – I am working on that, but it is a challenge.
• Keep moving – You don’t have to kill yourself exercising but you should strive to workout at least 15 – 30 minutes per day. Exercise will not help you lose weight by itself but it will keep you healthy, which is more important than weight loss.

Until I drop more weight, I am cutting out cheese and booze for a while. I adore cheese but pig out on it so I want to see if it makes a difference.

How do you fare at portion control? Please leave a comment below.