The concept of portion control is not a foreign idea when it comes to losing weight, but integrating portion control into your meals while prioritizing nutrient dense foods in your diet is going to be your best bet for torching fat this spring. Jay Cowin, a Registered Nutritionist and Director of Formulations at ASYSTEM explains that starting from your first meal of the day, it’s important to eat foods with a high nutritional value to optimize fat burn. “You want to put in fuel you burn, and do not store. This falls into the healthy fats and protein categories and it's also about portion control, as even healthy fats and protein can be stored as calories. This is where we have to pay attention to portion size if we want to maintain weight loss.”
Healthy fats and proteins are two of the primary macronutrients your body needs to function properly, so consuming them first thing in the morning will streamline fat burn throughout the day. “As soon as you add carbs, sugar, wheat, grains, and dairy, you start storing calories as fat. This is also relevant to drinks. It doesn't matter where the sugar comes from even if it's fruit, sugar is sugar and affects insulin spikes all day long,” explains Cowin. Therefore, it’s important to focus on getting a healthy balance of macros in the morning to streamline weight loss. An egg dish with avocado is the perfect meal to eat for breakfast in order to provide your body with a serving of fats and protein while continuing fat burn throughout the day.
Focusing on portion control within your diet will help to ensure that you can fit all your favorite foods into your day while keeping them all in moderation. While complex carbs, proteins, and healthy fats are the best foods to include in your daily routine to allow your body to run smoothly, you can still continue to burn fat even when eating other, less ‘healthy’ foods, so long as you watch your serving sizes and don’t overload your diet with excess calories. This infographic from Mayo Clinic is particularly useful for outlining portion sizes for various food groups to get the most out of your nutrition.
Fat burn is vital for losing weight in a healthy way, so it’s important to maximize this functionality to see the biggest changes in your diet. Practicing portion control each day will allow your body to not only get the nutrients it needs, but also have space to consume the foods that bring you joy without depriving yourself of many ingredients in your diet. Eating a balance of proteins and healthy fat first thing in the morning helps to boost your metabolism, allowing your body to function effortlessly, cutting down on pounds in the process so you’ll feel like your best self in no time.