The simple reason you (and I) can’t keep the weight off
The problem with portion sizes
As someone who loves to eat I fight a constant battle with my weight.
Actually I lie. That implies I spend half my life dieting which is not the case. But from time to time - such as now after a week away in Italy and a highly social week at home - I get a nasty surprise when I step on the scales
It’s not that I’m eating all the wrong things simply too much of them. Largely because I eat out a lot and so far as restaurants are concerned I consume the same as a 6ft 4inch (I.93 metres) man. After all I’m paying the same, right?
You can imagine the outcry if they served smaller adults less than taller, heavier ones. But if they can do children’s portions why can’t they offer the option of more modest servings? (Other than with a tasting menu but that’s a whole other story)
Some do of course. Pasta is often served as a starter and a main course while in Spanish tapas bars you often find bigger portions that are less than a main course called raciones.
There’s obviously nothing to stop you having a couple of starters rather than a starter and a main. I frequently do but if I fancy a steak, a pizza or a Sunday roast it’s almost impossible to get a scaled down version as you can see from the chop I had yesterday which would happily have served two had they sliced it.
You might quite reasonably say '“Well, it’s up to you to exercise restraint. You don’t have to eat it all.” But if you were brought up, as I was, to finish up everything on your plate the habit is deeply ingrained.
And even if you weren’t most of us feel uncomfortable with wasting food these days.. The feeling that if you’re lucky enough to have food on the table you shouldn’t end up binning it. Besides, heck, I like food.
So given that few restaurants aren’t offering us this option at present what’s the solution? Everyone has different ways of managing their weight but here’s what I try to do - not always, as you gather, successfully.
The 5 things I do to keep my weight (reasonably) under control without going on a diet