My brain still feels fried from expending creative juices on the website + workbook launch the last two weeks- needless to say, I've been wearing the same hoodie for days…. OKAY moreso nearing a week… or more… we all agree time isn't a thing anymore, right?

 

 

 

 

Ooooooke. We’re finally circling back around to portion control PT2 this week, but because the internet has me ON ONE, I’m going to do my best to simultaneously address the elephant in the room surrounding the reason portion control is even a hot-topic to be discussed: Portion control in relation to fat loss and/or weight loss advice. 

 

Per usual, let’s begin the topic with context! Your perception of what your body ‘should’ look like vs. the reality of your body’s needs tends to limit your ability to discern when you’re actually under-eating and overeating vs. when you feel, or emotionally perceive, you're overeating or under-eating. Big difference. 

 

It can be difficult to know when you’re eating ‘enough’ if you’re simultaneously struggling with your body’s appearance. Thus, it's hard to give advice that would suite all 140 of you in this newsletter, so we're going to pinpoint the most-common perceptions of portion control and why it's very rarely, if ever, worth stressing over. 

 

We talk about this a lot in coaching, but to sum it up as simply as I can- in order to talk ‘proper’ portion sizes, we need to discern between eating for health versus eating for beauty standards- because both impact your body differently and each approach looks vastly

different in regards to the portion-control ‘advice’ given. 

 

And while I’m sure you’re hoping this ends in me saying, “here’s how you can lose weight or fat AND prioritize your health…” that’s not a conversation that’s appropriate, much less responsible, to have here. But I can tell you this- I don’t allow my clients to pursue weight loss in the first 6 months of working with me. We focus on finding consistency with proven-healthy behaviors by remaining flexible and learning tools that cultivate discipline, allowing their bodies to level out at the weight it’s comfortable with- while working towards body-acceptance, not body-positivity. 

 

As I like to say, I’ve met a lot of miserable f*cks with 6-packs- losing weight doesn’t help your self esteem or confidence. Poor body image days don’t discriminate since mental health doesn’t discriminate- even though society likes to heavily discriminate and dehumanize marginalized bodies to the point of poor mental health. 

So note, in the course of unlearning your own bullshit, let’s be extra diligent about not commenting on, much less passing judgment on, other people’s bodies, health, food choices, or exercise regimen. It’s none of your business and you’re not being the inspiring health-zealot you think you are. Pass it on! 

  

 

 

This approach values the biological components of health, invariably asking you to ignore your body’s cues if such cues include eating more than what was delegated to the day. The focus on biology- commonly summed up with the energy balance equation of calories in vs. calories out- defaults to focusing on food and exercise as the primary drivers of results. Keep in mind that of the Determinants of Health, only 36% are based on ‘controllable’ factors like behavior- of the multiple aspects of behavior, food and exercise combined only make up ~12% of this 36%. 

 

This version of well being takes the whole pie into account (socialization/relationships, access to medical care, a focus on behavior change in regards to risky behaviors, your environment and commitments, genetics and biological need, and so on- AND prioritizes it according to impact. 

 

Rather than focusing all attention and energy on a short-sighted 12%, it focuses on ALL determinants of health, including categories for individual behavior, environment, medical care, genetics and biology, and social circumstances. At the risk of sounding like I was birthed from pseudoscience, it's this holistic approach to health that produces the most-desirable outcomes- including the singular health-outcome everyone obsesses over- weight management. 

 

Though your doctor will likely never share this information with you due to their allegiance to all that’s wrong with BMI, the research inarguably indicates that people are less-prone to disease, injury, and show most-desirable health outcomes when 50-75lbs ‘overweight’ *according to BMI, then when 5lbs ‘underweight’ *according to BMI. 

 

So when I tell you portion control rarely comes up in client sessions- it’s because there’s not much to talk about. The things people do to navigate portion control on their own for the sake of controlling their weight are much better addressed through other behaviors than portion control and through means of weight management rather than control. 

 

Better suited efforts look like: consistency with frequency of meals, eating what we like to call around here- Whole Ass Meals- rather than exclusively snacking on protein as is suggested in most fat-burning protocols, and focusing on nutrient density with an increase in quality/safety/access of a variety of foods.

 

For my ADHD-friends out there, and anyone else who struggles to eat consistently: try keeping washed and pre-cut fruits and veggies in your kitchen for easy access and easy-cooking when you inevitably forget to eat and need your next meal to be a speedy-endeavor.

 

 

So first- “BEST,” as we frequently discuss, is dependent on the person, not the advice in question. (broadly speaking, as there is plenty of advice that is shit regardless of who the advice is intended for.. But I digress!) 

 

Secondly, of this sub-12% significance food has in the grand scheme of things, including weight management, we have to address it in order of importance/impact on the biological-processes of the body: calories, macronutrients….food variety….. Food quality…then portions.

 *if that doesn’t already tell you how insignificant, noisy, and annoying the conversation around portion control is….. Welcome to my world. #ConstantFrustrationWithMisinformation*     

 

 

Smaller portions throughout the day for weight loss and fat burning is a myth- the only way you can do either of those things is through a caloric deficit.

You also may have just pieced together that this is one of the biggest gaps in intermittent fasting, as well.

 

Rabbit trail: this is why ALL diets ‘work’ - as long as you’re in a deficit, it doesn’t matter if its keto, fasting, plant-based, etc- it’s going to ‘work.’ Now, whether a caloric deficit is a good idea and/or worth the short-term risks and long-term consequences… that’s a whole other conversation and one that I only navigate with clients under my care.) 

 

But like everything, even tools for knowing how portions need to change according to the situation are only meant to be used as appropriate, not relied upon. Ex: Portion control through carb-cycling: great for recovering from workouts. Carb-cycling as an every-day routine- not so much. 

 

The misuse of tips and tools and every-day prescriptions for diet and exercise is where most people get it twisted and end up down a path they never intended to go- finding themselves all-consumed with the next best thing, way too food-focused, fearing weight gain, and likening obesity to the same thing as an epidemic or plague, as if other people owe you a perception of health as shown in magazines and on Pinterest boards. 

 

That is not a healthy way to live and it’s a shit perspective to offer other humans- especially when you’re charging them for that perspective and it also happens to be greatly inaccurate...amongst other things. 

 

 

 

However, completely un-phased by and/or uninterested in behavior and mental health research, trainers and other certified-fitness professionals alike are pushing the exact same portion control adage that’s been around since the 80’s without batting an eye as their clients become dependent on them to know what to do next. 

 

As a matter of fact, the spiral of this often-misused information through the beauty industry has birthed a $500 B-illion wellness sector that's increasingly likened to health and beauty rather than preventative care and medical treatment. Sound off for all the influencers and fitness enthusiasts with personal training certificates posing as experts on things like hormones, fat loss and weight loss, PCOS, and my favorite red-flag, adrenal fatigue. 

 

As a result, we have an alarming number of eating disorders and reports of disordered eating causing serious health implications in the long run, with symptoms of dysfunction being ignored in the short run. These reports are showing around 30-60% of people who take up some form of structured eating pattern- whether it be an overt diet like Keto or a covert dietary change like Whole30 - find themselves with an eating and/or exercise dysfunction and/or disorder within their lifetime. 

Overwhelmingly, we’re seeing numbers increasing in youth more than ever before. 

 

And for some reason, this is not being talked about as much as it should in mainstream wellness. Meanwhile, me and my fellow dietitians and degree-certified nutritionists are screaming at the top of our lungs for people to stop drinking the restriction-focused, weight-loss/fat-loss kool-aid as soon as possible. 

 

 

 

And for the OG’s in the room- you know that up until 3 years ago, my entire coaching practice was nothing but macros and workout plans. 

 

So newbies, if you need to hear some hard truths without learning them the hard way- hit me up. I’m someone who’s been there as a competitive bodybuilder, showed others how to get there, paid the price for myself, took personal responsibility for my leadership of others, got the proper education, and now I advocate for reinforced regulation in the industry. 

 

MOST of my coaching sessions as a personal trainer were consumed with the topics of striving for clean eating, eating in ‘moderation,’ *how* to manipulate portion sizes, caloric intake, and macro-nutrient ratios to achieve desired results. 

 

Over the last 3 years, due to infinitely more in-depth, critical knowledge, portion control has become a topic I discuss with my clients as a learning opportunity for what NOT to do- and to put it frankly, when food and exercise are only 12% of a 36% piece of pie, there’s so much yet so little to discuss when it comes to portion control. 

 

While portion control was a proposed tool for weight management, it turned out to be a vastly over-simplified approach to dealing with an ‘obesity epidemic’ that we now know through continued research has more to do with poverty, poor living conditions, and chronic stress rather than people’s food choices.

 

This has been vastly covered over the last few decades of research on behavior, community health, sociology, psychology, epidemiology, and multiple other fields. In the Party-Favor link below, I've included a link to one of the most-comprehensive reports on these data points and conclusions drawn from innumerable research studies- studies that are peer reviewed, meet testing requirements, and are exceptional, not average, in relation to scientific rigor.   

 

Poke around on the site if interested in familiarizing yourself with what exactly gets accounted for in each section, as well as the research articles that contributed to the Determinants of Health, which is a commonly discussed and referred to in dietetics circles. 

 

 

 

Moderate your stress, eat good food with people you love and trust, move your body any way you please- whether it's for stress relief or to pursue a challenge- and approach ALL of that by meeting yourself where you're at and going one step at a time, letting your weight live its best life as a byproduct, rather than a focus.

 

Next week, we’re going to seamlessly transition into what ‘weight management’ actually means, since it’s NOT the same thing as trying to control your weight, and discuss the the pros and cons of calorie restriction in the name of weight loss.  

 

 

My masters degree is in Human Performance which is the bioenergetics of how nutrition and exercise impact and process within the body on a cellular level. 

I’m a qualified researcher in the topics of nutrition, exercise, and behavior and use my mad-skills to benefit my clients in a coaching capacity rather than in lab setting. 

I studied performance psychology as a minor in my undergraduate studies as well as in my graduate program. 

Throughout my graduate studies, I pursued an emphasis in Community Health to learn how individual health concerns relate to the health of communities as a whole, and intend to begin my Doctorate in Community Health in the next 5 years.

I've been planting these stepping stones for years, and remain active in my respective field with continuing education, learning from lived experience, and staying up to date on the ever-changing tides of research. 

 

 

 

 

•If coaching is a good fit, we'll get you started. 

•If not, we'll get you turned around in the RIGHT direction!