If you are just joining the Scaling Back series, please begin at the beginning. Losing weight in a step-by-step process takes time. It’s not instant, no magic pills involved, this is changing patterns and habits. This is all about making better choices and it takes time to transition a bad habit to a good one.
But if we already have a goal in mind, if we are purposefully drinking liquids and staying regular, then we are ready for dealing with our portions. Portion control is nearly a bad word for the American. The country threw fits when our ‘super sizing’ was taken away from us. I absolutely notice when my favorite candy bar or food item has suddenly lost an ounce of delicious weight!
Watching my children at the dinner table lets me know that it must be an ingrained thing, a part of our DNA, to want to pile our plates with food that our tummies have told our eyes to get. But today’s post is not about anything other than what we are in the habit of piling onto our plates. Most of us are going to be dealing with years of habit-forming attitude towards a plate and food. This step is going to take time and some intentionality with our dinners and in some cases, it will go against the grain of “finish off your plate of food” that was instilled by generations of mothers before us!
Did you know that the American dinner plate is becoming bigger? The realization shocked me when we were at my MIL’s house during this last move. She placed a 1920’s china plate next to her very pretty dinner plate. The size difference was more than noticeable! The older dinner plate was a good inch to two inches smaller in diameter!! You may not think a two inch diameter is a big deal, but that creates a lot more surface area to fill with food. Food that our bodies don’t necessarily need!
The concept for this phase comes from my time doing the Weight Down Workshop. I do not have the rights to publicly display or copy materials that I don’t own, so I can’t. This was a wonderful program that helps a person to focus on God and on God’s Word for losing weight. Gwen Shamblin desires to help folks who are enslaved to poor food habits by helping you focus your eyes on God who is much bigger than any food addiction/enslavement. But a word of caution: Miss Shamblin does not believe in the Triune God. This is important to a Christian believer. It needs to be understood when doing any weight loss plan that is ‘God based’ and Biblically based. I don’t believer this negates her system, because it works! However, a believer must keep these things in mind when watching the videos and adhering to a program when Scripture is used. Know where the usage and interpretations come from to better understand their uses.
This week we will be attacking our portions, and again, this step may take several weeks to ‘get’. At dinner, I want you guys to split your food portions (the whole plate, if you will) in half, and only eat one half. If you can’t seem to control yourself with only eating half your dished plate, then make yourself grab a smaller plate! I sometimes go for my dessert plates to force myself to manage portion control. This is going to help you manage portions as well as teaching your stomach to be satisfied with less. You are going to feel satisfied after eating half, but you are going to have to fight your eyes and stomach who are going to demand more, even though you no longer have hunger pains. Again, this one is going to take a while to master, so go easy on yourself!!
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Kay's Little Korner 
I haven’t heard the name Gwen Shamblin for many years! I did her Weigh Down Workshop a LONG time ago. Wish I still had the book. The concepts for “weighing down” do work, even if she does have some wacky, very unsound theology goin’ on there. Portion control is making a huge difference for me right now. It doesn’t take long before it doesn’t bother you so much to see less on the plate, and you find you just can’t stomach it, literally. 🙂
Exactly! It takes a week or so to adjust, but smaller plates and smaller portions really are key!
Clarification: I only say I wish I still had the book just so I could re-read the parts about health, not any of her “Biblically-based” instruction/interpretation. You’re spot on watching out for her uses and interpretations of Scripture. As I recall, she was a dietician at one time, wasn’t she?
I wish I still had my book too. I just remember the key points and use them for my own desired weight loss. I don’t know if she was a dietician, but that would make sense!!