Fasting is a great way to gain that control. Though the idea may seem daunting at the start, it’s truly not too difficult for one to master. All you need to do is eat your regular meals throughout your week and be sure to drink a great deal of water, as you always want to be certain that you’re hydrated.

Then, you choose a day of the week and you make the commitment to refrain from food and drink for at least two meals on that day. This idea might sound impossible, but you’d be surprised at how easy it is to accomplish. And though you’ll probably think to yourself that you’ll eat it all back at your next meal, you most likely won’t eat more than you regularly do.

The purpose of fasting is to train your body to accept the decrease in overall consumption, as you’ll be able to limit what you pump into your body. It teaches control over cravings, and could even give you the discipline you need to find and stick with another diet later.

One common reason we as humans find ourselves in unfavorable situations is because we lack the self control to withstand tempting things, such as that scrumptious pastry, or the pair of shoes we just can’t pass up. Truthfully, we as people are consumers, though we don’t need to over consume, which is key. If we can find the will to stop and ask whether we truly need something, we’d be able to vanquish most if not all situations we face in our lives.

Fasting works, and if you need any more proof, look at most of the major religions across the planet. Most, if not all of them encourage fasting, as it’s a great self disciplinary and self-mastery system which not only strengthens the body, but the mind as well.

Know what a serving size looks like. When factoring in how many calories a meal is, be sure to measure something you are unsure of.  For meat, a portion should be about as large as a desk of cards is.  For your fruit servings, they should be able the size of a tennis ball.  using these visualizations will help you to know just how much you can eat.

When you go out to eat, the portions are often larger than what you should be eating if you are wanting to lose weight.  When ordering, and when eating, remind yourself not to eat it all and that you can save some of it for later.  This will require self-control, but the benefits of having that self-control will be that you will be able to lose weight.

These are just a few pointers to help you to eat the right portions in order to help you to lose weight.  Like I said in the beginning, you need to eat the right kinds of food.  Having portion control with Burger King or McDonalds doesn’t help you to realize your weight lsos goals.

I’ve talked about self-control, and eating the right types of foods is just as important as eating the right amount of food (not too much and not too little.)  If you eat too little amounts of food in order to try to lose weight, your body will actually begin storing the food you eat since it doesn’t know when it’s going to get enough again, which will actually make you not lose weight, or worse, gain weight.

Stay tuned for part 2 of the portion control and weight loss series.