If you are looking to lose weight on a portion control plan, aim to eat fewer calories than you burn each day. For weight maintenance, aim to eat roughly the same amount of calories you burn each day. 

Food choice recommendations for portion control:

• Limit processed foods. Ideally, foods should look close to how they are found in nature. Some examples of processed foods are fast food, packaged foods like cereal, granola bars, chips, baked goods.
• Limit sugars. Check nutrition labels. The American Heart Association recommends less than 24 g of sugar for women and less than 36 g for men daily.
• Limit snacks and drinks. These can add calories without adding nutritional value or satiety.
• Pair carbohydrates with protein. Include protein in your meals and snacks to balance the blood sugar response to carbohydrates. Ex. Pair an apple with peanut butter instead of eating the apple alone.
• Consume complex carbohydrates for slow energy release and avoiding spikes in your blood sugar levels.
  

You can track your calorie intake using either a qualitative or quantitative method.

Qualitative - The qualitative tracking approach does not require you to count exact calories or log any food. Instead, you will be asked to report if your meals yesterday were:

• On Track - you stuck with the meal portion guidelines and allowed food choices
• Okay - you went slightly over your portion goal
• Splurge - you significantly exceeded your portion goal and strayed from the allowed food choices

To help control your caloric intake:

• Use the hand portion guide below to structure your meals throughout the day. Following these guidelines can keep you stay on track for your daily portion goal.
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Quantitative - The quantitative tracking approach allows you to report the total number of calories you ate the previous day. With this method, you can:

• Log your exact calorie count
• Compare your logged calorie count to your daily calorie goal
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Following the guidelines below will help you control your caloric intake:

• Calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) using the link below. This provides an estimate of how many calories you burn daily:  https://www.calculator.net/tdee-calculator.html
• Use your TDEE  to determine how many calories you should be eating for your current wellness goals
• If you are aiming to lose weight, eat fewer calories than your TDEE
• If you are aiming to maintain weight, eat roughly the same calories as your TDEE
• Track your calories each day and report the number when you check into the Invoy app each morning.
• Use the MyFitnessPal or Lose It! apps to track your calories

Although this method focuses primarily on tracking your calories, we still recommend that you eat nutritious, well-balanced meals while limiting processed, calorically dense foods. Recommendations are outlined in the Food Choices section.

• Stay hydrated! Drink plenty of water is very important on the Portion Control plan. Aim to drink six or more glasses of water a day, with eight ounces of water in each glass.
• Swap out high calorie packaged or processed snacks for fruits and vegetables
• Include some type of salad or vegetables with each meal
• Read food labels to identify and limit sugars
• When cooking, swap butter for olive, coconut, or avocado oils
• Eat fruit for dessert
• After meals, you should be comfortably full. If you are overly full or still hungry, reassess your portion sizes. Increasing protein and vegetables can help increase satiety.

Things you might experience when transitioning from a Carbohydrate Management plan to a Portion Control plan:

• Initial weight gain as your body adjusts to the higher carbohydrate load. During this time, your body retains more water, resulting in an overall weight increase. This is expected to resolve shortly as your body gets used to your higher carbohydrate diet.
• Temporary bloating due to the reintroduction of fibrous foods. Even though foods like beans and sprouted bread are good for you, your body may need to get used to digesting them again. This is expected to resolve shortly as your body gets used to your higher fiber diet.
• Increased hunger with increased carbohydrate intake. As your meals will contain fewer fats, which are digested slowly, and more carbs, which are digested quickly, you may experience hunger shortly after your meals. To support satiety, eat your carbohydrates alongside protein and healthy fats. This can help slow carbohydrate digestion and boost feelings of fullness.
  

If you are experiencing any of these things, please reach out to your Program Analyst team over chat!

For a portion control method, calories are used to measure the amount of energy we consume and expend each day. In food science, we use the unit kilocalories (also known as Calories) to denote how much energy is in a particular food.

When working on burning fat and losing weight, you want to be in a caloric deficit. This occurs when we eat fewer calories than we burn each day. When in a caloric deficit, our bodies first burn through all the calories from any recently consumed food, and then turn to stored fat for additional energy.

In order to determine if you are in a caloric deficit, you need to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate and Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

• Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories you burn as your body performs basic, life sustaining tasks, like keeping your heart beating and maintaining your body temperature. Your BMR is based on your age, biological sex, height, and weight.
• Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is a combination of your BMR and the additional calories you burn from exercise or physical activity. To maintain weight, you would consume roughly the same amount of calories as your TDEE. In order to be in a caloric deficit and lose weight, you aim to consume less than your TDEE.