While researchers debate the perfect balance of nutrients to help dieters lose weight, one recommendation remains unchallenged: eating less leads to weight loss. In fact, a highly publicized study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine debunks several popular myths about weight loss and refers back to the basic tenet that eating fewer calories is the bottom line when you want to lose weight. But, for many of us, eating less is a complicated and tortuous process.
A Simple Way to Eat Less
Earlier this year, I blogged about a few new good, bad and ugly weight loss products. I mentioned Lifesize Portions as a good product but acknowledged that I hadn't tried the system. Since that time, however, I've tried the product and reviewed the system for my readers. The bottom line? It's an easy way to eat less food and still feel satisfied while while losing weight.
Lifesize Portions is system of measuring devices that helps you portion out all of the food you typically eat during the day. Rather than counting calories or measuring food on a scale, you simply eat whatever you like to eat and allow yourself six portions each day. Trust me, counting to six is a lot easier than trying to calculate 1,200 calories or trying to measure and tabulate grams or ounces.
Can I Really Lose Weight?
I was skeptical when I first tried the system because it seems counter intuitive to eat dessert, for example, and still lose weight. But the system really worked for me. When I asked founder Myles Berkowitz how they developed the portion sizes, he explained that partner and fitness expert Steven Kates studied the eating habits of thin people. "He didn't look at the people who exercised excessively or the people who starved themselves to slim down. He looked at the eating habits of thin people who maintained their weight and he found that there were consistencies in the portions of food that they ate."
After a few years of refining the system and working with researchers at the University of Colorado Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Kates and Berkowitz put Lifesize Portions on the market. It retails for just over $90, which might seem like a significant investment for measuring tools, but if you consider the fact that there are no packaged foods to buy, no online subscriptions to pay for and no further investments, it's not a bad deal.