Is Your Plate Making You Gain Weight?



Portion sizes are a major reason for weight gain. The truth is that people are just so used to eating much more. They believe that they need to eat more to survive but they really don’t.

The main reason for portion sizes getting bigger is our plates. They’ve gotten bigger over the years and we always feel the need to fill them, right?

Fill the Plates with the Right Foods!


There’s nothing wrong with filling the plate as long as it is with the right food. Make the majority of it vegetables or fruit. These are low in calories.

Most people will choose another piece of meat or a larger helping of potato or pasta but this is just fuelling your weight gain. Your body doesn’t need to eat the extra helping. It won’t be able to burn the extra calories and will store them instead.

Guess what happens? You gain weight!



Not Filling It Up Psychologically Tells You It’s Empty




Even if you know the portion size is just right, seeing a partially empty plate plays tricks on your brain. Your eyes tell your brain that there isn’t much on the plate and your brain tells your stomach that it isn’t eating enough.

It’s amazing how that deception works and leads to weight gain.

Even though you know you’ve had enough to eat, you feel hungry still. Your stomach isn’t satisfied so your brain tells you to feed it more. This often leads to reaching for the sweets, crisps or other high calorie food that you have in the house.

Before you reach for anything, ask yourself if you really are hungry. You can subside this by having a glass of water.

If you are genuinely hungry then there’s nothing wrong with eating more. Just think about the type of food you’re after

Switch to Smaller Plates


The best thing to do is reduce your plate size. Stop letting your plate make you gain weight and giving the impression that you’re not eating enough.

Instead of using a dinner plate, opt for the side plate. You may struggle to get all the food on but it will look over-full. Your brain will likely tell your body that you’re getting more than enough just looking at the large pile of food waiting for you.

This can also help you control your portion sizes. You could find that they automatically get smaller as you fit them to the smaller plate. This way, you’ll lose more weight much quicker!

Plate sizes have grown considerably over the last 50 years or so. They started off at around 7in in diameter and are now an amazing 12-13in! That is a lot of extra space that you really don’t need. White plate space can make you think you’re eating too little but it’s important to avoid overeating. Don’t let your plate make you gain weight.

Image credit: rakratchada torsap/freedigitalphotos.net


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