Protien Portion Control?

Hi all,

I'm new here and have been following the primal eating lifestyle for about 4 weeks. I've been pleased with the results so far but do have a question (the first of many I'm sure).

What is the appropriate portion size when it comes to things like beef, pork, poultry & fish? Is it "eat all you want" (within reason of course) or should I monitor portion sizes? If so, what are the appropriate sizes?

My focus is over all health but a primary goal is weight loss.

I apologize if this has already been covered here but I couldn't seem to locate any related info.

Thanks in advance for your input!!!

I tend to just eat how much I want. Like I get 3 meals from a pound of ground beef, have eaten a 10 ouncesteak, when I eat chicken, I have a chicken leg and thigh. More than a "deck of cards" less than being a glutton. Given that my sides are normally veggies, even with more meat, the calories are lower than a normal diet that might have some bread and a starch with a small amount of meat.

Oh, and I try and balance my meals. If I'm having a 10 ounce rib eye, my side is asparagus with a dab of aioli. If I have lighter chicken breast, I'll have more sides- maybe a sweet potato with butter and kale sauted with some coconut milk.

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With a focus on weight loss....... I find that if you intentionally stuff your face with greens (kale, ruffage, big ass salads) for at least one meal a day (preferably two), your own hunger signaling (and the size of your stomach) will take care of your portion control..... and this should prevent your food intake from becoming too monolithic. Assuming of course..... that you've ditched the grains and (for fat loss purposes) are generally skipping the starches and other sugars. That's auto-pilot mode, and you'll know when it's time to switch it up. When you hit a mid-teens or better body fat % it'll be about the end of the road for fat loss from eating alone. If you in any way are on a regular weight training routine where you lift (Really) heavy things (Barbell work), forget everything I just said...... get your fitday.com account opened up and start counting macros...... Whatever you do, enjoy the ride. Stressing things like this sucks.

[QUOTE=BONZ;1063443]With a focus on weight loss....... I find that if you intentionally stuff your face with greens (kale, ruffage, big ass salads) for at least one meal a day (preferably two), your own hunger signaling (and the size of your stomach) will take care of your portion control..... and this should prevent your food intake from becoming too monolithic. Assuming of course..... that you've ditched the grains and (for fat loss purposes) are generally skipping the starches and other sugars. That's auto-pilot mode, and you'll know when it's time to switch it up. When you hit a mid-teens or better body fat % it'll be about the end of the road for fat loss from eating alone. If you in any way are on a regular weight training routine where you lift (Really) heavy things (Barbell work), forget everything I just said...... get your fitday.com account opened up and start counting macros...... Whatever you do, enjoy the ride. [B]Stressing things like this sucks[/B].[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the feed back!

I couldn't agree more about "Stressing", I just want to do what I can to insure I'm not unknowingly defeating myself.

Thanks to everyone who responded!!!

I have a "big ass salad" rule...must eat BAS first, then see. I fast through breakfast and lunch and noticed I got off on the wrong foot if I reached for nuts or cheese first at dinner time. But meat is more self limiting IME, and sometimes, like last night, the brisket comes out the oven and I just dig in and quit when I'm full. I figure if you're craving meat there's a good reason...so I wouldn't get too hung up on some arbitrary portion size. Letting natural hunger do its job is one of the perks of Primal living, tho there are still danger areas to watch for.

Eat what you want, but watch your own satiety cues and stop when full. You won't lose the weight gorging yourself.

I'm having trouble with this too... I feel that since I've replaced my carbs with protein, I've gained weight... Then I read that most of your calories should come from fat, but I think to myself, if protein makes me gain weight, fat is going to be worse... I just can't get a handle on how many calories I should eat from carbs/protein/fat. I track everything I eat with myfitnesspal and I have consistently been under 100g of carbs a day and around 1300 calories... maybe I just need to reevaluate what I'm eating??

[QUOTE=nivia;1063907]I'm having trouble with this too... I feel that since I've replaced my carbs with protein, I've gained weight... Then I read that most of your calories should come from fat, but I think to myself, if protein makes me gain weight, fat is going to be worse... I just can't get a handle on how many calories I should eat from carbs/protein/fat. I track everything I eat with myfitnesspal and I have consistently been under 100g of carbs a day and around 1300 calories... maybe I just need to reevaluate what I'm eating??[/QUOTE]

Have you considered the possibility that you're undereating? Not sure what you activity level looks like, but it's possible your body never breaks "conservation" mode....

I don't have Mark's book here in front of me but I think he recommends 0.7 - 1 gram of protein per pound of your optimum lean weight (no idea where he came up with grams per pound!) For me, I'm targeting 165 pounds so at the upper end of the range thats 165 grams of animal protein, including ~15% fat (kind of guessing here) thats equivalent to a 190 gram, or a 6.7 ounce steak (without bone). Seems like a small amount to me. I'll have that for lunch plus eggs for breakfast. For dinner, I'm trying to go veg only but I usually have lean meat like chicken breast or lean ground chicken/pork. I'm probably eating twice what Mark recommends but the 'overage' is usually very lean.