does everybody stick strictly to portion size and frequency? If I stuck to some of the frequencies for fish, meat & poultry I would be starving from some too many veggie meals.

any ideas?

musartbre, I listed my strategy regarding portion sizes and frequency here:

http://www.dadamo.com/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1253598354/s-13/#num13

I pretty much do. Actually, I'm under most days -- but then, I am trying to lose weight also. Of course, as a Teacher, I'm not allowed much meat anyway, but I find that if I get enough protein through the eggs, cheese, nuts, and beans I'm allowed, I don't really even miss meat (for me, that is fish and turkey). You're a different BT/GT, so that's a big difference too.

In my family we totally disregard portion sizes.  But then, DH is a very wirey Nomad with the metabolism of a hummingbird (even at 41!), and I'm always either nursing or pregnant....so we eat a lot of food.  Even the children eat a lot of food. People always marvel at the amount they put away.  I tell them it's because we don't fill their bellies up with fluffy white bread.

Unless one is trying to combat overweight and sluggish metabolism (gatherer and warrior), I would not take the portion sizes and frequency thing so seriously. I have never followed them. But then, as I age, I know I will reduce my food sizes. Also, if I see that I am gaining unwanted weight, I will start reducing portion sizes. It has worked perfectly for me. I have been keeping my weight between 58-59 kg (my hight is 160 cm only) for the past three years!

I am trying to keep with the recommended servings and I don't really get hungry so that is a good thing I would say. Though I do have more weight I want to lose, so will see how this works. I lost the first 20 lbs counting calories but I wasn't on the GTD. I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting calories. I'm starting to relax a little bit and just eating the recommended foods as much servings as I can. I don't mind smaller portions that is what I eat anyway, but I could stand more meat and less veggies.   Though I think the idea is to follow what is recommended?

Quoted from Ribbit

I tell them it's because we don't fill their bellies up with fluffy white bread.

...fluffy white bread that turns to glue in your intestines!  

Individualize the portions as you go along. More excercise more protein more sedentary more veggies.

I would think that it is important to pay some attention to them if you are trying to lose weight?  But even then, you have to adjust for yourself.  Being hungry doesn't seem to serve a purpose.

I have the opposite problem, my portion sizes/frequency are way too much for me.  I don't even try to get them all in, except the daily veggies.  I've not had a single week where I have eaten even the bottom end of the range of all that is recommended on my swami.  But having said that, I eat a lot of food, eat frequently, and am rarely hungry...so this works well for me.  

For eg, 1 5-7oz serving of meat per week: have never done that, I don't eat any meat.
3 5-7oz servings of poultry per week: have never done that either.  I eat the odd bit of poultry, maybe once ever couple of weeks.  Now around thanksgiving, if I have turkey leftovers....that week I MIGHT come close to getting it all in *lol*.
5 5-7oz servings of fish per week:  have never done that either.  I do eat fish, but that is a LOT to eat!!!  

I come way closer to meeting my recs in the egg (probably do that most weeks) and veggie protein departments.  Some weeks I might even go over...I eat a lot of nuts!  Like Katsy, that is where I get the majority of my protein.  

What I find is that if I eat too much protein, I am simply not hungry enough to eat all my veggies.  I have to do what works for me.  That is probably the difference between A and B...your protein needs I would think would be way higher?

I pay attention to serving/portion sizes only as a general guideline for most things.  I try to stick close to those things I'd overdo it with if left to my own desires, like rice and nuts.  I also limit my chocolate consumption, too, but certainly not according to the recommended guidelines  

Quoted from Katsy

...fluffy white bread that turns to glue in your intestines!  

And takes forever to digest!

My kids are hungry at mealtime because they've used up their last meal!  A 1-lb bag of okra isn't enough to feed me and three small children anymore.  

I'm like Gumby - I don't eat as much fish or meat as my servings allow, and I eat a few servings more nuts than my servings allow (because they are easy to grab and go back to work on the computer). I hardly eat any fruit because of the blood-sugar issues, but I'm trying to choose low-glycemic fruits at least once a day. I am working hard on getting those 6 cups of veggies every day.

I think one problem is eating one serving of fruit at a time - usually I end up eating 2 servings.

My problem is mostly in the evening after dinner when I am tired. I forage around looking for something compliant. Used to be a nightly piece of cake, a brownie, a few cookies, low-fat popcorn, or sugar-free ice cream. Now I choose more often something from my lists - nuts, cheese, yogurt, fruit.

Quoted from musartbre

does everybody stick strictly to portion size and frequency? If I stuck to some of the frequencies for fish, meat & poultry I would be starving from some too many veggie meals. any ideas?

I lose weight much better when I do.  

Quoted Text

Now I choose more often something from my lists - nuts, cheese, yogurt, fruit.

how about a minestrone, veggie soup, or plate of steamed veggies instead?

I want something that's a "snack", not yet another plate of veggies. And I don't want to pile on carbs after eating carbs at dinner. Blood sugar goes wild.

drink a large glass of water then.....the wanting a snack feeling dissipates asap!!

I find that when I rush through meals, that is when I get the foraging urges.  To control it, I challenge myself with each nut, seed that I grab, to see how long I can 'processed' it in my mouth concentrating on the flavors.  First a walnut on its own, then a pumpkin seed on its own, then the two together and while chewing, can I distinguish the tastes in my mouth, the texture?  I try to resist the impulse of gulping things down.  At the end it becomes a habit and our bodies are thanking us for it.  Also, water, water, water, wonderful elixir. Our bodily functions will show us when  we have not had enough of it!!

Quoted from Cristina

I challenge myself with each nut, seed that I grab, to see how long I can 'processed' it in my mouth concentrating on the flavors.  First a walnut on its own, then a pumpkin seed on its own, then the two together and while chewing, can I distinguish the tastes in my mouth, the texture?  I try to resist the impulse of gulping things down.

Good thinking! I need some work on this. Your post made me think of the movie "Ratatouille" -- this clip (plus the next minute or so of the movie, but I didn't find the full clip I wanted). So funny!

My glucose went wild when I ate the recommended 3-4 carbs at the meals, so I cut back to two and also eat two if my glucose is less than 100 when I get ready to go to bed, and it has been working well, for me so far.  Been about a month now. (I don't count the green veggies)or raw.

I don't follow portion sizes and I eat four to five meals a day...dependiing on what time I get up in the morning and how much I am doing during the day.    Weekends I tend to eat less.   A snack for me is another little meal.   If I snack on something I am not supposed to have...I am doomed.    A snack for me can be a small bowl of cooked basmati rice or quinoa with peas and ghee.  Most satisfying.  

I find the more I eat, especially in the veggie department...the more energy I have which helps me to lose.

Debra

Man I have been bouncing off the walls with energy. I don't know if it's all the veggies or the bladderwrack working on my thyroid, lol. I felt great today.  

Quoted from glamour

Man I have been bouncing off the walls with energy. I don't know if it's all the veggies or the bladderwrack working on my thyroid, lol. I felt great today.  

Funny!--bouncing off the walls sounds good.
all these years it has been enough for me to follow the food lists in BTD and GTD, without the added focus on portions and frequency; but since being swamied, I am determined to nail the last challenges in my diet and health, and am following frequencies to the letter, basically from the Super list. The signs are good, and I am letting go of neutral meats and being a nutritional vegetarian (as opposed to religious or philosophical one), and feeling more than satisfied with my lot. It's odd to think of Warriors being vegetarian as you might expect us to need the heat and muscle of the meat kingdom, but our warriordom is more subtle than that and I like to think of us hiding in the forest and foraging for plant food as we travel through on our survival trail.

I should have mentioned with previous post that I am not trying to lose weight, so am certainly not avoiding portions on purpose.  I asked swami to calculate best when it came to portions...but even when I played with it to put in large portions, only the frequency went up slightly, the portion sizes did not change.  (I am 5'10", 138 lbs female)

I think folks trying to lose or gain weight have to be a bit more tuned in to the portion size/frequency as their guideline.

I said that I ate often too, and I do...but always stop after dinner.  I never snack at night.  Don't like going to bed feeling full.  In my pre BTD days, I finally figured out how much more comfortable this made me...so I made this one change without doing anything else and lost 25 lbs in a year.