You Can Eat Larger Portions and Lose Weight: The Secret Is What’s on the Plate

For weight loss, you don't have to switch to tiny portions and constantly feel hungry. If you replace part of the higher-calorie foods with vegetables, fruits, and other foods with high water and fiber content, the plate can remain full, and the total calories of the meals can decrease.

This is written about by Mayo Clinic.

This approach is called volume eating, or volumetric eating. It is not a separate diet with strict bans, but a way of composing a diet so that you get a sufficient volume of food without excess calories.

Its basis is the energy density of foods. It shows how many calories are in a given weight of food. The lower the energy density, the larger the portion by volume you can usually eat for the same number of calories.

For example, a large bowl of vegetable salad can contain fewer calories than a much smaller portion of chips. But the result also depends on what the salad is dressed with and what other products are added to it.

The main secret of large portions is water, which increases the volume of food without adding calories. That is why fresh vegetables, fruits, and berries usually have lower energy density than dried or fried products.

A demonstrative example is grapes and raisins. One cup of fresh grapes contains about 104 kcal, while one cup of raisins contains about 480 kcal.

During drying, grapes lose a significant amount of water. As a result, the same-volume dish can hold many more dried berries, and along with them — more calories.

Fiber also plays an important role. It is found, among other things, in vegetables, whole fruits, beans, and whole-grain products and helps maintain a feeling of fullness.

To make lunch larger by volume, you don't need to give up pasta, rice, or potatoes. You can reduce the share of one of these products and replace it with vegetables.

For example, add more zucchini, broccoli, or bell pepper to pasta, and add cauliflower, carrots, or tomatoes to stew. The dish will still look filling, but its calorie content can decrease if vegetables replace part of a higher-calorie ingredient.

It is the substitution, not simply adding foods to the usual portion, that matters. If you eat the same amount of pasta as always and add a large bowl of salad with a fatty dressing, the total calories may not decrease.

The same principle works with breakfasts. You can add mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, or peppers to an omelet, and replace some sweet or high-calorie additions to porridge with fresh berries.

For a snack, whole fruits are suitable. They contain water and fiber, whereas dried fruits concentrate calories in a smaller volume. Fruit juice is also not a full substitute for a whole fruit in terms of fiber content.

Another example of volumetric snacking is air-popped popcorn without a lot of oil or sweet additions. One cup of such popcorn contains about 30 kcal. However, added fats and sugars can quickly raise its calorie content.

A large portion of vegetables by itself does not automatically mean a complete diet. The body needs not only water and fiber, but also a sufficient amount of proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

Therefore, vegetable dishes should include sources of protein: fish, eggs, meat, beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, or dairy products. Whole-grain foods can also remain part of a balanced diet.

You do not need to give up nuts, seeds, avocados, or olive oil. They contain useful nutrients, though they have higher energy density. Therefore their amount has a noticeable impact on the total calories of a dish.

It is easy to underrate salad toppers. A large bowl of fresh vegetables can be relatively low in calories, but several generous portions of oil, cheese, nuts, or a fatty dressing can significantly change the result.

The method of preparation also matters. Vegetables steamed or stewed with a small amount of fat can contain far fewer calories than the same vegetables fried in large amounts of oil.

Does volumetric eating help with weight loss? It can ease reducing the calorie content of the diet because it allows you to preserve the usual or even larger portion size. However, the size of the plate alone does not determine whether weight will go down.

What matters is how much energy a person gets from all the food throughout the day. If a larger portion consists mainly of foods with low energy density and replaces higher-calorie foods, this approach can help reduce overall calorie intake.

You can start without complicated calculations: add more vegetables to an ordinary lunch, choose a whole fruit instead of juice, or replace part of a high-calorie dessert with berries. The main thing is not to increase food quantity thoughtlessly, but to change the ratio of foods in the portion.

Volumetric eating does not require living only on salads and does not guarantee weight loss without considering the whole diet. For people who need special diets due to illnesses, or those with eating disorders, significant dietary changes should be discussed with a doctor or dietitian.