In this series, I’d like to highlight a few of the ways that I see people overeat on a regular basis.

More often than not, it’s just simple, sneaky, offenders that we don’t even realize are happening.

Incorrectly gauging our serving sizes are the shining example of this. Here is something you already know…

Even the “healthiest” foods can cause you to maintain, or even gain, weight.

Practical Understanding

Case Study:

I had a gentleman who wanted to get stronger, and reduce the amount of body fat he was carrying around. Let’s call him Jacque.

Jacque was doing everything right in the gym. Training hard. Making weekly progress. Showing up ready to work and blasting Chris Cornell to get him in the zone. By all other standards, he was on fire. On the weekends, he might even get out on the North Shore for a trail run just to de-stress and get out into nature.

He was simply having a hard time dropping that layer of fat that was hiding all his hard earned muscle underneath.

Naturally, we started to chat about his nutrition. Food is the ultimate variable to play with when it comes to changing your body weight.

It’s easier to drop 500 calories from your daily intake than burn it exercising.

Where He Went Wrong

Jacque’s Breakfast:

3 Eggs, 1 Apple, 2 tbsp of Peanut Butter, and 1 Avocado.

“Not bad, right? I’m really trying to limit my carbs…”

You might have already put this together, but Jacque was eating a TON of calories in dietary fats.

He said he was having 2 tablespoons, but let’s be honest it was probably more like 4.

Also, a WHOLE avocado.

We’re looking at about 1000 calories at breakfast right there.

Fats are great, don’t get me wrong. I just hear this story Every. Single. Week.

How to Portion Your Food

I can’t tell you exactly how much to eat in this article. I CAN tell you how to start learning what will work for you.

If you’d like me to design you a free, customized plan that outlines exactly how much to eat – Click Here.

I love the work being done by habit-based nutrition coaches around the globe.

Getting people results without restrictive dieting or “rules” is a fantastic power.

So, I turn to the best. The team at Precision Nutrition has designed some tidy graphics to help us understand portions.

Eat For YOUR Goals

If you try to eat like me and eat 12 cupped handfuls of carbs every day, you’re probably going to have a bad time.

Assuming you eat 3 meals per day, here are the roughest guidelines I can give you.

Men – Start with 2 servings of each food group, at each meal

Women – Start with 1 serving of each food group, at each meal.

Obviously men don’t need twice as much food as women, but it’s an easy place to start.

If you want to lose weight, make sure that is happening.

If it’s not happening – eat less.

Putting It Together

Okay dinner time rolls around. We’re having Peppered Steak with Asian Veggies and Garlic Butter Potatoes.

For those of you who thought that I’d be recommending eating like a Barbie Doll – this is your chance to act bewildered.

Two palm-sized slices of steak. 2 cupped hands of Yukon Gold. 2 Thumbs of Butter on those bad boys. 2 Fists of vegetables hiding beneath all of that.

Simple, right?