Question: How much is about a plate when you have no plate?

Losingthediets · Post by **Losingthediets** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:33 pm

I'm at college and most of my meals are running around doing things. I only have like one meal where I really sit down at an actual plate, and a lot of others where I grab fast food in individual wrappers or get my meals in tightly stuffed to-go boxes (more like tubs).

I was thinking about maybe bite-counting for the meals I don't have a plate, so I don't have to rely on my eyesight- I've played around with bite-counting diets before, and on higher bite meals I recall one plate suiting about 15 bites? So I was thinking maybe I'll try to stop at 15 bites at any meal I'm not eating off anything apparently plate-sized.

If any of you have your own ways to solve this issue I'd appreciate it if you shared! I like hearing other peoples ideas.

Larkspur · Post by **Larkspur** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 6:59 pm

My idea is to clear a bit of time to sit down and enjoy your nice food--? I sometimes eat at my desk working, which is less than ideal. Maybe you can carry a plastic or paper plate and put everything on that.

I don't know how many bites I eat-- more than 15, I'm pretty sure!

Losingthediets · Post by **Losingthediets** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 7:10 pm

Thank you! I might try carrying a plate around sometime. I need to buy one when I go home. Maybe a 9 inch, like people used to eat off of.

MaggieMae · Post by **MaggieMae** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:45 pm

Hi. Losing the diets! I've played around with the80 bites diet before and they say you should never eat more than 25 bites of food at a meal. Apparently anything over that begins to stretch the stomach and mess with the hunger signals/ hormones. I'd say most individual fast food meals would fit on a plate. I eat a lot of fast food unfortunately. Lol. Usually a sandwich and small fries would fit on a plate or maybe two things from taco bell.

Losingthediets · Post by **Losingthediets** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 9:28 pm

I've done 80 bites before as well! 25 bites is a good ceiling for digestion but I'm not sure it would all fit on a plate if that makes sense; especially with the things I eat (also more fast food than I should probably ingest lol) so yeah. I'm thinking I'll stick with 15 for a while, and maybe keep the 25 in mind.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:07 pm

You could just carry a paper plate or a plastic plate for a week or two just to get the approximate sense of what is a reasonable amount.

And/or, just start looking at your plate of food at meals where you do use a plate. Get used to the proportions.

My rules of thumb for lunch or dinner are about a palm-size portion of protein or a fist of beans, approximately two to three fists of starch, a thumb or two of fat, unless there's a lot in the dish I'm eating, and several fists of freggies (more veggies than fruit). These days, one of those two meals is about 2/3 the size of the other. If I am eating out, I also cut down the volume a bit because the food is likely heavier than I would make. Then again, I've been out of college probably twice as long as you've been alive, so you might need more food.

Do you not have access to any kitchen? You could assemble simple meals for WAY less than you are spending on "grabbing" food out. (Slim cultures do not grab food.) A divided plastic container would cost you less than a deli sandwich.

I know you didn't ask for this but this excerpt might give you an idea. (This is about simple, cheap meal prep for those who don't have a lot of time and are willing to eat rather simply for the time and money saved. Not me now, but it did seem very practical.)
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/cooki ... han-4.html

Losingthediets · Post by **Losingthediets** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 4:29 pm

I eat off of a meal plan that only allows me to purchase food from places on campus. I can use my real money to food shop on occassion, but my roommate fills her fridge with her own stuff and I dont really have time to teach myself to cook around here. So basically, when I cant sit down in the cafeteria, all of my choices are snacks or dense fast food.

I do like your recommendations though! I will try to incorporate some of those

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:05 pm

That's actually kind of cool. I hope they offer some freggies...

Oh, how I wish I had been ready for No S when I was in college. It would have been totally doable.

The campuses I've done workshops at have had incredible cafeterias!