Starting Sunday, September 30 @ 11:59 PM, until Sunday, October 07 11:59 PM  your challenge is to ...

Eating Smaller Portions

In this week's challenge you must eat in smaller portions. With obesity becoming more common around the world, you may have heard the importance of eating small portions. No matter if you are concerned about your weight, your energy level, or nutritional deficiencies, eating small portions can help maintain optimal health. Now I'm not saying to only eat 3 times a day and cut your meal by half but to eat smaller portions more frequently will help you with this weeks challenge.

Benefits of eating in smaller portions:

Decreased calorie intake

Maintain blood sugar levels

Prevent metabolism crash

Prevent nutrition imbalances

Weight loss

Increased energy


A smaller plate tricks your brain into thinking it's a huge portion as shown

Here are a few tricks to help you out this week:

Eat small meals more frequent

Use small serve ware and dishes

Add veggie fillers to your meal. (Example: spinach)

Don't eat from the bag or box

Divide food into smaller snack-size bags in advance, which will make it easier to eat only one portion at a time.

Limit mealtime distractions

Read the nutrition label to determine what a serving is and serve yourself that amount in a dish (Example: chips, cookies, crackers, candy)

Serve yourself in the kitchen, rather than having second helpings right in front of you at the table.

If that does not help here is an example of eating smaller portions frequently throughout the day.
If you normally have toast, cereal and fruit for breakfast, have the cereal first, the toast and fruit an hour later. At lunchtime, eat half your sandwich with a piece of fruit, then have the other half an hour later with some soup or a small salad; eat a smaller dinner than normal then have more fruit, a yogurt or a small sandwich an hour later.

Suggested Reading:
The Importance of Eating Small Portions - Learn more here.
Why Eating Little and Often is Best - Learn more here.
14 Ways to Cut Portions Without Feeling Hungry - Learn more here.
People Who Eat Small, Frequent Meals Tend To Eat Better And Weigh Less - Learn more here.

This challenge was closed on 10/7/2018

The Weekly Health Challenge is a self-audited program designed to motivate the JCSC Wellness participants in reducing BMI on a weekly basis.

How it works:

1. Each week there will be a new health challenge. You can accept the challenge by accepting the pledge for each challenge. You can only accept a challenge from midnight on Sunday to midnight on Tuesday.

2. At the end of the week, you can declare if you have completed the challenge. You can only mark a challenge as completed from midnight on Sunday to midnight on Tuesday.

3. Every week, the participants that complete the challenge will be recognized on this page.