From 71kg to 63kg: Switching from a regular plate to a section plate helped me control portions and lose weight

After years of workouts with little change, a simple section plate method helped me to control portions, reduce cravings, and lose 8kg. Here's my journey.

A section plate showing balanced portions of vegetables, rice, protein and dal, illustrating the simple visual method behind mindful eating. (AdobeStock)

By Neha Ravi Khandelwal

Neha Khandelwal
Content Lead, HT Travel | Travel & Lifestyle Journalist
With over 10 years of content writing experience, Neha Khandelwal is a lifestyle journalist and the Content Lead at HT Travel. She specialises in destinations, hotels, aviation, luggage, travel gear, and practical guides that help readers plan smarter and travel better. Her work combines first-hand experience, expert insights, and extensive research to create stories that are informative, useful, and easy to follow.

Career Journey & Experience
Neha began her writing career as a freelance journalist in 2010 before entering mainstream media with The Times of India in 2022. She later joined Hindustan Times, where she has written extensively across travel, lifestyle, home, and consumer trends. Her professional background extends beyond journalism. Before moving into digital media full-time, she spent nearly a decade in interior design, managing residential projects from concept to execution. She also trained in visual merchandising with Shoppers Stop and Pantaloons and worked with women-led startups across design and operations. These experiences continue to shape her storytelling, especially in how she evaluates hotels, design-led stays, hospitality spaces, and travel experiences.

A naturally curious learner, Neha has completed beginner certifications in pottery, scuba diving, baking, creative writing, and other creative pursuits. She has read more than 2,000 books, trained in Bharatanatyam for 8 years, and ghostwritten a book on Ladakh tourism.

Subject Expertise
Travel is at the heart of Neha's work. She covers destinations, hotels, airlines, luggage, packing strategies, travel accessories, and emerging travel trends through a mix of reporting, product testing, and conversations with industry experts. A frequent traveller herself, she approaches every trip with a journalist's curiosity and a planner's mindset, focusing on experiences that readers can realistically recreate. From choosing the right cabin bag to decoding hotel openings and destination trends, her writing prioritises practical advice over promotional claims. Her background in interior design also gives her a distinct perspective on architecture, hospitality design, boutique hotels, luxury stays, and thoughtfully designed spaces.

Education & Professional Background
Neha holds a Master's degree in Interior Design. Her early experience in interior design, visual merchandising, and design operations gives her a unique understanding of aesthetics, functionality, and user experience, adding depth to her coverage of hotels, resorts, and travel spaces.

Editorial Philosophy
"As an avid, research-driven traveller, my goal is simple. To answer the questions you actually have before booking a trip. I cut through the promotional noise with honest reporting and expert insights. Making travel planning seamless, smart, and reliable so you always know where to go next."

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At 71kg, I often felt sluggish and very uncomfortable in my own body. The strange part is that I was not someone who avoided exercise. For the past five years, I had been fairly consistent with movement. Four of those years were spent practising Hatha yoga. The last year involved regular gym sessions with a personal trainer, and somehow, the change was never visible The scale barely moved, and I would occasionally lose an inch or two, feel encouraged for a few weeks, and then the bloating would return. The cycle kept repeating. And the frustration with my own body led to a lot of attempts at crash dieting and failing.

My meals looked structured on paper. Three proper meals a day, mostly home-cooked. But the real issue sat quietly in the background. What I had been severely ignoring was portion sizes and proportions. Then, a very simple idea came up during a late-night conversation with “Chat GPT” about my food habits. Portion control using a section plate.

The funny part is that these plates were already in my kitchen. My kids used them every day because they were easier than juggling a plate and several bowls.

Four months later, I am at 63kg. The biggest shift came from one simple realisation that the transformation does not come from eating less food. It comes from eating the right proportions.

The problem with eyeballing portions on your plate

For years, I trusted my instincts when serving food. If the meal was homemade and reasonably balanced, I assumed the quantity would sort itself out. But reality works differently.

Large plates and open bowls make it very easy to keep adding just a little more. A scoop of rice becomes two. Pasta quietly multiplies in the bowl. I even tried calorie-tracking apps for a while. They worked for a few days, and then the constant logging in and snapping photos before very meal became tiring. A section plate removed that entire mental load. The boundaries were already there in front of me. No counting. No measuring. Just a clear visual reminder at every meal. This has made my daily lunch a very easy meal. Effortless portion control, thanks to the section plate, has just made it a no-brainer and ensured I eat smarter.

Breaking down the plate

My section plate system did not begin perfectly. In the early days, the largest section was still filled with rice. Old habits take time to adjust. Gradually, after far too many late-night doom scrolling through portion control content, I started shifting the proportions. Today, the plate looks very different.

• Half the plate for fibrous vegetables

This is now the largest section. Think sautéed beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cucumber salads or any vegetable that adds volume and fibre.

• The second largest section for carbohydrates

Rice still appears on my plate regularly. I never removed it. The difference is that it now sits in a defined space instead of quietly taking over the entire meal.

• Smaller sections for dal, protein and extras

These sections usually hold dal, condiments and sometimes protein such as paneer, chicken, eggs or lentils.

• An unexpected side effect

My cook noticed the shift before anyone else. She joked that our household rice consumption dropped by half once I stopped serving it generously.

Without any complicated calculations, the plate has naturally created a better balance between fibre, protein and carbs.

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My four-month timeline

Phase	What changed
Month 1: The adjustment	The first few weeks were about retraining my eye. Portions that once looked normal suddenly seemed excessive. There was also the usual early drop in water weight once carb-heavy plates were reduced slightly.
Months 2 and 3: The rhythm	This phase felt surprisingly smooth. Clothes began fitting better, and my energy during the day felt far more stable. The biggest surprise was cravings. As fibre and protein increased and carb-heavy portions reduced, the constant urge for junk food faded, and meals felt far more satisfying.
Month 4: The goal	By the fourth month, the scale showed 63kg. More importantly, the plate had quietly become a habit. I no longer thought of it as a diet trick. It simply became the way I served food every day.

Practical tips that helped me stay consistent

Respect the plate boundaries

A section plate works only if you avoid piling food vertically. The sections exist for a reason.

Start with vegetables

Many meals begin with the vegetable portion. That fibre signals fullness earlier and slows down the rest of the meal.

Apply the idea outside the home

Restaurants obviously do not serve section plates, so I follow a simple routine. I start with a large plate of salad. That part is non-negotiable. After that, I pick either a starter or a main course instead of both and focus on protein options like paneer or chicken.

Stay hydrated

Water plays a quiet but important role. Proper hydration makes meals more satisfying, and random snacking drops.

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The psychological shift

The most surprising change has been mental. Carbs still have a designated space on my plate, so there is no anxiety around eating rice. Food now feels balanced instead of restrictive. I look at the plate and see vegetables, protein and carbs sitting together in sensible portions. Once that balance became routine, cravings dropped naturally and eating felt easier and less about taste in quantity and more about enjoying the little bites.

The 8kg weight loss happened over four steady months through consistency and simple structure. I cannot subtract the contribution of a regular workout plan from just eating right. You cannot remove one part of the equation and help the other to work, which, in my case, over the last five years, has shown that simply working out was clearly “not working out”. A section plate created boundaries that my habits clearly needed. If you feel curious, try this for just one meal a day and see how it feels.

Sometimes, the simplest changes create the biggest shifts.

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Section plate: FAQs

What is a section plate and how does it help with portion control?

A section plate is a plate divided into compartments. Each section naturally limits how much of a particular food goes in. Instead of guessing portions, the plate visually guides the balance between vegetables, carbs, protein and sides. It quietly prevents overeating without needing calorie counting.

What should ideally go into each section of the plate?

A simple approach works well. The largest section can hold fibrous vegetables like beans, broccoli, cabbage or salads. The second section can hold carbohydrates such as rice or roti. Smaller sections can include dal, paneer, chicken, lentils, yoghurt or chutneys. The goal is balance, not restriction.

Can you still eat rice or roti while using a section plate?

Yes, absolutely. The idea is not to eliminate carbs but to give them a defined space. Rice or roti remains part of the meal but no longer dominates the entire plate. This small visual shift often improves portion awareness.

How long does it take for portion control with section plates to become a habit?

For most people it takes a few weeks of consistent use. At first the portions may feel smaller, but the body adjusts once fibre and protein increase. Over time the plate simply becomes the normal way to serve meals rather than feeling like a diet rule.

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