Portion?

sexymom04

How do you determine how much food you should eat at each meal? How big each portion should be? I do have a scale, I'm just trying to figure out how much meat, veggies and such I should have at my meals.

Thanks

livingleanlivingclean

How much you want to eat along with how much fits in to your calorie goal.

emmamcgarity

This is really all a matter of personal preference depending on your goals. I personally use the Weight Watchers Good Health Guidelines for the backbone of what I eat. I try to get 5+ half cup servings of fruit/vegetable servings, 2-3 eight ounce servings of low-fat dairy, 2 servings of 3-4 ounces of lean protein, and 2 teaspoons of healthy oils. Some days are more successful than others. But I find I am pretty satisfied with this and it helps keep me at my calorie goal. My sister is using DASH for hypertension which is very similar.

ThereAreManyNames

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

How much you want to eat along with how much fits in to your calorie goal.

This is the best answer you're going to get. I think 3-4 oz of protein is usually considered a 'serving' but it really depends on how many calories you're eating in a day and how many meals you're breaking it up into.

Not really possible to overdo it on most veggies if you're not drowning them in butter or oil or some kind of sauce, just eat until you're full on those.

amusedmonkey

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

How much you want to eat along with how much fits in to your calorie goal.

Pretty much this.

With experience, you will develop your own nuances to this. For me, I usually just pre-log my highest calorie meal in whatever portion I know satisfies me and just build the rest of the day around it to fit. For example: yesterday I pre-logged 4 slices of pizza at 800 calories for lunch, which meant I had 700 more calories left for breakfast and dinner, so I pre-logged lower calorie satisfying meals for both that fulfilled my desired protein (oatmeal for breakfast and a tuna salad for dinner). Pizza was high in protein, so I didn't have to work hard to come up with meals that completed my daily protein allowance. My exercise calories went into snacks, which are usually fruits and vegetables.

kemoon0915

I've found that 3 oz of meat or 4 oz of fish is the perfect amount for me. For grains it's typically a half cup or 90 grams. When it comes to veggies (assuming they're not in some kind of high fat/high cal sauce) I usually go with how much I feel like eating. Hope much soup, stew, or casserole I have is determined by how much I've made as a serving in the recipe builder (weigh the empty dish or pot beforehand then weigh the finished product; subtract the weight of the dish from the finished product and divide by # of servings)

motivatedmartha

If you prelog your meals, making an educated guess about the sort of weight you can reasonably expect to eat - or using a recipe portion, before you actually eat anything you can then juggle your portion sizes to fit with your calorie goals. I usually reckon on 150 - 200g for meat/fish, 60g uncooked weight for rice, up to 90g for pasta, 50g of avocado in my salads, fruits and veggies between 50 and 100g per portion etc. Very calories light food I eat lots as I like to bulk out my meals.

yirara

I usually have about 550-650kcal for my dinner. This fills me up well. Now I'm only cooking for myself, thus I can chose how I prepare my food and how much I put in.
yesterday I made an Asian inspired rice dish. I had 100gr. of mince that I logged right away. I needed a bit of cooking oil and about 10gr. of fermented beans. The rest is veggies. Just knowing from experience how much approximately the low calorie ingredients would be I knew how much rice I could cook. So I put that amount of rice on and started preparing and cooking the rest.

Cooking for two people works as well: log everything that goes into dinner, and make the best possible estimate on how much you had of each (or weigh the finished meal and your portion of it). If your SO takes 5 scoopes of pasta and you take 4 then it's fairly easy to estimate the calories of what you ate.

Lounmoun

sexymom04 wrote: »

How do you determine how much food you should eat at each meal? How big each portion should be? I do have a scale, I'm just trying to figure out how much meat, veggies and such I should have at my meals.

Thanks

I prelog my food and see what fits my goals best.

Generally 3-4 oz of meat when it is not in a mixed dish is a serving for me. Vegetable serving size depends on the vegetable but 100 g is probably typical for me.

amusedmonkey

I usually have about 60-70 grams of meat. A vegetable portion doesn't feel like a vegetable portion unless it has at least 250 grams, but I eat more very often. My grain portions are also larger than typical. So you see, people use portions that feel right to them. There is a general recommendation, but you make your own portions based on your own preferences and macro goals. Experiment with your logging and you'll see how your foods stack in total in terms of protein and vegetables. Don't fixate on single meal portions.

seska422

Understanding the difference between "suggested serving size" and "portion" was one of the biggest eye-opening moments for me on MFP. I was truly in control of exactly how much and what went into my mouth, rather than following someone else's diet plan or program.

After months of carefully trying to weigh out the exact amount for a serving, I realized that I could adjust the food amount to fit what I wanted to eat right then rather than conforming to some other amount. I switched my MFP serving sizes to one gram or ml increments (I could do that since almost all of my My Foods database entries are based upon grams or ml) and ignored the suggested serving size after that. That let me shave excess calories here and there and bolster protein, fat, and/or fiber just a bit if I was falling behind. My portion might be what's considered 3 servings (such as with veggies) or 1/9th of a serving (such as with a Hershey's Kiss that I let dissolve in my mouth for a treat) or anywhere in between.

I only use serving sizes now when entering new items into My Foods for the nutrition facts information and then, when I first enter the food into my diary, switch to one gram/ml serving sizes and enter the weight of the item (for all solids and any liquid that has grams in the nutrition facts) or volume. I log immediately before I eat so that I can make adjustments to portions if needed.