I’m feeling overwhelmed!

ChrisS817

Yikes! I don’t know exactly where\how to start! I’m confused as to what portions are? Grams? Ounces? Cup? Etc!!

Lietchi

Grams are the more accurate option for measuring your food, so that's what I use.

AnnPT77

Portions are how much you want to eat. Log them. At the end of the day, look things over. If you're above your calorie goal, look at what you ate and notice which food choices had relatively many calories, but weren't that important to you for feeling full, tastiness, nutrition, or other things important to you. Going forward, reduce or eliminate those foods, or eat them less frequently, maybe substitute some other food you enjoy that has fewer calories but that better helps you meet your goals.

Keep logging and adjusting that way, and you'll work your way into routine eating habits that you personally find filling, practical, and tasty at appropriate calories. Finding and practicing those habits as your regular routine is how it's done.

Don't worry too much about what some "official" portion size is. Just think about what works for you, what averages out to the right number of calories and reasonable nutrition in total over a day or few. Close is fine, no need to be exactly exact on calories or nutrients.

Lietchi's right: Using a food scale and weighing in grams is the most accurate way to measure your personal portions. Pick MFP database entries that have grams in the options of their serving-size drop-down list, and log them that way. If you don't have a food scale, just use cups/spoons or estimate for now, get yourself a scale and learn how to use it. (You should be able to find one for $20 USD or less, maybe the price of a good pizza.)

You don't have to get all of this nailed down day one. Work at it, and you'll learn. It won't take long. You'll do fine.

Best wishes!

springlering62

In the USA, packages provide “serving size” on the nutrition label.

For example, a serving size of my favorite cheese slice is 21 grams.

I weigh my price of cheese. If it’s 21 grams, I use the one serving entry. If it weighs more or less, as it very often does- I adjust the serving size.

Pasta is usually 56 grams per serving. I weigh out 56 dry grams of pasta before cooking, so I know it’s (typically) 200 calories.

If you pay attention to jabelling and weigh your food, you’ll get up to speed quickly.

Grams are far more accurate than cups and teaspoons etc.

The example often quoted here is peanut butter. If you weigh your serving of peanut butter, you’ll probably be astonished at the “real “ size versus eyeballing it.

After a while, you’ll get so used to- and appreciate the accuracy so much-metric that you’ll do like me and give away your measuring spoons, and use your measuring cups as dogfood scoops lol.