Judging Portions

stefanieanne14

Hopefully this isn't an over done topic or something but in my effort to get my game plan together for tomorrow I found the below. I thought it was helpful for judging how much I'm eating to make it easier to log later. I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate but it seems to be the same as some of the tips I've heard in the past:

The Grain Group
1/2 cooked cup rice ---- tennis ball
1 pancake (1 ounce or 5") ---- compact disc (CD)
1 piece of cornbread (2 ounces) ---- bar of soap
1 slice of bread (1 ounce) ---- audiocassette tape
1 cup of pasta/spaghetti (2 ounces) ---- a fist
1 cup of cereal flakes (1 ounce) ---- a fist

The Vegetable Group
1 cup green salad ---- baseball or a fist
1 medium baked potato (1 cup) ---- computer mouse or a fist
1/2 cup cooked broccoli ---- light bulb
1/2 cup serving ---- 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots; 1 ear of corn on the cob

The Fruit Group
1/2 cup of grapes (15 grapes) ---- light bulb
1/2 cup of fresh fruit ---- 7 cotton balls
1 medium size fruit ---- tennis ball or a fist
1 cup of cut-up fruit ---- baseball or a fist
1/4 cup raisins ---- large egg

The Milk Group
1 1/2 ounces hard cheese ---- 9-volt battery or your index and middle fingers
1 ounce of processed cheese ---- your thumb
1 cup of ice cream ---- baseball

The Meat and Beans Group
2 tablespoons peanut butter (= 2 oz. meat) ---- ping-pong ball
1 teaspoon peanut butter (= 1/3 oz. meat) ---- fingertip
1 tablespoon peanut butter (= 1 oz. meat) ---- thumb tip
3 ounces grilled/baked fish or chicken ---- checkbook
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry ---- your palm, a deck or cards or a cassette tape

Discretionary Calories

Fats, Sugars and Sodium
teaspoon butter, margarine ---- stamp, the thickness of your finger or knuckle to thumb tip
tablespoons regular salad dressing ping-pong ball

Snack Foods
1 ounce of nuts or small candies ---- one handful
1 ounce of pretzels ---- two handfuls
1/2 cup of popcorn ---- one man's handful
1/3 cup of popcorn ---- one woman's handful

Serving Dishes/Utensils
1/2 cup ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop
1 1/2 cups ---- large cereal/soup bowl
1 1/2 cups of pasta, noodles ---- dinner plate, not heaped
1/2 cup of pasta, noodles ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop



I got this from: http://caloriecount.about.com/article/when_you_cant_measure_estimate_portions

Hopefully this is accurate (let me know if it isn't) and will help us be mindful of our portions tomorrow!

StartingAnewDay

I don't know if it is or not but i for one THANK YOU.. I never seem to get this right.. now if I could just learn how to use this when actually eating...... :huh:

aimeeturner

It was always so hard for me to judge accurately, so I bought a digital food scale for $7.50 on Ebay. I absolutely love it. It is the best $7.50 I have spent in a long time.

ellekay22

It is really strange - I use a measuring cup now for EVERYTHING (unless I use a scale), and yet sometimes it looks like too much and sometimes it looks like too little. 1/2 rice is a lot, 2 cups of popcorn is very little. If I was was doing it by eye I'd say I'd get it wrong 80% of the time.

Thanks for this!

stefanieanne14

I definitely need to invest in a food scale and for $7.50 there is no reason not to! We're going to my MIL's house so I don't want to seem weird in using measuring devices while dishing up; this seemed to be a good option for being away from home.

dmpizza

This is great because portion sizes are out of control so its a good way to judge.

I am old enough to remember when the McDonald's Quarter Pounder came out.
It was considered a very large hamburger at the time.
Now it looks puny.

IMYarnCraz33

good info but it can still be hard to tell portions that way---for meat especially.

serving size = a fist---who's fist? mine, spouse/significant other, a child?
serving size = a light bub---Which type of bulb? standard, Christmas lights, night light?

Yes, I'm being silly, but some people (such as myself) need specifics.
Call it the perfectionist in me I guess :laugh:
I would rather use a food scale--it's more accurate. And you can get a good one
for under $20 (USD).
I my biggest loser glass digital kitchen scale

lizziebeth1028

Thank you for this post! It's very helpful! I often wonder about portion size but have never invested in a scale because I'm not really here to lose weight....I'm focusing on maintenance now and toning. But it's so hard to judge what a portion is!! thanks again and happy thanksgiving!

havalinaaa

Until very recently I didn't have a food scale so I was relying only on guidelines like these. I looked at three or four (or ten) different guides until I thought I had a good idea of what portion sizes were, then logged accordingly. When I got the food scale, I found that I was actually pretty accurate with most things, but the things that I was off on were pasta, rice, and salad dressing - in my experience it's always more than you think with these things even when using the visual guides.

What helped me the very most was spending a day playing with my scale and the foods I eat most often. I practiced making portions without the scale and then checked them until I was consistently getting pretty close. I still use the scale when cooking at home, but I am now much more sure of my logging when at restaurants or friends' houses.

jmruef

Thanks for posting this. For me it works better than measuring because I'm not going to bring a set of measuring cups or a food scale with me when I eat out (and I eat out a LOT - I despise cooking.) A deck of cards fits in my purse for reference. :laugh:

jmruef

Darn double post...

Rhodygarden

This is great for when you are away from home and are not able to measure and weigh like you can at home. Thank you for posting!

fit4everyoung

bump!

tseecka

Bumping for later reference