need portion size help

Aneallen2009

We are have a potion/serving size overhaul at my house right now! Any advise on what's appropriate for wheat spaghetti noodles and ragi super chunky mushroom sauce with regular ground beef?

aswieser

read the package.. and eat it on a little plate

I know, it's not always that easy but checking the serving size on the package is the best place to start. If the serving is listed in ounces or grams and you don't have a scale you can try to find a conversion online. I do it that way a lot and am able to find out the approximate serving in an easier measurement like cups. If you're starving with one portion try 1.5

We eat brown rice pasta with Ragu and I usually eat about 1 cup of cooked spiral noodles with 1/3 cup or less of sauce (without meat) you can use meat but might want to add a little extra cuz the meat would take up space. Hope this helps.

aswieser

Also try adding something like a salad before your pasta or a side vegetable instead of eating bread or extra pasta. It will get you feeling full faster and your family won't be eating so much of the noodles.

Aneallen2009

Lol not the answer I wanted although I appreciate it lol.. Today is our first correct portion day I was only allowed half a cup of my creamy chicken rice :-( ... I was devastated... We are so bad me and my husband both about eating two or 3 times what we are suppose to and now at 218 with diabetes and hypothyroidism its a very bad situation. I'm assuming my stomach should switch after eating correct amounts after a while so eventually it will get to where I feel full at these smaller amounts.

mfp_1

I control portions but don't have rules for each dish. I use this website to give me a daily calorie budget, not a per meal budget. In theory you could set portion size based on a percentage of your daily calorie budget.

As long as I log everything, my portions seem to come down. I also do more exercise to get calorie credits. Sorry I can't give you guidance for a single dish.

Cups are the devil's measure. Have you considered buying a scale?

Imajicat

Read the package for portions in the container and use the recipe builder here on mfp to get the exact portion size and calorie content of your homemade foods. Use your food tracking diary religiously! In theory, you can eat a giant portion of your creamy rice if you want but then you will end up eating spinach for the rest of the day to balance out the calories. I have found that sticking to my daily calorie goal and honestly tracking everything I put in my mouth has naturally made my portions come down because I don't want to run out of calories in the middle of the day. I still fit in the majority of the foods that I love but I have them in much smaller portions and not as often now. It kind of makes the times I do have something really yummy and calorie dense more enjoyable.

Measuring is your friend! until you are more accustomed to actual portion sizes, measure everything with measuring cups, measuring spoons and a scale and READ THOSE LABELS! something may look like a good low calorie deal but then when you look at the label you see there is really 8 servings in the container, not 1 or 2. When in doubt, weigh! You can get a great little digital food scale with a bowl that goes in the dish washer at walmart for six bucks. I finally got a scale and was amazed at how much over an actual serving of most things I was going when I was eyeballing the portions.

And also, at least in my case... Yes, it gets easier to deal with smaller portions after you have been doing it for a while. Your stomach gets stretched out from eating large portions all the time and you will feel hungry for a while while your stomach shrinks back down to it's NORMAL size. After that, you will find that you get full on your calories if you are eating lots of lower calorie higher nutrition foods and less calorie dense processed foods. If you step back from the ultra salty and ultra sweetieness of most processed foods, you will also find that natural foods begin to taste better.

I'm gonna stop now, lest I go on a rant. Good luck with your new portions change!

Pebble321

I think it depends on your calorie allowance for the day, but as a general rule I work on 1/2 a cup of rice or pasta is a small serve - I would have 1/2 cup rice along side some steamed fish and veggies for example.
1 cup is a regular serve - I would have 1 cup of pasta with a veggie based sauce with prawns or chicken as another example.

Another way to look at it is to think about how many calories you want in your whole meal. For me, 500 cals is about right for dinner.
So, if I'm having 1 cup of rice or pasta (roughly 200 cals) I will make sure that the rest of the meal (meal, veggies, sauce etc) doesn't go over 300 cals.
If I'm eating salmon which is higher in cals than white fish, I'll just have 1/2 cup of rice to make it balance out.

I don't think there is a real "right or wrong" answer, it all depends how active you are and how much you need to eat.

nicholawelch

i had a similar problem. I changed the size of the plate I use. I never feel hungry because with me i just need a full plate of food. Before I could have a huge plate of food and eat it all or a tiny plate full of food. It never mattered. so now with the smaller plate I automatically eat less because you simply can't get the same amount of food on it. Now I have also started using the scales which has helped even more I meadure out lots veg and less meat and pasta etc.
Hope this helps

nicholawelch

i had a similar problem. I changed the size of the plate I use. I never feel hungry because with me i just need a full plate of food. Before I could have a huge plate of food and eat it all or a tiny plate full of food. It never mattered. so now with the smaller plate I automatically eat less because you simply can't get the same amount of food on it. Now I have also started using the scales which has helped even more I meadure out lots veg and less meat and pasta etc.
Hope this helps

WaterBunnie

It's rare for me to have a proper dinner type lunch during the day so I do have large portions at night and graze on fruit during the day but as long as you break even by the end of the day you don't need to be too strict on portion sizes as long as you are getting a good balance of all the food groups.

nicholawelch

i had a similar problem. I changed the size of the plate I use. I never feel hungry because with me i just need a full plate of food. Before I could have a huge plate of food and eat it all or a tiny plate full of food. It never mattered. so now with the smaller plate I automatically eat less because you simply can't get the same amount of food on it. Now I have also started using the scales which has helped even more I meadure out lots veg and less meat and pasta etc.
Hope this helps

Aneallen2009

Thanks everyone for your help. I think we are going to buy smaller plates. It makes sense to me. I think my issue is more if i look at my plate and it looks half full I feel started.. I think I'm eating with my eyes lol so to speak so maybe if my eyes think im full cause the plate is full but smaller then I will be ok.. This road is going to be a long slow hard one.

afigueroa_pr

read the package.. and eat it on a little plate

I know, it's not always that easy but checking the serving size on the package is the best place to start. If the serving is listed in ounces or grams and you don't have a scale you can try to find a conversion online. I do it that way a lot and am able to find out the approximate serving in an easier measurement like cups. If you're starving with one portion try 1.5

We eat brown rice pasta with Ragu and I usually eat about 1 cup of cooked spiral noodles with 1/3 cup or less of sauce (without meat) you can use meat but might want to add a little extra cuz the meat would take up space. Hope this helps.

Serving sizes on the package is what I usually go by.
I have a scale and use measuring cups at home!!

jadedone

Spaghetti is one of the things I just end up with a larger portion of. I eat 3 oz of pasta and 1 cup of sauce. It works out to be around 550 calories for my my pasta and homemade meat sauce. Absolutely reasonable in my book.

RipperSB

We are have a potion/serving size overhaul at my house right now! Any advise on what's appropriate for wheat spaghetti noodles and ragi super chunky mushroom sauce with regular ground beef?

Just had spaghetti with thick and chunky original. Portion sizes are 85g spaghetti (uncooked) and 1/4 cup sauce. Of course, like any food, you can have more than a single portion, if you have room.

lporter229

Thanks everyone for your help. I think we are going to buy smaller plates. It makes sense to me. I think my issue is more if i look at my plate and it looks half full I feel started.. I think I'm eating with my eyes lol so to speak so maybe if my eyes think im full cause the plate is full but smaller then I will be ok.. This road is going to be a long slow hard one.

As others have said, try adding salad or steamed veggies along with the pasta. Put it on the same plate if you have to to trick yourself. Broccoli and zucchini are both great with spaghetti.

mfp_1

Another suggestion to improve portion control: use the 'add&weigh' feature of scales (also called 'tare').


Put your plate on the scale.
Add the spaghettie and weigh it.Then press tare (the 'add&weigh' or zero button).
Add the sauce and weigh it.

It's quicker, simpler, and more accurate than using cups. Plus there are fewer things to wash up.

Lissakaye81

I just got one of these, best thing ever. I hated doing past a because everything is pre-cooked weight, and pain separating. http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Steps-Pasta-Portion-Baskets/dp/B0062PK57U