Portions of food

For pasta (and meat) I always bust out the kitchen scale. It is amazing how easy it is to underestimate portions. And I've also used it for treats like chocolate.

Get some digital scales - even apples can vary from 80 grams to 180 grams plus - so doing your portions by weight is much more accurate. One person's medium is another person's HUGE!! :laugh:

Currently I'm using the measuring cups while I'm waiting on my food scale to show up...then I will use that super religiously once I figure out how to weigh fruit & chicken on it while keeping sanitary!

I definitely measure and weigh! Especially when it comes to something like pasta - it's SO easy to underestimate that, so I just bust out my kitchen scale. It's the only way I can be successful to be honest.

Currently I'm using the measuring cups while I'm waiting on my food scale to show up...then I will use that super religiously once I figure out how to weigh fruit & chicken on it while keeping sanitary!

My scale came with a bowl, you put the bowl on the scale, zero it out and then put your meat/chicken in the bowl. It's dishwasher safe so no worries about cross contamination. I think you could probably do this with a bowl or a plate if your scale can be zeroed out.

I guesstimate a lot of stuff but do weigh and measure what I eat in my truck.

I do have a scale and I do measure EVERYTHING. Because I do this at home, when I go out I can eyeball the portion size surprisingly well. I have a $20 scale and I love it. I have three sets of measuring cups that I use to dish up some dishes. If my diary says I ate 1 cup of beans, you better believe it was one cup. The only way to know how much you are truly eating is by measuring it accurately. Since I've started doing this I'm loosing twice as much weight and I haven't hit a plateau once since then, either. I used to do my best to estimate and the fact is that I was underestimating the quantity of food I was eating.

Another thing I do that makes a huge difference is I log the food before I eat it. Many a meal I eat has shrunk in size because I wasn't willing to eat that many calories.

I use a food scale (in grams or oz, I like grams better) and find an entry in the database that allows you to measure in weight instead of vaguely '1 medium apple'. 100g of apple is much better, in my mind.

I prefer grams, too. There are 28 grams in an ounce so I have more increments to get it precise than to just use ounces. I also weigh everything and you're right, 100 grams of apple is much better, without a doubt!

Non-scale-owner way: I've just this week taken to splitting things up before cooking them (which obviously only works if you have an idea what the starting weight is).

Like today I bought 200 grams of ham from a deli. I eyeballed 4 equal parts and stuck them into baggies, which I now know contain roughly 50 grams of ham. Same for my pasta, of which a serving size (85 grams dry) is '1/5th of a box'. I put rubber bands around five 5ths.

I have one of those visual analogies charts up on my fridge.

It's not less work than weighing though, I should just get a scale, lol.

(I do use measuring cups though.)

Another thing I do that makes a huge difference is I log the food before I eat it. Many a meal I eat has shrunk in size because I wasn't willing to eat that many calories.

I usually have to lower the amounts of food entered after eating because I'm just too full to completely empty my plate. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, makes it possible to have an evening snack!

Edited to add that I weigh everything as well.

I've always been confused about this but I'm assuming that the measurement on pasta is based on the dry amount? Am I right? I always worry about eating too much or too little as that part of the labeling process is confusing. I've found some that state (dry) which help but you don't always see that.

Generally, yes, you'd weigh it dry, unless the package is giving you a calorie count for "as prepared" or "after cooking".

Measuring is KEY. I know a man who has lost 205 lbs! He started his diet at 410 and just celebrated losing half of himself. He has said time and again, "I am a food measure Nazi!" Of all the things he's done, from logging food, exercising more, eating healthier....he says the KEY thing for him was weighing and measuring all of his food. Portion distortion is epidemic in this country, ESPECIALLY when eating out!