Portion control

I feel I can sympathize with you. Here's something I do. I cook foods, stews, stir frys, whatever. And carefully weigh and measure things so I know the true calorie count. And before I eat any of it, I divide it into individual servings of 200 or 300 calories, or whatever a portion of that meal is. So if a casserole makes four 350 calorie servings, when it comes out of the oven, I put one serving on my plate, and while it cools, I put the other servings into individual containers and put them in the fridge, so by the time I'm done with my original serving, the others are cold. This serves a few purposes.

(1) It trains my eyes and brain to recognize what a "serving" is. Like what 100 or 200 calories looks like. (kinda like they did here http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm)

(2) It prevents me from "mindlessly" eating a 2nd or 3rd helping because it's still warm and delicious looking in the pan.

(3) work lunches for the next few days are already ready for me to pop in my bag on my way out the door in the mornings

I eat a lot of vegetables with every meal. Also, I don't know what your mealtime situation is, but I have a family of five and I never serve family-style. I plate everybody's dinner like it's a restaurant, and I try to make it look pretty so it feels planned and complete. I usually cook for 6 so there's an extra portion that gets plated right into a Tupperware when I'm dishing up, so there's a portioned meal ready for lunch for one of us the next day.

It does take a while to train yourself to what does a real portion look like. Too often many of us have gotten used to a supersize portion and think that it is a normal size.

At first I always measured and weighed everything and if I wanted more I had to drink a glass of water and wait 10 minutes to see if I really wanted it. I found that by waiting that stomach would sense it was full and I seldom wanted more. Now I eyeball part of the time but still regularly measure and weigh my food to make sure I don't get portion size creep. When we eat out I never eat more than 1/2 my meal and often eat less than that because the portion sizes are huge. At first and still often ask for half my meal to be boxed up before they bring to me or I split a meal with my husband.

I weigh everything and only cook when I need for the number of portions I am cooking. Portion control has always been a problem for me and this the way I ensure I am keeping within the limits.

Sometimes if I am not sure I will put everything in to MFP and whether I can fit it in to my daily goals; if not, I cut back or don't have it.

Eating out can be more difficult, but at home I try and cook everything from scratch.

I usually cook (if I'm just cooking for myself) 1 1/2 portions. I eat a portion and save the extra for my lunch the next day. Sometimes I eat late, last night I didn't eat until around 8:30 p.m. since I went to the gym after work. Then I cleaned up, took nice long hot bath and went to bed. No snacking when you're too tired to eat! Good luck, you will find something that works for you! :flowerforyou:

I stay full longer if I eat foods that have lots of fiber - vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans - and drink lots of water.

All good suggestions for storing leftovers in individual portions and waiting after you eat to make sure you're still hungry. I do that for meals and for snacks. I don't have bags of snacks in my desk at work, I pack individual portions for the day so I don't overeat. If I'm having a snack at home, I measure out a serving and put in a bowl just big enough for it to fit so it looks full. If I wait and I'm truly still hungry, I eat something healthy like an apple or some carrots. No one ever got fat by eating carrots.

Fiber is another good suggestion. I bulk up meals with veggies to increase the volume and fiber without adding a lot of calories. I also suggest making sure you're getting enough protein. If I don't, I'm still hungry.

Divy your foods out into ziplock bags. Buy a scale and start weighing things so you get an idea of size.