Portion Control

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maplesyrup10
maplesyrup10 Posts: 52 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started this journey measuring portions and it evolved into counting calories more than measuring. Which is better? Or should I continue with both? I measure my serving size so I get the right calorie count.

Replies

  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    I'm not sure what you're asking?

    To me, portion control and counting calories go hand in hand. You can eat the right portions of things and still eat too much throughout the day. Or you can misjudge your portion size and eat more calories than you realize.
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
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    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you're asking?

    To me, portion control and counting calories go hand in hand. You can eat the right portions of things and still eat too much throughout the day. Or you can misjudge your portion size and eat more calories than you realize.

    This. I can't do one without the other.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    You may have to adjust your portion sizes up or down to fit your calories throughout the day, so you need both.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Get a food scale and weigh your food. Forget containers and portions.
    Weighing food works better than any method on the face of the earth. Opinion.

    Even something like bran cereal.
    3/4 cup is the serving size.
    When I weighed it it was only 1/2 a cup (settling).
    Weighing food is awesome.
    Get a scale at Target, Walmart, or bbbeyond for about $20 and change your life.
  • maplesyrup10
    maplesyrup10 Posts: 52 Member
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    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Get a food scale and weigh your food. Forget containers and portions.
    Weighing food works better than any method on the face of the earth. Opinion.

    Even something like bran cereal.
    3/4 cup is the serving size.
    When I weighed it it was only 1/2 a cup (settling).
    Weighing food is awesome.
    Get a scale at Target, Walmart, or bbbeyond for about $20 and change your life.

    This may be a dumb question, but if you used your scale for 3/4cups and it weighed as 1/2cups, that means you could have another 1/4cup? This isn't about the math, it's about understanding the scale. Am I right?
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
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    The scale will weigh in grams or ounces. So sure, if you wanted a full serving of something where a full serving was 40 grams and you only weighed out 30 grams, you'd need to weigh out 10 more grams for a full serving. You need to understand how to operate and read the scale, but after that it's all math.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    maplesyrup10 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Get a food scale and weigh your food. Forget containers and portions.
    Weighing food works better than any method on the face of the earth. Opinion.

    Even something like bran cereal.
    3/4 cup is the serving size.
    When I weighed it it was only 1/2 a cup (settling).
    Weighing food is awesome.
    Get a scale at Target, Walmart, or bbbeyond for about $20 and change your life.

    This may be a dumb question, but if you used your scale for 3/4cups and it weighed as 1/2cups, that means you could have another 1/4cup? This isn't about the math, it's about understanding the scale. Am I right?

    I think she's saying that what she thought was a full serving was actually only 2/3 of a serving, so weighing allowed her to eat more food and still be confident that she would lose weight. Most cereal boxes have the serving in cups and in grams, so you can measure either way. The weight is actually more accurate.

    Does that help?
  • maplesyrup10
    maplesyrup10 Posts: 52 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    maplesyrup10 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Get a food scale and weigh your food. Forget containers and portions.
    Weighing food works better than any method on the face of the earth. Opinion.

    Even something like bran cereal.
    3/4 cup is the serving size.
    When I weighed it it was only 1/2 a cup (settling).
    Weighing food is awesome.
    Get a scale at Target, Walmart, or bbbeyond for about $20 and change your life.

    This may be a dumb question, but if you used your scale for 3/4cups and it weighed as 1/2cups, that means you could have another 1/4cup? This isn't about the math, it's about understanding the scale. Am I right?

    I think she's saying that what she thought was a full serving was actually only 2/3 of a serving, so weighing allowed her to eat more food and still be confident that she would lose weight. Most cereal boxes have the serving in cups and in grams, so you can measure either way. The weight is actually more accurate.

    Does that help?

    Yes! That's exactly what I was trying to ask but couldn't get the words out. Thanks :)
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Options
    maplesyrup10 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    maplesyrup10 wrote: »
    JanetYellen wrote: »
    Get a food scale and weigh your food. Forget containers and portions.
    Weighing food works better than any method on the face of the earth. Opinion.

    Even something like bran cereal.
    3/4 cup is the serving size.
    When I weighed it it was only 1/2 a cup (settling).
    Weighing food is awesome.
    Get a scale at Target, Walmart, or bbbeyond for about $20 and change your life.

    This may be a dumb question, but if you used your scale for 3/4cups and it weighed as 1/2cups, that means you could have another 1/4cup? This isn't about the math, it's about understanding the scale. Am I right?

    I think she's saying that what she thought was a full serving was actually only 2/3 of a serving, so weighing allowed her to eat more food and still be confident that she would lose weight. Most cereal boxes have the serving in cups and in grams, so you can measure either way. The weight is actually more accurate.

    Does that help?

    Yes! That's exactly what I was trying to ask but couldn't get the words out. Thanks :)

    You're welcome!
  • OyGeeBiv
    OyGeeBiv Posts: 733 Member
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    maplesyrup10 wrote: »

    This may be a dumb question, but if you used your scale for 3/4cups and it weighed as 1/2cups, that means you could have another 1/4cup? This isn't about the math, it's about understanding the scale. Am I right?

    It means you either log the number of grams you've weighed out, or add more food and log more grams of food. There's nothing nutritionally significant about a "serving size" of packaged food.

    Personally, I'll use a "serving size" as a sort of guideline, and a way to compare brands or flavors to each other. It's perfectly fine to eat multiple servings or fractions of servings to fit your nutrition goals.

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