Has anyone else suddenly become aware of how large most portion sizes are?
MrSJWinship
Posts: 37 Member
I am Large, I have already lost 60 pounds and have much more to go. Recently I remembered a tip my mother gave me years ago, that if I Eat really slow and take smaller bites I will eat less. And she was right!, I take way longer to eat a meal and feel much more full before I'm done. And now I realize that most meals I've had are way too much. It kind of scares me. Am I alone? and is it bad that I'm now kind of afraid of eating too much? I don't want to develop a complex or disorder.
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Yeah I see some servings a food and think...man that's way too much for one person lol. I think it's just when you start losing weight and educating yourself, you start to become more mindful of your food.1
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I became aware after getting my food scale. If you don't have one, get one. 100% worth the money.3
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MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »I became aware after getting my food scale. If you don't have one, get one. 100% worth the money.
I got mine as a present! love that lil guy.4 -
It was the first thing I noticed when I was counting calories. I had to be re-trained to see what a normal portion size is. I sure miss those all you can eat buffet bars.3
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It goes both ways. Once I started weighing and measuring food. I surprised by how many vegetables you can eat at minimal calories. It was like, How can I possibly fit all of that in my stomach. I was surprised similarly by lentils and couscous.4
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I don't know about other places, but America is well known for serving 2 or 3x a recommended serving size at most restaurants.7
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I often think that! I got the breakfast platter with sausage at McD and only needed to order ONE more sausage patty to have breakfast for me, my mom and my grandma. And we didn't eat the biscuit! It come with three pancakes, biscuit, sausage, hashbrown, and scrambled egg. With the one more sausage, split three ways, that a pancake, 2/3 sausage, 1/3 hashbrown, and about .75 eggs worth of scrambled eggs. That's plenty for me.4
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Not recently, but it was pretty much the first thing I took note of when I started 5.5 years ago. A restaurant plate is easily 2-3 servings for most people.4
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I think that's only true with prepared foods. If you look at whole foods and serving sizes they actually seem small. Look at 3.5 oz of grilled chicken breast or it's 4 oz raw equivalent. 1/2 cup of broccoli spears or spinach is tiny. And those are the serving sizes for those foods. Get away from food in a box or a package and you'll find the struggle becomes getting enough calories instead of too many.3
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I rarely order a full meal because of this. I usually order an appetizer and maybe a side to go with it. Or, I'll get a cup of soup and an appetizer. My boyfriend and I can share the appetizer and then I can eat some of what he orders. I really like to share food and I see no point in order a whole meal, only to leave most of it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers and my dog can only take so much people food.2
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Yeah denial on outings and not caring was wonderful...yeah denial was great.....until.....you couldn't deny what you saw in a full length mirror.....CRAP.8 -
I rarely order a full meal because of this. I usually order an appetizer and maybe a side to go with it. Or, I'll get a cup of soup and an appetizer. My boyfriend and I can share the appetizer and then I can eat some of what he orders. I really like to share food and I see no point in order a whole meal, only to leave most of it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers and my dog can only take so much people food.
Appetizers often have more calories than a meal!
I don't know about meal sizes though. It really depends on where you go. I don't really like chains so it's usually not a huge portion for me (except the protein - nobody needs 12oz of beef). The sides themselves are often not that big.
The problem really is how many calories are packed in everything for the size - so you have to eat more to be satisfied. I can pretty much never get away with eating half an entree or I leave hungry still. Just all those empty calories in butter, oil, condiments...
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It shouldn't scare you, and you are not alone - that's how many of us became overweight. And that's why we are here - to weigh and log and hit our nutritional requirements, without exceeding it.1
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You are not alone...
I don't know how much portions served at restaurants have increased over the years, but visually it accustoms us to normalising that portion size in our brains.0 -
I rarely order a full meal because of this. I usually order an appetizer and maybe a side to go with it. Or, I'll get a cup of soup and an appetizer. My boyfriend and I can share the appetizer and then I can eat some of what he orders. I really like to share food and I see no point in order a whole meal, only to leave most of it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers and my dog can only take so much people food.
Yeah i noticed I am less Greedy/Gluttonous now too. i use to Eat everything in fear i wouldn't get something. And now i think "Who cares if i only get one cookie, and people I know might eat them all. Ill just enjoy the one i do get" And Appetizers are fun now as i don't need to worry about how much I'm eating but just enjoying What I'm eating.1 -
sytchequeen wrote: »You are not alone...
I don't know how much portions served at restaurants have increased over the years, but visually it accustoms us to normalising that portion size in our brains.
Yeah i had a 6 Inch sandwich yesterday after years of thinking only a 12 inch will fill me. I was surprised how full i felt after the 6 inch. a 6 Inch looks like so much food to me now XD.2 -
MrSJWinship wrote: »sytchequeen wrote: »You are not alone...
I don't know how much portions served at restaurants have increased over the years, but visually it accustoms us to normalising that portion size in our brains.
Yeah i had a 6 Inch sandwich yesterday after years of thinking only a 12 inch will fill me. I was surprised how full i felt after the 6 inch. a 6 Inch looks like so much food to me now XD.
I'm a female, 5'6", and I used to eat foot long veggie subs from Subway. Now I can just eat a 6" turkey sub and feel pretty full (especially eating slowly, like you said).2 -
I sometimes feel like a jerk, because I start to silently judge other peoples lunches in the lunch room. I'll see people with a huge bowl of rice, some kinda meat stir fry and snack or pop and I'm like damn that's at least a thousand or more calorie lunch right there.7
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I almost think that it is better when it is obvious. I went to a steakhouse the other night, I narrowed down my choices to a 6 oz filet or the 12 oz steak tips (with the plan to take 1/2 home) Every other steak on the menu was over 24 oz! That's friggin' 8 servings! Not that I ever eat just one serving of steak, but 8!?!?3
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The Olive Garden ads on TV seem to be based on the belief that Italians (or at least those living in Olive Garden Land) eat huge portions of food including obscene amounts of meat and cheese. It's a twisted American view of what the Mediterranean diet is about, and what we need to be satisfied.
Restaurants used to refer to 6 oz steaks as "Ladies' portions" or "petite" steaks. This creates the impression that Manly Men should go for the big stuff - because there is such a thing as Man Food as recent Nutrisystem ads for men suggest.
There's nothing wrong with getting an appetizer and a cup of soup or salad and leaving it at that. You have to filter out all this consume consume consume messaging flying at you and do what you know is good for you. And also forget any programming you have from childhood about the Empty Plate Club, and learn how to read your bodily cues for hunger and satiety.
It takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message that you've eaten enough. That's why eating slowly or eating half then waiting for a while are important strategies. As one book I've read pointed out (I think it was Intuitive Eating), you can always go back and have some more if you really want it.6 -
The Olive Garden ads on TV seem to be based on the belief that Italians (or at least those living in Olive Garden Land) eat huge portions of food including obscene amounts of meat and cheese. It's a twisted American view of what the Mediterranean diet is about, and what we need to be satisfied.
Restaurants used to refer to 6 oz steaks as "Ladies' portions" or "petite" steaks. This creates the impression that Manly Men should go for the big stuff - because there is such a thing as Man Food as recent Nutrisystem ads for men suggest.
There's nothing wrong with getting an appetizer and a cup of soup or salad and leaving it at that. You have to filter out all this consume consume consume messaging flying at you and do what you know is good for you. And also forget any programming you have from childhood about the Empty Plate Club, and learn how to read your bodily cues for hunger and satiety.
It takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message that you've eaten enough. That's why eating slowly or eating half then waiting for a while are important strategies. As one book I've read pointed out (I think it was Intuitive Eating), you can always go back and have some more if you really want it.
Absolutely, I have been getting full before im done eating now. Where as before id be half way through a Pizza when My Stomach being full hit me and i felt ill from overeating. My body has been trying to tell me for so long but i never listened! lol1 -
Most chain restaurant portions are huge. I only eat half and take half home.0
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It was the first thing I noticed when I was counting calories. I had to be re-trained to see what a normal portion size is. I sure miss those all you can eat buffet bars.
I went to one a few weeks ago. I skipped the potatoes got chicken, green beans and a few other items. Ate one plate and a small amount of ice cream after. It's possible to eat at them still just have to be careful about what you put on your plate and how much.1 -
I rarely order a full meal because of this. I usually order an appetizer and maybe a side to go with it. Or, I'll get a cup of soup and an appetizer. My boyfriend and I can share the appetizer and then I can eat some of what he orders. I really like to share food and I see no point in order a whole meal, only to leave most of it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers and my dog can only take so much people food.
Appetizers often have more calories than a meal!
I don't know about meal sizes though. It really depends on where you go. I don't really like chains so it's usually not a huge portion for me (except the protein - nobody needs 12oz of beef). The sides themselves are often not that big.
The problem really is how many calories are packed in everything for the size - so you have to eat more to be satisfied. I can pretty much never get away with eating half an entree or I leave hungry still. Just all those empty calories in butter, oil, condiments...
Very true, a lot of appetizers are high in calories. This is where making smart choices helps. I also don't eat the whole thing myself. I go for grilled calamari, grilled baby octopus, chicken skewers, shrimp cocktail, beef carpaccio or something else similar. i usually eat about 1/3 of the appetizer and a side of vegetables.1 -
On the upside, I love leftovers so getting food from a restaurant and eating it for two or three meals is great and much more cost effective.
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The portion control is definitely an adjustment....I have always thought some things were ridiculous though. Never understood why restaurants would advertise 3 egg omelets like it was something to brag about,lol.2
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I think it has a couple of things to do with American culture. One, restaurants want people to feel they get there money's worth. Many people pay for quantity not quality. The second, people tend to thinks, a little is good, so a lot must be better! Just thoughts by me.1
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The Olive Garden ads on TV seem to be based on the belief that Italians (or at least those living in Olive Garden Land) eat huge portions of food including obscene amounts of meat and cheese. It's a twisted American view of what the Mediterranean diet is about, and what we need to be satisfied.
Restaurants used to refer to 6 oz steaks as "Ladies' portions" or "petite" steaks. This creates the impression that Manly Men should go for the big stuff - because there is such a thing as Man Food as recent Nutrisystem ads for men suggest.
There's nothing wrong with getting an appetizer and a cup of soup or salad and leaving it at that. You have to filter out all this consume consume consume messaging flying at you and do what you know is good for you. And also forget any programming you have from childhood about the Empty Plate Club, and learn how to read your bodily cues for hunger and satiety.
It takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message that you've eaten enough. That's why eating slowly or eating half then waiting for a while are important strategies. As one book I've read pointed out (I think it was Intuitive Eating), you can always go back and have some more if you really want it.
This is one of my biggest challenges. I get extremely stressed if I don't eat every bite on my plate regardless of how much I started with.
I've been thinking about focusing on this one habit for a while and see if I can break it over the next few months.1 -
knotgood77 wrote: »The portion control is definitely an adjustment....I have always thought some things were ridiculous though. Never understood why restaurants would advertise 3 egg omelets like it was something to brag about,lol.
I have never made an omlette with 3 eggs unless I was making one big one for me and my daughter to split and I didn't feel like making 2. That's always seemed weird to me.0
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