Judging Portions

stefanieanne14 · November 2011

Hopefully this isn't an over done topic or something but in my effort to get my game plan together for tomorrow I found the below. I thought it was helpful for judging how much I'm eating to make it easier to log later. I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate but it seems to be the same as some of the tips I've heard in the past:

The Grain Group
1/2 cooked cup rice ---- tennis ball
1 pancake (1 ounce or 5") ---- compact disc (CD)
1 piece of cornbread (2 ounces) ---- bar of soap
1 slice of bread (1 ounce) ---- audiocassette tape
1 cup of pasta/spaghetti (2 ounces) ---- a fist
1 cup of cereal flakes (1 ounce) ---- a fist

The Vegetable Group
1 cup green salad ---- baseball or a fist
1 medium baked potato (1 cup) ---- computer mouse or a fist
1/2 cup cooked broccoli ---- light bulb
1/2 cup serving ---- 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots; 1 ear of corn on the cob

The Fruit Group
1/2 cup of grapes (15 grapes) ---- light bulb
1/2 cup of fresh fruit ---- 7 cotton balls
1 medium size fruit ---- tennis ball or a fist
1 cup of cut-up fruit ---- baseball or a fist
1/4 cup raisins ---- large egg

The Milk Group
1 1/2 ounces hard cheese ---- 9-volt battery or your index and middle fingers
1 ounce of processed cheese ---- your thumb
1 cup of ice cream ---- baseball

The Meat and Beans Group
2 tablespoons peanut butter (= 2 oz. meat) ---- ping-pong ball
1 teaspoon peanut butter (= 1/3 oz. meat) ---- fingertip
1 tablespoon peanut butter (= 1 oz. meat) ---- thumb tip
3 ounces grilled/baked fish or chicken ---- checkbook
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry ---- your palm, a deck or cards or a cassette tape

Discretionary Calories

Fats, Sugars and Sodium
teaspoon butter, margarine ---- stamp, the thickness of your finger or knuckle to thumb tip
tablespoons regular salad dressing ping-pong ball

Snack Foods
1 ounce of nuts or small candies ---- one handful
1 ounce of pretzels ---- two handfuls
1/2 cup of popcorn ---- one man's handful
1/3 cup of popcorn ---- one woman's handful

Serving Dishes/Utensils
1/2 cup ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop
1 1/2 cups ---- large cereal/soup bowl
1 1/2 cups of pasta, noodles ---- dinner plate, not heaped
1/2 cup of pasta, noodles ---- custard cup or mashed potato scoop

I got this from: http://caloriecount.about.com/article/when_you_cant_measure_estimate_portions

Hopefully this is accurate (let me know if it isn't) and will help us be mindful of our portions tomorrow!

StartingAnewDay · November 2011

I don't know if it is or not but i for one THANK YOU.. I never seem to get this right.. now if I could just learn how to use this when actually eating...... :huh:

aimeeturner · November 2011

It was always so hard for me to judge accurately, so I bought a digital food scale for $7.50 on Ebay. I absolutely love it. It is the best $7.50 I have spent in a long time.

ellekay22 · November 2011

It is really strange - I use a measuring cup now for EVERYTHING (unless I use a scale), and yet sometimes it looks like too much and sometimes it looks like too little. 1/2 rice is a lot, 2 cups of popcorn is very little. If I was was doing it by eye I'd say I'd get it wrong 80% of the time.

Thanks for this!

stefanieanne14 · November 2011

I definitely need to invest in a food scale and for $7.50 there is no reason not to! We're going to my MIL's house so I don't want to seem weird in using measuring devices while dishing up; this seemed to be a good option for being away from home.

dmpizza · November 2011

This is great because portion sizes are out of control so its a good way to judge.

I am old enough to remember when the McDonald's Quarter Pounder came out.
It was considered a very large hamburger at the time.
Now it looks puny.

IMYarnCraz33 · November 2011

good info but it can still be hard to tell portions that way---for meat especially.

serving size = a fist---who's fist? mine, spouse/significant other, a child?
serving size = a light bub---Which type of bulb? standard, Christmas lights, night light?

Yes, I'm being silly, but some people (such as myself) need specifics.
Call it the perfectionist in me I guess :laugh:
I would rather use a food scale--it's more accurate. And you can get a good one
for under $20 (USD).
I

my biggest loser glass digital kitchen scale

lizziebeth1028 · November 2011

Thank you for this post! It's very helpful! I often wonder about portion size but have never invested in a scale because I'm not really here to lose weight....I'm focusing on maintenance now and toning. But it's so hard to judge what a portion is!! thanks again and happy thanksgiving!

havalinaaa · November 2011

Until very recently I didn't have a food scale so I was relying only on guidelines like these. I looked at three or four (or ten) different guides until I thought I had a good idea of what portion sizes were, then logged accordingly. When I got the food scale, I found that I was actually pretty accurate with most things, but the things that I was off on were pasta, rice, and salad dressing - in my experience it's always more than you think with these things even when using the visual guides.

What helped me the very most was spending a day playing with my scale and the foods I eat most often. I practiced making portions without the scale and then checked them until I was consistently getting pretty close. I still use the scale when cooking at home, but I am now much more sure of my logging when at restaurants or friends' houses.

jmruef · November 2011

Thanks for posting this. For me it works better than measuring because I'm not going to bring a set of measuring cups or a food scale with me when I eat out (and I eat out a LOT - I despise cooking.) A deck of cards fits in my purse for reference. :laugh: