Portion control - HOW?

I just weigh everything out.

Slow down when you eat.

Drink lots of water while you're eating.

Don't make more food than you need! Or, if you're at a restaurant/want to cook food enough to have leftovers, package up all but one portion ahead of time.

Having multiple items on the plate helps. If you eat less, you'll soon realize you don't need those huge portions, and it feels a helluva lot better to walk away from the table satisfied rather than stuffed. Feeling better should be a great motivator.

I seem to eat bigger portions than most of the members here, but I really don't snack much, so I eat 3 bigger meals a day most days. That's what works for me. Still I have to weigh my food so that I know how many calories I am getting. So I do suggest weighing your food.

I do not allow myself to graze. I put all of my dinner on one plate and that is all I am allowed. No seconds, no grazing afterwards.

I measure everything so that I am truly eating the serving size only.

I no longer eat in front of the television (except for like a popcorn movie snack). We used to eat in front of the tv or in bed every evening and I would not pay attention to my servings or how much I was eating for meals and snacks while vegging out on the couch. Now we cook dinner, put our entire meal on the plate, sit at the table and eat it slow.

The hardest part about a diet is eating less food.
For some food is like a security blanket and it is hard to lessen the grip.
For others it is an imbalance in eating: Eat only breakfast, lunch and dinner with no snacks, OR
Eating barely anything all day and eating huge at night (What is your body going to do with all those extra calories at night? Store it as fat... not a good idea.)
Hard to break the cycle of eating, just like smoking or any other addiction. I used to snack like crazy while studying. I used to smoke only when in the car (I found myself taking drives to nowhere). I used to want a snack before bed.
To break the cycles:
I eat veggies while studying and lots of decaf coffee and tea. Sometimes caffeine... ;-)
I quit smoking cold turkey, when I found out I was pregnant. I never want that filthy habit ever again.
Snack before bed is usually tea, maybe with milk. Sometimes I treat myself to a little bit of something.

The basic rule to eating successfully: everything in moderation. By the way, a friend of a friend, who is a model, said the best way to keep your weight low or lose weight is to eat a cup of veggies before you eat your meal. "Eat a cup of carrots and see how far you get into that slice of chocolate cake." For me, veggies have filled me up so I don't eat so much.

By the way, buy a scale and have measuring cups handy. Your reality of how much you are eating will completely change and the calories in certain foods will blow your mind!

By the way, I really liked this article:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/slideshow.asp?show=6

Add to low food snacks:
Apple and peanut butter
carrots and hummus
cucumber and tzatziki
beets and cottage cheese

Mix any of the above.
If you mix a high carb with high protein, it make it harder for your body to metabolize, thereby giving you longer lasting energy without any crashes.

A few tips and tricks -


Restaurant Portion Control -

Order -A La Carte, if that option does not exist, if you are ordering a sandwich order it with fruit or vegetables (dont fool yourself with a side salad and then dump the dressing on it)

At Home -

I like the plate suggestions - it is all about will power -

The meat portion to the size of the palm of your hand is usually accurate
Make healthy side dishes and load up on those, that really changed our meal planning

Go for lighter options - light sour cream, leaner meats, no fat milk etc -

Back to the healthy side dishes - what I mean by this is if say you are making a burger at home-
Leaner meat say nothing fattier than 93/7% fat, low carb or whole wheat or half a white bun -
Load up on lettuce, tomatoes etc. No cheese.
Make some steamed or sauteed vegetables with abundance, eat those in between eating the burger and you will feel fuller -


Essentially the tip is - Eat more good stuff less bad stuff, that way you will be fuller with the good stuff and not so much the bad stuff.

I got a food scale for Christmas and it has been amazing. I would always guess at chicken portions, even chips when they only say 1 oz for a serving. It's the Biggest Loser one and it's awesome. I also use measuring cups. When I was still eating pasta, I would actually cook my serving separately from my families so I can measure 1/2 cup dry and make sure I was getting the right portion. If you're eating too fast, maybe try setting your fork down in between bites or even chewing a certain number of times.

My dinner hasnt changed in size at all to what i used to have it.

I just make allowances for it now. I exercise more, and eat less during the day, so i have room for that 1k-1.2k dinner! :D

I found prepackaging helped me. When ever I buy something I then split it up into baggies or containers with the proper portion size, that way if I am in a rush I don't have to worry about couting out a portion later. It helps me I think because I am a student and I spend all day at the school, this way I am not tempted to eat out because I didn't have time in the morning to prepare lunches or snacks.

Also when I'm eating, I've come to realize I just enjoy the act of eating not always the food itself. It keeps me busy and I like that, so now when I am eating I have a giant bottle of water and I take a bite then take a sip of water. It's helped slow me down so my body realizes that I am eating.

i glued a pair of dice and a deck of playing cards to magnets and stuck them on the fridge. that helps me remember the portion sizes for cheese and meat. when i remember, i go ahead and dice my blocks of cheese into portion-sized cubes, but i don't always remember to do that.

the other thing is a trick i learned from a friend who had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago. she went out to a local artisan gallery and got a hand-thrown bowl made by a local potter, and that bowl holds exactly one cup of food when filled all the way to the top. it's a beautiful bowl and it was a gift to herself, the bowl that holds her nourishment. she eats only out of that bowl, which automatically limits her portions to a size that does not stretch out her stomach. i have a similar bowl i use a lot at home.

i also put away the large dinner plates, we only bring them out on special occasions. the rest of the time we use salad plates which are much smaller and that way the plate looks full with less on it. i bring leftovers for lunch at work sometimes and i have chosen tupperware sizes that correspond pretty well with the dish sizes i use at home.

the only time i really stray from eating out of these sizes of containers is when i am eating salad greens, in which case i use a big, big bowl.

Use smaller plate, weigh everything. For each bite of food take a sip of water.