An Easy Portion Control Guide to Weight Loss

By Christa Destefano


We live in a society where we are continuously ensuring that we "get our money's worth". So in order to fill this, our perceived "value level", our food items get larger or we are getting more food for less. When it comes to food, what it has done is double, triple, even quadruple serving sizes. But do you know the amount of a serving of meat is? What about a beverage serving size?

Below are a few good ideas to get your helpings in check plus some techniques for keeping them under control!

An amount of..

Fruit = the size of a tennis ball

Vegetables = a can of tuna fish (about 1/2 cup)

Meat = a deck of cards (3 ounces)

Cheese = the size of your thumb (1 ounce)

Pasta = a can of tuna fish (one half a cup)

There are some general guidelines for portion management and maintaining a healthy diet. For starters, utilize smaller-sized plates. The fuller plate will cause you to feel like you are ingesting more. Eat deliberately. When you ingest a meal too fast your brain does not have adequate time to understand you may be full until it is too late and you have definitely eaten too much.

Take in the foods which are lower in calories and healthy before anything else. You are able to consume a lot of these without having to take in an excessive amount of calories (awesome party tip: hit up the vegetable trays first and grab a bottle of water). Should you be still feeling hungry after you have finished what is on the plate, simply wait 20 minutes and if you are still hungry, go back for seconds of the low calorie foods or grab a piece of fruit, etc for dessert.

And finally, anytime you feel hungry, drink 8 ounces of water first. Dehydration is commonly mistaken for hunger!




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