So many times I find myself telling people that portion control is one of the keys to weight loss and long term weight maintenance. I hear myself recommending 3 ounces of this or 2 ounces of that. Most people are too nice to tell me that they won’t measure out ounces of anything. After years of listening to what people thought one serving of “food” was, I finally realized that most people overestimate the size of a single portion of almost every food. This is probably due in part to our supersized lifestyle. It’s very important to get in touch with what is considered a serving. Overdoing it on one day isn’t a big deal, but consistently eating supersized portions (even of healthy foods) will hamper your weight loss efforts and can lead to weight gain.
Here are some real life portion sizes. By thinking about portions in this way, you don’t have to weigh and measure all your food, but you do get an idea of what a portion looks like. A dietitian can help you figure out the exact number of servings you need from each group per day or you can check MyPyramid.gov for some general guidelines. If you find that you’re not a calorie counter or you don’t like to weigh and measure your food, this list may be for you. Check it out and start comparing with your usual portion sizes.
Grains & Starchy Vegetables| 1 cup of potatoes, rice or pasta | Tennis ball | | 4 ½ inch pancake | Compact disc | | ½ cup cooked rice | One full cupcake wrapper | | 1 cup cereal | A fist | | 1 small baked potato or sweet potato | A standard computer mouse |
Non- Starchy Vegetables| 1 cup salad | A baseball | | ¾ cup vegetable juice | Small Styrofoam cup | | ½ cup broccoli raw | Light bulb |
Fruit| 1 cup of grapes | Light bulb | | 1 medium fruit | Tennis ball | | 1 cup of fruit, cut up | A fist | | ¼ cup raisins | An egg |
Dairy| 1 ounce of hard cheese | 4 dice or 1 domino | | ½ cup of ice cream | ½ a Baseball |
Meat & Poultry| 3 oz meat or poultry | Deck of cards | | 2 Tbsp peanut butter | Ping pong ball | | 3 oz Grilled fish | Checkbook | | 3 oz Cooked chicken | Chicken leg, thigh or small breast | | ½ cup Beans | Ice cream scoop or ½ a Baseball |
Fats, Oils & Sweets| 1 tsp butter or margarine | Fingertip | | 2 Tbsp salad dressing | Ping pong ball or 1 oz shot glass |
You can use these portions as a basic guide. It really helps to know your daily calorie needs, but being able to eyeball your portions can really help control your intake. If you’re not inclined to count calories or measure portions, knowing your real life potions will help.
- Jennifer
Labels: healthy eating, healthy tips, Jennifer, Portion Control
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Portion control is SOOOOOOOO important! What I do is when I introduce a food I have not eaten before, I portion control it for a few days to "see what it looks like" & then I don't have to do it anymore once I get the "picture" of what the portion of that food looks like.... this will help you get control of your weight for sure! I know people don't want to do it BUT if they did, they would see better results!
Thx for all the info so people have it at their finger licking finger tips!! :-)