Portion Control Guide
by CalorieKing.com Staff
What do you think matters most for weight loss?
a) The kind of food you eat
b) The amount of food you eat?
In a survey commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research, 78 percent of Americans thought that eating certain types of food was more important than the amount of food they eat – and they were all wrong!
The idea that how much you eat affects your weight more than the kind of food you eat is one of the main reasons that permanent weight loss remains so elusive for so many people.
Learning how to eat the right portion sizes can help you achieve successful weight-loss more easily. Take a look at this guide for great tips on improving your portion control.
How often have you been told that the road to "weight loss Nirvana" is to simply cut back on a single type of food, such as fat or carbohydrates?
Unfortunately, this misleading idea stops many people from successfully losing weight and keeping it off. The truth is, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you're eating for weight loss (although, it does matter for health), so long as you're balancing calories in with calories out.
Controlling portion sizes is an important way to get the “calories in” side of the equation right, so take a look at the tips below and start putting portion control into practice today!
Tips to control portion size
1. To accurately estimate the portion size of different foods, weigh and measure your food with food scales, measuring spoons and cups. Practice until you can 'eyeball' portions of common foods without having to weigh and measure every time. Better control of calories will result.
The American Dietetic Association offers these comparisons a visual guides to portion size:
o A medium potato…..is the size of a computer mouse.
o An average bagel…. is the size of a hockey puck.
o A cup of fruit…. is the size of a baseball.
o A cup of lettuce…. is four leaves.
o Three ounces of meat….is the size of a cassette tape.
o Three ounces of grilled fish….is the size of your checkbook.
o One ounce of cheese…. is the size of four dice.
o One teaspoon of peanut butter…. is one dice.
o One ounce of snack foods (pretzels, etc.) … is a large handful.
2. Use the Portion Watch guides on CalorieKing.com
Here are two examples of the kind of information contained in the Portion Watch guides. At the end of this article, you will find a link to Portion Watch.
|
|
||||
|
McDonald's French Fries |
Calories |
Kilojoules |
Fat |
Carbs |
|
Small |
255 |
1066 |
14g |
29g |
|
Medium |
370 |
1540 |
20g |
41g |
|
Large |
455 |
1895 |
24g |
51g |
|
|
|||||
|
Coca Cola |
Calories |
Kilojoules |
Fat |
Carbs |
|
|
250 ml glass |
108 |
450 |
0 |
26g |
|
|
375 ml can |
160 |
675 |
0 |
40g |
|
|
600 ml bottle |
260 |
1080 |
0 |
64g |
|
|
1.25 L bottle |
540 |
2250 |
0 |
132g |
|
|
2 L bottle |
860 |
3600 |
0 |
212g |
|
3. Allow for extra calories in packaged foods. The actual weight of packaged foods is usually five to ten percent more than the label net weight (the minimum legal weight) and in some cases, up to 50 percent more. However, manufacturers calculate the calories based on the net weight. As an example, the granola bar, pictured, actually weighs 130g but the packaging shows a net weight of 100g. For the most accurate calorie count, weigh the product and calculate the extra calories.
4. Don't eat directly out of large packages of snack foods such as potato chips, corn chips, buttered popcorn, peanuts or chocolates. The larger the package, the more you are likely to eat. And if you don't finish the package in the first sitting, you're likely to demolish it the second time around. Either purchase small, single-serve packages or take out a specific serving from larger packages and put the rest of the package away.
5. Use smaller, salad-size plates so that smaller food servings fill the plate and appear larger.
6. When eating out, the larger serving size as well as the greater variety of foods means you are likely to eat much more.
o Request smaller, appetizer-sized servings or half-portion entrees – and don’t feel guilty about doing so.
o All-you-can-eat buffets are a real challenge because the greater the variety of foods offered, the more you are likely to eat – especially desserts. Choose non-buffet style dining when you can, and limit yourself to two or three dishes when at a buffet.
o Self-serve drinks, whether juice, iced tea or soda, are a problem if you can refill them as often as you like – especially if the cups are large. Most large cups typically hold 16 fl. oz, which is two cups. And because restaurant meals tend to be high in salt, we can have a continual thirst. Be sure to quench your thirst on water, diet soda or sugar-free iced tea.
7. When at the movies or sporting events, purchase the smallest sizes of popcorn and soft drinks (preferably diet soft drinks). An even better idea is to be well-fed with healthy food before you go to places where you know the food offerings are going to be limited to high-calorie choices.
8. Don't be tempted to buy extra food simply to take advantage of "free" offers. Examples include "Buy one, get one free," "Free doughnut when you buy 3."