Portion Control

[Deleted]

Do you do it? How do you know how much an ounce of something is?

[flopsy]

this slide show is good for visualizing portions.

www.foodnetwork.com/healthy-eating/10-ways-to-measure-perfect-portion-sizes/pictures/index.html

what i find to be more of an issue is going back for seconds. I'll have the right amount the first go around but sometimes...just a little bit more couldn't possibly hurt, right?

[The J]

For several years I weighed and measured things religiously. It helped me get a good idea of what a portion is. I can now eyeball things easily.

[Malarky]

I have a good eye from years of working in the bakery, but I also use my kitchen scale and I own an obscene number of measuring cups.
I know what size my lunch containers are, so it makes it easy to pack a 1/2 cup or a cup of something. The same with my regular dishes.
I fill 1/2 of our plates with salad before meat and starches are put on them. I went out and bought 6 ounce glasses, so now the large 20 ounce glasses are for water and all other beverages are served in the smaller glasses.
Ice cream and snacks are served in custard cups.
Of course, this doesn't help when I mindlessly inhale an entire box of crackers because I was too lazy to portion them out.

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2011 22:00:24 GMT -5 @justaposter said:

Do you do it? How do you know how much an ounce of something is?

Yes, we do.

If it is liquid, we measure.
If it is solid, we weigh.

You get the hang of it really quickly.....

[thyme4change]

I love my kitchen scale. I use it a lot.

[Deleted]

The slide show helped. And I need to get a new scale. The other one was cheap and broke.

[chiver78]

I use my salad plates for everyday, the dinner plates only come out when I'm entertaining. they have this huge decorative ring around the edge that make them cumbersome to pack into the dishwasher. that helps me keep the servings small, too. I've been filling a 2-cup bowl with salad greens (sometimes plus veggies) and a splash of vinaigrette instead of adding a big scoop of rice to whatever protein I'm having for dinner. if I do want rice, I've been putting what looks like an ice-cream scoop size serving of rice into a 1-cup bowl and not letting myself take seconds of that. veggies are OK for seconds.

but I'm with Malarky on the salty snacks - I could probably kill a bag of Doritos if I'm not paying attention.

[Deleted]

I don't do it...

[thyme4change]

I saw the slideshow - good thing we have those giant dice in our house.

[Deleted]

I have a kitchen scale and I used it a lot until I got a good idea of portions. Now I just guess, but I think I'm pretty close. I tried that small plate trick on my husband and it didn't work. He asked if I thought he was really going to fall for that.

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 7, 2011 22:24:33 GMT -5 The J said:

For several years I weighed and measured things religiously. It helped me get a good idea of what a portion is. I can now eyeball things easily.

So you are saying get a magic lamp and capture you with it?? ;D ;D

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 8, 2011 15:58:43 GMT -5 @familycfo said:

I have a kitchen scale and I used it a lot until I got a good idea of portions. Now I just guess, but I think I'm pretty close. I tried that small plate trick on my husband and it didn't work. He asked if I thought he was really going to fall for that.

LOL, you should have just told him that the plate isn't smaller it is that he is just getting bigger .

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 7, 2011 22:34:42 GMT -5 Malarky said:

I have a good eye from years of working in the bakery, but I also use my kitchen scale and I own an obscene number of measuring cups.
I know what size my lunch containers are, so it makes it easy to pack a 1/2 cup or a cup of something. The same with my regular dishes.
I fill 1/2 of our plates with salad before meat and starches are put on them. I went out and bought 6 ounce glasses, so now the large 20 ounce glasses are for water and all other beverages are served in the smaller glasses.
Ice cream and snacks are served in custard cups.
Of course, this doesn't help when I mindlessly inhale an entire box of crackers because I was too lazy to portion them out.

Oh, that container size being a cup/half cup is an awesome idea since most of my proportions come in that amount. THANKS!!!!

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

When my wife was on a strict portion control diet (I don't remember the name of it, but it was several meals of small portions), I used a digital kitchen scale and measuring cups. I got to be pretty good at eyeballing a slice of grilled chicken and knowing what it would weigh.

Another good rule of thumb that I heard from a postal worker is to compare it (she was talking about mail, of course) to quarters. Four quarters weigh close to one ounce.

[sapphire12]

I don't do it per se. I do eat dinner on an appetizer plate instead of a dinner plate. Most nights, I don't eat a starch.

[Tiny]

I do a combination of things to control portions. I did originally measure out everything - cereal, pasta, meat, everything. I also reviewed what I was serving the food on or in. I replaced all my 20 ounce glasses with 10 ounce ones (so I don't need to measure an 8 ounce serving and then pour it into a 20 oz glass and feel deprived because the glass is sooooo empty!!) I can eyeball an 8 ounce serving into a 10 oz to the rim glass.
I replaced my 11 inch dinner plates with 9 inch "salad" plates. It's easier to "guesstimate" servings when the plate looks full.
I replaced the 2 cup "cereal bowls" with 1 cup cereal bowls... a package of oatmeal fits perfectly in the smaller bowls and doesn't look "skimpy".
I found 2 ancient restaurant 'soup' or 'pasta' plates in my cupboard (stolen from a Hotel by an ancestor) that hold a one cup serving of soup or pasta and miraculously makes it look like twice as much food! I love those bowls. Great table presentation AND I can eye ball portion control.
I also switched around the containers I was using to take lunch to work (and to store leftovers for dinner)... I downsized to 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and 2 cup containers. I sometimes use a Japanese Bento box (perfect for portion control!) as well.
When I cook I'm usually making enough for 4 meals (a recipe with 4 servings) or something "free form" like stir fry so being able to divvy up what's been cooked onto a plate and then into 3 appropriate serving sized containers (for future meals) keeps me from having to measure each and every time.

I'm not eating much meat - so I usually eyeball the serving size based on the palm of my hand or by the peice of chicken I'm having. I also try not to buy Ginormous Mutant peices of meat - no 9 pound chickens for me... or those 5 pound pre-packaged skin on/bone in Chicken boobs where there's 2 peices (from one giant mutant chicken) in the package...

Of course, my measuring cups (dry and liquid) and measuring spoons are always to hand in my kitchen.

[marvholly]

I am VERY good at estimating weights by hand. I can tell the difference between a 16 oz romaine and a 20 oz one by hand.

However, I have a small postal scale and a 1/2 c measure in the cabinet above my food prep counter and use them constantly. Like money 'creep' (as your income goes up so do your necessary expenses) I know I would have food creep if I did not.

[Deleted]

It's paying off! I have broken my plateau and the weight is going down again!!!

[pig]

WTG Later.