My boyfriend recently started measuring what he eats and tracking it on SparkPeople. As it turns out, the oversized bowls that he uses for pasta hold more than 2 cups of noodles. A serving size is half a cup, so he was often eating four times what he should have been! That's an extra 250 calories. He also discovered that the "splash" of half-and-half he used in his coffee was more like 3 tablespoons--60 calories and 6 grams of fat. Multiply that times two cups of coffee seven days a week and that's an extra 840 calories and 84 grams of fat. Measuring portions helps keep you on track, and it keeps you from convincing yourself you only had "a few" chips when you know the bag was full when you opened it. (No one else does that? Just me? OK…) Find out how to recover from portion distortion.
Once you know how to recognize a proper portion size, you can put away the measuring cups and trust yourself. Until then, a cheap set of measuring cups can help keep your portions under control. NOTE: Weighing food is another option. However, as we're not on the metric system in the States, it's not always a familiar system of measurement. Do you measure or weigh your food? How do you monitor portions?
Like what you read? Get your free account today!
Got a story idea? Give us a shout!
|
Popular EntriesMore From SparkPeople
|
Comments
I believe "portion size" is not always same as "serving size", especially not for grains.
We are supposed to eat 6-11 serving sizes of grains, but we do not have 6-11 meals a day.
I have 4 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dinner 2), usually around 280-350 calories.
One serving of grains per meal would be 4 servings only, which is not enough.
So for 3 meals I have 2 servings of grains (2 slices of bread or 1 cup of rice/pasta), and for 1 meal 1 serving (1/2 cup of cereals).
That is 7 servings of grains, on the lower end of the recommended 6-11 servings.
Report
I've restarted dishing up portions based on measuring spoons since my husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes and is struggling to understand portion sizes. Report
I use both metric and regular systems to measure. Metric is easier sometimes.
Great blog! Report
Report
As a reward for reaching a goal, I want to upgrade my scale to a digital one. Report
Thanks for the visuals and the reality check! Report