Portion Size

Portion size baffles me. When I'm hungry, it's easy to justify that a plate full of potato chips has to be pretty close to an ounce. I was thinking about this last night as I was fixing dinner and making a small plate for Bridget. I looked at her plate, filled with about a half cup of white rice, 4 large broccoli florets and six pieces of orange chicken. Then I looked at mine. More rice, the same broccoli and way more chicken.

You've heard the expression "your eyes were bigger than your stomach" right? Well, I definitely think that's true. Bridget's plate looked more visually appealing - everything was filled on it and it looked like a full meal. My plate looked half empty. That unconscious need to fill that plate is part of the problem I'm having with my weight loss.

I ran across an article on iHerb today while I was stalking Facebook about portion size (click here for the link). It's a pretty good read. On that article it had another link to the Food Networks website about a visual index about portion size. Now this helped a lot! I'm a very visual learner and so when I can see that a cup of pasta is the same size as a tennis ball, that makes more sense. Here is what Food Network said about portion size:

A portion is how much food you should eat at one sitting to manage your weight — or even drop a few pounds. These suggestions below are general guidelines — everyone is different, and calorie requirements can vary by age, gender, activity level and genetics.

Three ounces of meat = size of a deck of cards

One cup of cooked pasta = tennis ball

Two tablespoons peanut butter = size of pingpong ball

1/2 cup of vegetables = size of baseball

1/4 cup dried fruits = large egg or golf ball

Small baked potato = computer mouse

One pancake serving = compact disc

One serving of cheese = six dice

One serving of fish (approx. 3 oz.) = checkbook

One teaspoon oil = size of thumb tip

How do you manage portion size? I'm going to put these pictures on a sheet of paper, print it off and put it on my fridge. Maybe that will help!

Exercise has been lacking this week because I've been fighting a cold. But my eating has been good and I took Dr. Oz's advice and had a daily vitamin today. Hurray! I'm on the way.