Living in a world of "jumbo" and "super-sized" fast food, buffet-style restaurants, and "all-you-can-eat" menus we have grown accustomed to eating BIG portions.

I never gave this much thought till the last few days, so I started looking on packages we still have around here:

1 box of pasta (lo carb or reg) serves 8,
-----we use to cook 1 box for 3.
1/2 cup of ice cream, (lo carb or reg) is a serving,
-----have you ever had 1/2 cup of ice cream before? Not me....
2 Tbsps is a serving of salad dressing,
-----I need a good 1/4 cup to cover all the greens in my bowl.
1 serving of meat, is the size of a deck of cards,
-----Hey, I'll take a 1# Rib Eye any day.
How about a little coffee with your cream?

It's really food for thought.

One of the keys to managing our weight is decreasing the size of our food portions. I know all the diet books say "eat till full" don't gorge.

My question is:

How many of us actually do check our portions for the proper size?

Do you think it matters?

I weigh and measure everything now... but hey, I'm a freak like that!

Before trying to lose weight I never even owned a set of measuring cups muchless a food scale. I remember trying to fit ice cream into my points on WW and thinking that the pint must be one serving.

Yes, I have always been aware of the designated portion sizes (have been dieting since i was an overweight teenager).
Yes, it definitely matters. Most of my friends (who are at least a little overweight) pay no attention to the huge prtions they are eating, and think it is normal (especially huge prtions of fast food). I find it entirely disgusting, and always have. The reason there is an obesity epidemic in this country is staring us in the face- portions are way too HUGE!!!! People pay far too little attention to how little food they actually need.

My son can eat an entire box of Kraft Dinner (granted, he is a teenager), but the portion size is - what - about 1/2 a cup - so perhaps four servings per box. There's no way he would stick to that.

At his age and activity level, I don't beat him up about it (verbally - because he could definitely just pick me up and carry me away - he's not only a black belt, but very muscular, and probably nearly a foot taller than me).

Anyway, you are quite correct.
I actually measured portions not too long ago when I cooked lower carb pasta for my hubby - we were both amazed at the amount, since it was way less than we would have eaten previously.

If you're putting "custom" foods into fitday (or MasterCook), you are obliged to record the serving size as listed on the package (which actually makes you think). Some, I think, are unrealistic, or very difficult to portion correctly.

For instance, why on earth would a package that you are supposed to use the entire thing say that the serving size was "x", and there were 2.3 servings per package - or something similar? (I'm thinking, for example, a low-carb shake mix I had purchased for emergencies and had to use because my breakfast spilled all over my bag). Just tell me what's in the whole package, in that instance.

Then, something like sugar-free jell-o is measured dry.

There doesn't seem to be a real standard to labelling, but unless you are careful, you can be eating way more than you anticipate, based on the serving size, which you may forget, and think it means the whole package.

When I first started Atkins induction, the diet (sort of) gives you permission to eat a lot of legal foods in the beginning to keep you from getting hungry and to help you stay on the induction plan. For some of us, it was the green light to eat, legal foods yes, but I remember eating 1/2# bacon in one sitting while on induction.

I also tried to "up" my fats to keep me from getting hungry, therefore, I slopped up my tuna or chicken salad with mayo before throwing it in my salad bowl and then just dumping the salad dressing on it. I ran it through fitday the other day and was shocked at the amount of calories and fat!

The other day as I was making my salad I grabbed the bottle of dressing and was just about ready to "download it" on my salad when I decided to measure out 2 Tbsps. I almost cried.... I make a salad in a BIG bowl, how on earth was 2 tbsps going to cover all those greens?

I realized my portions were getting a little large, along with my body, so now I am paying more attention to portions.

I agree. Carb Smart ice cream is where my problem lies. One serving is 1/2 cup at 140 calories. My ice cream bowls hold a good cup, that's 560 calories! Have you ever dished out ice cream in to 1/2 cup to see how little it really is? How about nuts, a serving is 1 ounce, that's is real hard to control once you start.

Yes it does make a difference. I work in our kitchen at the high school and every Wednesday we have a "bar day". It used to rotate between 4 kinds, taco bar (2 tacos), soup and sandwich bar (bowl of soup, one sub sandwich or two toasted cheese) potato bar (baked potato and fixins,,broccoli cheese, chili, sour cream, etc.) The fourth and it is now discontinued was PASTA BAR!!! The cooks would make spaghetti, mac n cheese and a bow tie with peas and alfredo sauce. The kids could fill their plate and I mean THEY FILLED THEIR PLATES especially the boys! Well the reason it was discontinued was because so much was going down the disposal at the end (theyd take too much) of the day. NOT because of the excessive amount of pasta they were eating which I thought was much worse!!!

Now they ask why we dont have pasta bar and I tell them,, but I think to myself "you will thank me some day when you graduate and those lbs. start creeping up on you." LOL.

I always look and usually measure. What I don't ever measure is veggies. Years of ww programming! I personally have to be mindful of calories, so I do keep track.

I can now have 1/2 c ice cream at a time, cause my body isn't screaming for more food constantly like the pre-low carb days! It's enough to keep me happy and I don't feel like I will die if I don't have more!

Now, macadamia nuts.... If I don't measure first, my 1/4 cup ends up being a lot closer to 3/4-1 YIKES! That'll blow the calories for a day.

I honestly don't measure or bother to realize what I eat unless a problem happens. I eyeball it and I'm sure I'm off some with the carb count by a few carbs. The meat servings I never ever measure eat till I am full is my rule.

I started measuring and it has made a huge difference. I seem to not have any sense of feeling 'full' while eating unless I completely gorge myself. It's like I have no inner control and can really binge. I found when I measure I can eat the 'normal' serving of everything on the plate and be satisfied. I also found that I must have been eating 3-4 servings of everything before. Measuring and watching calories has started to bring things back into balance for me and helped me control major binges.

one cup would be 280 calories. 2 cups would be 560 and thats about a pint of ice cream.

I try to buy individually wrapped things so I dont go overboard on the serving size. I do measure out half a cup and put the ice cream all the way into the back of the freezer and cover the box with other foods before I sit to eat my serving of ice cream. I find that a serving really IS enough, it just looks small. I started using smaller dishes. Its really all in my head.

I do the same thing with nuts, I count out the number of nuts I will eat 22 raw almonds seems to be about an oz and I put the nuts away before I sit and eat the nuts. If I had the container anywhere near me I would keep reaching for just one more and have 2 or 3 oz by the time my 'just one more' is done.

One oz of nuts is enough to satisfy me if I am having hunger pangs... half an oz is enough sometimes. Its a visual thing for me, but as I am learning to listen to my body more I am getting used to it. I also have HUGE salad bowls that I fill with veggies and put 4 or 6 oz of chicken and 1tbsp of dressing and mix it all up and that cures my 'looking like I am not eating enough'

I am trying to regulate the problem with smaller dishes.
I bought some "fake fiestaware" bowls about half the size of my other bowls and some very pretty salad plates to go with them.
When I am out of control I use serving dishes for plates.
The phrase serves 4 meant nothing to me......

I am very careful with portion size...one of things I noticed, once I started paying attention, was that for the most part people I knew who weren't over weight ate smaller portions than I did...I've concentrated on this since day one...it's now second nature...this has also caused my stomach to shrink...if I ate the same portion size as I did previously, I would be hurtin' for certain...if I'm going to over do it on portion size, or have seconds, I always make sure that it is extra veg...I'm in Phase II on the beach and I'm consuming between 1800 and 2000 calories per day without hunger.

The first 2 months I just counted carbs Atkins-style. Since then I have only made progress when I use FitDay faithfully. I aim for about 25% protein, 20% carbs, 55% fat, and limit net carbs to about 100 grams. If I fall off the wagon I have to drop to 75 grams for a couple of days to restart ketosis.

So with FitDay, I ensure I have the fuel mix that I know works for me, get the fibre, monitor the total calories, and make sure I am getting my RDAs.

I never looked at portions before Atkins, in fact since then, DH made a comment once that really struck home. He said he used to wonder how I could eat the portions I was eating before. I started watching the serving sizes and it wasn't so bad after all.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to get rid of some of the babies ( they're 8 & 10- but still the babies of the bunch) smaller size plates and decided to keep them for myself. It makes me feel better to have a full plate for some reason. I've started taking my ice cream in a coffee cup too (not full) a bowl just leaves to much empty space for me.


Missie