Portion Sizes !!!

Maggie_Bob

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

... those little ferrero rocher things that are so great for snacking on at 3 a.m., etc.

Not that any of us would do that though, right :whistle:*hides ferrero rocher wrappers*

foxgloves

I agree with all this. We started dieting in January this year. We eat proper food cooked from scratch & it's just portion-controlled....either weighed or using the Rosemary Conley portion pots (tho' we are not doing her diet plan). It's really noticeable how much longer our food shopping is lasting each week as over-large portions were a problem for both of us. We are finding that the weightloss & budgeting is going hand in hand. I've lost 36lbs & husband has lost 40lbs so we must be doing something right. Of course cutting out stuff we were buying like crisps, chocolate, ice cream, etc, is also halping the budget. Plus the dietplan we are following encourages lots of veggie meals made from pulses, brown rice, etc, as well as proper wholemeal bread which I'm making in the breadmaker. Defintely sticking to our food budget much more successfully than before we started dieting! (I guess it's the same skill if you think about it, dieting & budgeting, I mean....)

VJsmum

Re the cereal - it does depend what it is.

30g of rice crispies is a decent amount. 30g of muesli barely a spoonful.

I eat 30 - 40g of special K or fruit n fibre but chop a banana on top and that makes a substantial portion. I do weightwatchers sot he banana is 0 points!

blackandwhitebunny

It is also useful to remember that the food on your plate should be no bigger than the palm of your hand. This may be tough at first, but it is surprising how quickly your body can adapt to eating less (or more!).[/QUOTE]

It's the meat that should be smaller than the palm of your hand not all the food together.:)

maman

VJsmum wrote: »

Re the cereal - it does depend what it is.

30g of rice crispies is a decent amount. 30g of muesli barely a spoonful.

I eat 30 - 40g of special K or fruit n fibre but chop a banana on top and that makes a substantial portion. I do weightwatchers sot he banana is 0 points!

I find that Puffed Wheat is so light you can have a huge bowlful and it's very healthy. I top mine with banana too.

Barneysmom

I'm useless throughout the day unless I've had a decent sized breakfast, I just get too sluggish. I think I would be a deranged loony if I couldn't eat breakfast :rotfl:
A bowl of porridge will sustain me only for 1 hour then I'm hungry again.
I'd rather have a large breakfast and a medium/small lunch and a really small dinner.
50g of rice doesn't look much but once you've eaten it, it is fairly filling.

I've just split roughly kilo and a half of mince into 7 freezer bags to make meals for hubby and me with. I bet I can get 2 meals each out of it using extra veg & beans.

marmiterulesok

What an intersting topic,and lots of useful tips!

I'm just plain greedy and often and will eat more than I need.I'm a big snacker and also love baking cakes and love chocolate.I've often thought that I could manage to get by on eating half of what I do.

For just over a week now I've been eating reasonable portions.I've also decided to have a break from chocolate (the more I eat,the more I want to eat) and also have stopped baking cakes (less temptation).

I've lost 2 kgs already,but could do with losing a few more.

I use a small plate to eat off.I hate to see food go to waste,so would rather put less on my plate and eat it all.I do a lot of batch cooking.Often when I have one portion left over,I realise that it'll do for two more meals if I add rice or pasta etc.

I have also read that the protein portion of your meal should be fist-sized.I'll see if I can find a link.

oldtractor

but portion control just doesnt apply to raspberries and strawberries from the garden. Only to be served in big big bowls :-)

MaggieBaking

Practice what you preach... Today I had 2 sandwiches at lunch rather than just one!! :rotfl:

Will have a healthy dinner tonight of fajitas though.

We are also throwing away significantly less food. By cooking to the right amounts we should eat, we finish our plates and don't throw any half eaten dinners away. Before I might have made a big lunch because we were hungry, and then a big dinner because I always use 500g of mince for example. Now we're having a smaller lunch, meaning we're hungry at dinner time so we finish off what is a proper portion of adult sized dinner which leaves us feeling full. If we're a little peckish we'll have a snack after an hour or two (making sure that we're still hungry, not just in "eating mode"). Depending on how virtuous I've been all day I could choose an apple (60 calories) or maybe something scrummy like icecream.

If we're only eating little bits of icecream - we can afford to buy the good stuff too and really savour it.


- At the weekend I decided a wanted a bacon sandwich for lunch. Pre diet I would have made 2 for me and 2 for hubby... :eek:

Just counting up the calories now of what I would have eaten

Bread- just less than 98 per slice so 392 calories
Bacon - 45 calories per slice, sometimes if I was feeling hungry - 3 rashers per sandwich!! :eek: 260 calories
5g Anchor butter, per slice (perhaps a little more sometimes).... 182 calories

= 834 calories just for lunch

But this weekend, only one sandwich, so 2 slices of bread (196 calories), 2 slices of bacon (90 calories) and Anchor Light Spreadable (54 cals)
Meaning I still got the grease I was craving, but for a much more respectable 340!!! :clap: And I saved myself a fair amount too in money.

Owain_Moneysaver

Maggie_Bob wrote: »

Not that any of us would do that though, right :whistle:*hides ferrero rocher wrappers*

They were reduced for quick sale in Tesco ... I certainly wodln't buy them full price.