Dinner Intervention: 10 Tips to Control Portion Sizes
If you are planning on losing weight with the assistance of your weight loss surgeon in Sarasota, then it’s important to begin practicing portion control early on. Not only will it help you meet your weight loss goals, but it will help keep the weight off once it’s gone. Portion control isn’t difficult once you get the hang of it. Until you figure out how much is too much, it can be a bit frustrating.
The following 10 easy portion control tricks can help you eat less at every meal.
- Eat off a smaller plate to immediately shrink portion sizes. There’s no need to over-think it when there’s only so much food that can fit on the plate.
- Ask for half a portion when eating out. If the portion size is still too large, transfer your food to a salad plate.
- Measure out how much oil you use for cooking. Doing this allows you to control how many calories you’re adding to your food, even when using oils that are considered healthy
- Learn to associate portion sizes with objects for easy identification. For example, one baked potato serving should be roughly the size of a computer mouse.
- If guessing isn’t for you, buy a food scale. Measuring out your food the old fashioned way is the most accurate way to control portions.
- Prepare your plate before sitting down to eat. Putting serving dishes on the dinner table increases the temptation to eat more.
- Separate bulk or large-packaged food into single-serve portions. Do this immediately after grocery shopping so that when you need it you’ll only prepare what you need.
- Eat a healthy snack. Have a small apple or one cup of vegetable soup before eating dinner. This will help you to naturally eat smaller portions at mealtime.
- Control what goes into your coffee mug. Adding low-fat or soy milk first can help control how much you use.
- Stop when you’re full. Even if your plate is appropriately portioned, there’s no reason to eat everything on it if you’re feeling satisfied.