Dieter's Digest

Portion Practice

Research shows that recording what you eat may be the single most important factor in losing weight and keeping it off for good. The foods available to us on a daily basis are so packed with calories that it is nearly impossible to eat the right number of calories, without paying close attention to the actual numbers. Many calories are eaten without our ever noticing unless we write them down.

Luckily, many foods have the calories listed right on their labels. Simply reading the calories in a serving may be enough deterrent to prevent you from eating. Be careful though, one package may

look like it has a reasonable number of calories, but in reality contain several servings.

To help monitor calories a person should remove a portion from its package and put away the remainder. This keeps calories in the single serving range, rather than eat the whole package of calories.

Very important to counting calories, is knowing the size of the glasses you drink from. If you drink from 16 ounce or 20 ounce glasses, you are taking in many more calories than you would from an 8 ounce glass. We add much more sugar and cream to large coffee mugs or huge

         
styrofoam cups of coffee. Using a small plate at dinner will also help reduce portion size. Remember: Alcohol has a whopping 14 calories per gram, protein 4, carbohydrates 4 and fat has 9 calories per gram.

A good way to judge what a serving of meat, potatoes or veggies should be for your size, is to take fist sized portions. Smaller people have smaller fists, etc.

More Diet Tips:

Weight Loss For Children    Weight Control Reasearch   Calorie Counter