Tips on Determining Portion Control in your Weight Loss Efforts

Articles on Weight Loss | Topic: weight

by Quintin Henderson

You can enjoy that special holiday dinner, birthday party, or work picnic where large amounts of food are set out. Furthermore, it is possible to do so without putting on any extra pounds. The following are tips that can help you in your efforts to determine portion control:

Save your appetite for foods that you would not normally eat. For example, if you see large amounts of snack chips, crackers, and other foods that you can eat any time skip these. This will save room for some of your favorite casseroles, entrees, and salads that you love that you have never tried before. When you eat less of the ordinary foods you may also have room left over for a small brownie treat as well.

Once your plate is full, step away from the buffet table. It is said that most people have a tendency to eat more when they are standing near a buffet table. Therefore, fill your plate and then step away from the table where all the food is stationed.

Do not starve yourself until the time of the event where the food is served. One common misconception is that not eating until you arrive to a brunch or dinner affair is going to make you eat fewer calories. Often times the opposite is true. Many people end up eating more at the end of the day if they have not eaten at all earlier in the day. Furthermore, eating more than once a day is easier on a body's digestive system than if a person eats a whole day's worth of calories in one sitting.

Watch your drink consumption. Some alcoholic drinks and rich ice cream drinks have quite a bit of calories. Some have up to 250 or more calories. It is best to stick to lighter drinks such as lemonade or wine. If you want to have a taste of a higher calorie drink the best way to do so would be to split the drink with someone else.

Watch the amount of pasta and meats you place on your plate. Generally speaking most pasta servings are the size of a medium-sized fist, and the size of a meat serving is no larger than a deck of cards. Keep this in mind before you plop a half a pound of steak cut or a huge helping of spaghetti on your plate.

Use the smaller plates or other dishes. If you use smaller plates you are less likely to overindulge. The rule should be one entrée plate and one salad plate. That is usually enough to fill up anyone at a dinner party or other celebration.

Historical Quote

Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.

—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

Ask for smaller portions at restaurants. Most of the time a restaurant will honor your request to receive smaller portions of food. Furthermore, many of these places will offer both small and large size portions on their menus.

Eat a variety of foods and not just fill up on one type of food. Usually the best way to avoid eating all high fat foods to fill you up is to put a variety of foods on your plate. For example, you may put a small slice of meat on your plate, a cup of potato salad, a handful of raw vegetables, and a tiny desert. This should help fill satisfy you, and you can still enjoy some richer foods in moderation.

These are only some of the ways that you can control portions while attending special occasions. You can also carry a pocket nutrition guide to put you at ease before you start eating. Also, you can plan a certain amount of calories and/or fat for this outing as well.

For more great weight control and weight loss tips you can read other articles just like this one. Each article that you read will further enlighten you on how to keep your weight down to an acceptable level, or preferably, to your ideal weight.

If you still have questions regarding weight loss and dieting that cannot be answered here the best place to go is to your doctor. That person is the best one you can ask regarding food and nutrition.

Either that or you can consult a dietician that you trust to lead you down the right diet road. There is no end to the availability of information to those who are serious about losing weight and keeping it off.

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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "Tips on Determining Portion Control in your Weight Loss Efforts" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by HealthExerciseSports.com.

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