Frances Largeman-Roth, R. Not minding your portions, she says, "is what does us in. But there's good news. You don't have to weigh and measure every bite-or even compare the size of your steak to a deck of cards everytime you sit down to eat.

The practical tips that follow can help you get a handle on your portions, manage your weight and even enjoy your meals more. Understand serving sizes. A serving size is what's listed on a package; a portion size is what you decide to put on your plate. But many serving sizes are based on standards set back in , based on how people ate in the s and 80s, so they don't always reflect how much we eat today.

For example, a current serving size of ice cream is half a cup, even though most people today eat a cup or more at one time, says Largeman-Roth. To fix the discrepancy, the FDA is requiring that manufacturers update update their serving sizes for certain foods by , so you'll have a more realistic idea of what a healthy serving is read more about the new food label changes.

Measure once. You don't need to carry around a measuring cup and kitchen scale. But it does help to measure servings once or twice, so you can see the proper amount and remember it. Learn where 1 cup of cereal falls in your favorite bowl or what exactly 2 ounces of pasta looks like.

More often than not, we are eating more than we thought, and that's especially true for beverages, says Largeman-Roth. Watch: What Is a Serving of Common Foods?

Downsize your dishes. It's a tried-and-true trick: switch out your dinner plates for salad plates and you'll eat smaller portions. Color matters, too-one study from Cornell University found that serving food on high-contrasting plates can help you eat less, while using plates of the same color think mashed potatoes on white china can lead to eating more.

Check your utensils, too-try a smaller spoon for ice cream, or use chopsticks for noodles to take smaller, slower bites. Make mini versions of your favorite foods. Baking lasagnas or savory quinoa cakes in your muffin tin is an automatic way to control portions. Your foods come out in perfect single serve portions.

Individual ramekins or mini loaf pans can give you the same result for casserole or meatloaf. Don't Miss: 21 Portion-Controlled Recipes. Stop eating out of the bag. It's just too easy to eat more than you intended. Rather than wolfing down that whole bag of pretzels, dump a small handful onto your plate or in a small sandwich bag.

It's helpful to see how much you're eating-and once you've resealed the bag you're less likely to go back for more. The more extra calories you consumer, the more fat you'll store. So, in order to reduce those extra calories being stored as fat, we can use portion control to make sure we are eating what our body actually needs.

The reason why this is so difficult for many of us to do is we are constantly provided with larger portions than we need. This causes us to eat more without even realizing we've over-eaten, causing weight gain. By portioning out our food and controlling the amounts of food we put into our bodies, we can essentially assume control over how much of our food will be stored as fat.

And, if we eat at a calorie deficit, which means we eat less than what our body requires each day to function, we can then make our body use stored fat for energy, which causes weight loss. The more stored fat your body burns, the more weight you lose, up to a point, which is why we want to make sure we maintain a healthy, balanced diet while we utilize portion control.

Don't worry, this isn't where I suggest you eat carrot sticks and celery all day to lose weight. In fact, I recommend eating portions that make you feel full and satisfied no expectation of hunger here! To help you, I've gathered some portion control tips that helped me when I first started.

Learning how to measure food is very important and it will make portion control much easier. Serving size is the recommended amount of a specific type of food.

This is the recommended amount for a day, not for a meal. The serving size is what you will read on a nutrition label at the top for that product. Serving size, believe it or not, is actually NOT based on dietary needs to any large degree. The "serving size" we see at the top of nutrition labels for example, 15 crackers, 8 ounces, or 1 tablespoon, etc.

was determined from the average amount Americans consumed in a single seating, based on federal food surveys between and ! Insane, right? The serving sizes listed on the Nutrition Facts label are NOT recommended serving sizes.

By law, those serving sizes must actually be based on how much food people actually consume, and not on what they should eat. That means it is not very useful in understanding how much of that food we should be eating -- you must understand that for yourself. The portion size is the actual amount of food you literally eat in one sitting.

That means we need to understand the serving sizes of our food and eat what our bodies require using portion control to lose weight and be healthy.

It's also always important to remember your nutritional needs are likely very different than the ones of an average person, especially when you consider serving size wasn't even based on nutritional requirements. The first step in understanding how much food you should be eating to better succeed at portion control is to calculate your macros.

What the heck are macros, you ask? Great question! Read on and learn all about them and why they're so important for understanding portion control.

For even more in-depth info, read my informative post on how to calculate your macros here. It's the combination of the three of these "macros" short for "macronutrients" that make up what we call Calories.

A calorie, by itself, is not the evil thing you might think it is. It is literally just a scientific way to measure energy. Calories aren't bad for you by themselves. Your body NEEDS calories for energy. But eating too many calories — and not burning enough of them off through activity — can lead to weight gain.

In fact, it takes about 3, calories below your calorie needs to lose a pound of body fat. This likely occurred because they became more aware of what they ate — including their unhealthy choices — and adjusted their diet accordingly. Summary Jotting down your total calorie intake can increase awareness of what you consume.

This can motivate you to make healthier choices and reduce your chances of overeating. Unwanted weight gain may start with large portion sizes. However, there are many practical steps you can take to control portions. These simple changes have proven successful in reducing portions without compromising on taste or feelings of fullness.

For example, measuring your food, using smaller dishes, drinking water prior to meals and eating slowly can all reduce your risk of overeating. At the end of the day, portion control is a quick fix that improves your quality of life and may prevent binging.

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. Some diets are more radical than others, but all have the same goal: to expedite and maintain weight loss. Read on to learn about calorie and carb…. Calories matter, but counting them is not at all necessary to lose weight.

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By Mary Jane Brown, PhD, RD UK on November 19, Share on Pinterest. Use Smaller Dinnerware. Use Your Plate as a Portion Guide. Use Your Hands as a Serving Guide. Ask for a Half Portion When Eating Out.

Start All Meals With a Glass of Water. Take It Slowly.