Portion Management:

One of the most effective methods of weight loss is portion control. Many people do not understand that their idea of a portion is much larger than a true portion. When you end up eating twice the recommended amount of anything, the results will go right to your waist.

As dinner plates get larger, a full plate may mean twice as much food as it did ten years ago. Supersizing is in and unfortunately, the results in the United States are obvious. The population is becoming supersized, right along with our food.

How can you control your portions? The most obvious method is to purchase a small kitchen scale that you can use to weigh everything that you eat, to ensure that you are getting the right amount of food and not overdoing.

However, this may not be an effective method for busy lifestyles, or when you are eating out. Portion sizes can vary with the types of food that you eat, and it can be confusing to know when to say when.

Drink portions are usually around 8 oz. 8 oz of soda have 140 calories. A large soda at a fast food restaurant may have as many as 32 oz, which means that you're ingesting 560 calories just in your drink. The average diet allows less than 2000 calories a day, which means that your one drink has made up a fourth of your daily allowance.

Typical portions for meat are around 3 oz, or the size of a regular fist. If you have excessively large hands, this of course, will not work, but it is a helpful guideline when trying to determine a portion size on the fly.

If your restaurant provides nutritional information, it is a good idea to go over this information before you order. This way you'll be armed with knowledge before you eat that double cheeseburger. Depending on the size of that cheeseburger, you may only be able to eat half to meet your portion allotment. Try splitting it half ahead of time and wrapping the remaining half up to control the urge to eat more.

Of course, the healthiest thing to do is to avoid fast food restaurants all together, but this may not always be possible. It is more important to be aware of the nutritional information so that you can make healthy choices, even when you only have a few minutes to grab a bite to eat.

You can use the food pyramid as a good guideline for portions as you shop and as you eat. Your fats and sweets should make up the least amount of your diet, while grains should make up the most.

You don't have to let your portions control your size. All you need to do is control your portions and you'll be able to maintain a healthy weight.

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