3 Great Ways to Think About Portion Control

Getting control of your portion sizes is key to succeeding in your weight loss journey.

Eating right doesn't have to mean counting every calorie, there are some very simple ways of making sure that you are eating the right quantities of each type of food. Here are three ways you can measure out your portions:

Portion Control Plates. There are many products out there that you can buy to help you with portion control. Just Google "portion control plate" and you'll find plenty to choose from. (They are also available in some stores.) The kinds of products you can buy usually clearly mark out how much of a certain food you can have - for example, a portion control cereal bowl might have a fill line that shows you what a 200-calorie portion is.

A 2007 study carried out by Dr. Sue D. Peterson at the University of Calgary showed these plates to be very effective -in fact people lost as much weight using these plates as those who participated in studies of medication for weight loss.

Using the Hand Method. Some people swear by the "hand method" of portion control. This dictates that a portion of protein should be about the size of your palm and about as thick as your hand, portions of carbohydrate rich foods such as potatoes or pasta should be about the size of your clenched fist, and fruits should be served as a handful size. Although this does sound a little haphazard, it really does work as a means of controlling your portion sizes.

Divide Your Plate. You can also control portions by using your plate as a guide. However, we should say that first off you want to downsize your dinner plate, as many dinner plates these days are on the huge size, and way bigger than they used to be just a decade ago. It should be a plate, not a platter!

Mentally divide your dinner plate into four quarters, then devote one quarter to your protein source, one to your starchy foods then give the remaining half a plate over to vegetables and or salad (potato does not count as a vegetable, that goes in the starchy quarter of the plate.)

Don't forget to read packaging on foods to see how many portions are contained in each box or bag - that's the easiest way of all to measure an appropriate portion.

Portion control is something that gets easier with practice, and the benefits of taking control will show up fast on the scale.

This post is a repeat, but look forward to more original content to come in the future.