Question of the Day -- February 22
Let's talk... Guessing Games & Food Portions
Serving sizes and food portions can be a pain. Ever try going to the movies and realizing that a portion of
M&M's is equivalent to a "fun size" bag? (And let's be real - that's not fun! You want to eat more of those M&Ms!)
Losing weight and maintaining it is a guessing game. How you choose to participate is key to your success.
How do you manage portion control? Are there any tips or tricks to share?
How have your eating habits improved as a result?
What challenges are you having with portion control and resisting eating more than you should?
I was SO glad to read that so many of you use a food scale for portions. I do that as well and I try hard to encourage my WW members to use a scale, over measuring cups, if possible. I think it gives a MUCH more accurate representation. Plus no cups to wash! I just put my plate or bowl on the scale, hit the TARE button and portion out my food.... whether it is roasted sweet potato chunks, yogurt, pasta, shredded cheese.... and I tend to measure in grams to be a bit more anal about it
I got into the habit as I took this journey to measure/weigh everything that I can and I try to STILL do it as much as possible. My food scale sits in a drawer in the kitchen where it is super easy to pull out and use. I keep a little ceramic bowl with it, in case I am measuring something to add to a recipe or such (like shredded cheese or PB2). I also keep LOTS of Tablespoon measures in the drawer (I bought a few extra sets and kept only the Tb and the tsp) because I find I am forever measuring a TB of salad dressing or something like that.
I tell my members that if you cannot feel like you can weigh/measure EVERYTHING, at least measure out the more calorie dense items like cheese, oil, salad dressings, peanut butter, nuts, chips.
The ONLY time I have a real challenge with portions is with stuff I should not have around anyhow.... like this weekend's splurge on M&Ms. And what I would normally do is either buy a small bag and share with someone, or portion out my share into a baggie and keep that with me. Unfortunately I didn't plan on M&Ms.... the men stopped and bought them (my favorite flavor too... peanut butter!) and they bought a HUGE bag... so I was forced to kind of count as I went along. I THINK I stopped at 20.... but I was distracted by the movie. Nuts are trouble for me..... but as long as I do not START eating them, I can resist. DH keeps them around always because he eats low carb most of the time..... mmmmm, cashews!
I tend to not keep other indulgences at home..... like my WW members say "Say NO once at the grocery store and you don't have to say no DAILY in the kitchen!" I don't buy chips or other tempting crunchies.... if I want something salty I make fat-free popcorn in the microwave..... I don't buy cookies or granola bars.... if I want a sweet I have peanut butter (or PB2) and banana or a WW bar or a Yasso frozen yogurt bar. I don't usually even keep BAKING supplies in the house because for some of us (thinking of DH here... I hate baking) it becomes too tempting to make up a batch of cookies (or cookie dough
) or just each the chocolate chips!
And I'm sorry if this is harsh, but the excuse of "I need to have it around for the kids" doesn't fly with me! They shouldn't be eating it either! Don't tell me how your son is a "beanpole" and doesn't have to worry about calories. Okay, I get that.... but he shouldn't need to eat Oreos either! My son has grown just fine without Oreos, Chips Ahoy, or Captain Crunch on a regular basis! It is JUNK, plain and simple.
The weekend in St Louis was a success.
I ended up not going out Friday night with some of our coaches because I knew I would be tempted to eat crap and drink. For the first time, probably ever, I thought to myself that I would get more enjoyment out of seeing the scale go down than going out and eating wings and drinking beer. I ended up getting a salad through room service and going down to listen to the Friday night speaker (something I've never done before because we always went out on Friday nights).
Saturday was some more firsts - I went down to the gym early and did the treadmill for 5,000 steps. Never would have done that before. The weather was so great (74*) that during the afternoon I went and walked around Busch Stadium and got another 5,000 steps in. That evening I met up with my wife and we hit Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with another couple. Ended up splitting stuffed mushrooms, got a caesar salad (a 500 calorie caesar salad!), and a filet. I also had a couple of Ultra's with my meal and my day totals were just over 2,000 calories. That's more than I usually have and I was a little nervous, but my weigh in Sunday morning resulted in a 3/4 lb loss! I'm now down 26 1/2 pounds since Jan 1.
WOW! Those sound like some SOLID lifestyle changes! I am so proud of you!! And I'll bet you are proud of you too! And I can IMAGINE that the feeling you got on the scale Sunday morning was waaaaayyy better than the feeling you would have gotten from the beer and wings on Friday!
The only way I really manage it is by not eating it. Now, I'm fine with some foods and snacks - kind of like my B list. Sure they are good, but they are not my absolute favorites. We have Oreos in the house all the time for my kids, and I'm never really tempted to grab one. I like them, but I'm able to control myself on those.
When it comes to my A list, like cookie dough, peanut butter cups, or doughnuts, I just can't do it. I can't control myself on those things. If I eat one, I'm going to eat 30. Those are the things I really struggle with. A few nights ago we went to Chili's for dinner after getting our taxes done. We normally don't order deserts, but the skillet chocolate chip cookie looked incredible, I wanted to get one to share... but I knew I wouldn’t be able to control myself, so we ended up not getting it and just grabbing the kids some McDonalds ice cream on the way home. I guess I just know that with some things, I can't resist eating more than I should.
(Expand to see all of my comments) So much of this lifestyle change is learning what you CAN and CANNOT control! We get that skillet cookie sundae (at Uno's) once a year for DS's birthday... and every year I tell myself I will have one bite and EVERY YEAR I eat my share and then some. So now I just need to remember to plan it into my day! DD and I love the McD cone for a sweet treat once in a while!!
I'm just mastering portion control... last week I discovered the bar code scanning function in the WW ap (a life changer), and this week I am going to be getting a food scale. I am by nature a grazer, so something like a cut up apple is ideal for me because I can keep munching away at it. Fortunately I'm not chip driven because that's something I would keep mindlessly shoving in my face, even though I don't love them.
I am a sugar addict, it's my drug of choice, so the best strategy is to stay away because one little bite is never just one little bite. A bag of cookies or box of chocolates could be consumed in one sitting... a quart of ice cream gone in an evening. For my upcoming WDW trip I will plan to have an ice cream martini in France, my one extravagance and with two full scoops it will be more than enough to satisfy, but the thing that worries me is the hot fudge sundae at the POP ice cream counter... it's been my downfall more than once.
Isn't that barcode scanner the BEST!!?? Wish it were available in a hand-held device for my members who don't have smart phones!
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Hey friends! Here this morning, but staying busy here during school vacation week. Today is the FINAL DAY of build season for robotics, so I'm sure my men will be out of here before lunch and not home until after midnight. I may end up having to be at the lab with them after my WW meeting tonight, so I'm trying to plan my day accordingly. That will mean packing a healthy but filling carry-along dinner to bring with me so that I can go directly to the lab (and the only stop between my WW meeting and the lab is a Dunkin Donuts and a pizza shop). I don't have much in the way of salad stuff here, so I think I'll pack up a yogurt with berries... it was going to be an overnight oats cup, but I'm having oatmeal for breakfast.
Off to finish watching last night's Biggest Loser while I have breakfast... I fell asleep before the end so I don't know who won and I'm afraid to go on Facebook for fear of seeing a spoiler!.............P
