What's a Portion?

You know proper diet and exercise are the keys to lasting weight loss. You also know that one way to maintain or lose weight is through portion control. Many people underestimate the amount of food they eat simply because they overestimate the amount in a single serving.

I recently purchased a food scale which can measure foods in grams or ounces. This is one of the coolest toys I’ve got in a while. While I’m not on a weight loss diet this is an amazing tool for anyone
looking to monitor their portion sizes. A serving of cheerios is 30g. I like cereal and knew that I usually eat more than a single serving, but didn’t know how much I really ate. I measured out 30g and it was less than I usually eat. I kept pouring until I eyeballed a serving that I eat. It was 58g, nearly twice a serving size! While cheerios are a pretty healthy whole grain cereal and not a bad choice to eat as part of a healthy breakfast, two servings is twice the calories. One serving only 110 calories, so what is an extra 110 calories going to do? Well over the course of a year eating an extra 100 calories a day can lead to a 10 pound weight gain. The good thing is the reverse can lead to weight loss. 100 less calories a day for a year can lead to 10 pound weight loss.

Not enough you say then double it! Eating 200 calories less per day can lead to 20 pounds loss in a year. The best part about it is 200 calories in a day easily goes unnoticed. Now add in exercise into your daily routine and your weight loss adds up even faster. Exercise will also help improve your muscle tone, strength, stamina, and flexibility something you won’t get with diet alone. The bottom line is you can eat healthy foods and still fail to lose weight, decrease your portion size and know what a real portion is.