Figuring Out Perfect Portions: Glossies Made Me Do It

Dearest readers and eaters,

Is one of your new year’s resolutions losing weight and getting in better shape?  Yeah, me, too!  Like minds, huh?  Along with every other woman and most men I know.  So when I came across an article about figuring out perfect portions in The Power of Mindfulness magazine, I knew I had to share it with you.  And then commit the whole thing to memory.

And I am linking up with Lauren at Shooting Stars Mag and Ashley at Happy. Pretty. Sweet. for their Glossies Made Me Do It series.  For this link-up, participants share what magazines have inspired them to do or try.

Figuring Out Perfect Portions

In the winter of 2010, PC and I bit the weight loss bullet and joined Weight Watchers.  We started out great guns, just like most people do when they undertake a new weight loss program or exercise regimen. And we lost weight.  Stuck with it, hardcore, for about 3 months.  Attending meetings every Saturday morning, tracking our points, exercising on a regular basis.

And then baseball season approached, and PC had practice and then games on Saturday mornings.  We stopped attending Weight Watchers meetings but continued tracking for awhile.  I met my predetermined ‘ideal weight’ by summer and became a lifetime member.  Meaning I no longer had to pay for the program IF I weighed in once a month and maintained my ideal 138 pounds.

The biggest challenge was staying on track when eating out.  But our Weight Watchers coach taught us a couple of portion control tricks of the trade.  She shared that 3 ounces of meat was approximately the size of the palm of our hand.  And that a shot glass was the perfect mini-measuring cup; a full shot glass equaling 1 ounce.  That took some of the guess work out of determining the size of restaurant portions.

Eating Mindfully

Fast forward to winter of 2019 (this is the winter of 2019, right?  or 2018?  but it’s 2019!).  I am almost as heavy as I was when we started Weight Watchers 9 years ago.  Not exactly something to celebrate.  But I know I can lose this weight and will.

I am tracking points via the Weight Watchers mobile app.  Not attending meetings – at least not yet.  But I came across this great tool for determining perfect portions in The Power of Mindfulness magazine, centennial health edition, in the article entitled “The Art of Eating Mindfully” by Judy Koutsy.

The article suggests several great tips for successful and healthy weight loss.

• Put away your devices and be mindful at meals.  Focus on the process (and reason) for eating.
• Go slow.  Set a timer for 20 minutes and take that much time to eat your meals.
• Savor each bite.  Notice the taste and texture.  Take time to completely chew each bite.
• Tune into your body.  It’s okay to surrender your membership to the clean your plate club.  Eat until you are full.  Not til you are bloated and regretting having eaten so much.
• Plan out your meals.  Know what you are going to eat for the next few days, plan meals and menus.
• Avoid emotional eating.  Ugh.  While I was in Kentucky, I couldn’t get the food into my mouth fast enough.  Find other ways to combat stress…like exercising, working puzzles, taking up a hobby.

Serving Size Equals

The article also included this great graphic.  I want to make copies and tuck one in my purse and stick one on the frig.  It compares portion sizes to the sizes of familiar objects or body parts (now, now, don’t go there, girls…G-rated body parts). No cucumbers or melons mentioned.

[source]

Not sure how easily you will be able to read the information in the graphic.  So, let me write it for you, here.

• 1 cup of cereal = the size of a closed fist
• 1 pancake = the size of a compact disc
• 1/2 cup cooked rice = half a baseball
• 3 ounces of meat = a deck of cards or the palm of your hand
• 3 ounces of fish = a checkbook
• a salad = two fists
• slice of bread = a flat hand
• 1 spoon of peanut butter = a thumb

Hope this handy dandy guide to perfect portions will simplify this weight watching business.

Your Turn

Do you have a perfect portions tip to share?  Would love to hear it!  Or maybe you have a trick that is helping your realize your new year’s resolutions.  Please leave a comment below.  We will all appreciate it!

Lots of additional posts to come this week.  Busy, busy blogging week.  Sentence a Day, Currently and I might even open my fashion haus!  Won’t you stop back by for another visit again soon?

Family hugs,