Portion sizes - what is "normal" to you?

[DorisShutt]

I did think about name changing but sod it, I think I need judged!

Basically, I feel that I've lost control/knowledge of what is normal thanks (but with my not unwilling acquiescence!) to DH's portions, which I then carry on using when I cook.

For example, I'll make a lasagna. It's in a roughly 10" x 5" dish and I'll have half. That's a full packet of mince plus veg, plus pasta, plus sauces.

Or last nights dinner was a 1kg piece of brisket plus loads of veg; and again I ate half. (I mean, I know meat joints shrink, but still!)

That's not right is it? Can someone tell me (roughly!) what size of portions I should be eating? Use lasagna as an example if that helps?

I'm trying to set a good example for DS who is starting to notice things, so I don't want him to start overeating too!

All good advice, thank you for the information.

I made it through yesterday without getting carb overloaded - I stuck with my usual sultana bran (I do use this for a reason, I had my gallbladder out and it helps keep things happy). And then one slice of toast with soup for dinner as we had main meal at lunch (steak and salad).

Work lunches are going to be a pain, but I'm thinking about making soup with a variety of veg, but with sweet potato and carrot as the main flavours? Then taking oatcakes rather than bread?

And obviously salad in the summer? Lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, with either ham, chicken or beef as the meat option. I'd do prawns but suspect they wouldn't transport well!

I do think it'll take a few weeks to get the portion sizes down and to stop feeling really hungry between meals as my stomach is used to way more food; I'm just crossing my fingers that it does shrink and I haven't stretched it permanently.

I eat large portions too. I'm also doing 5:2 and have a bmi of between 21 and 22.
I do find the portion sizes I'm 'supposed' to have tiny. Perhaps my thinking is skewed. However I don't eat 3 meals a day, usually 2 with perhaps one small snack, so I suppose it balances out that way.. And obviously on my fast days I have way less food.
I'd rather eat bigger portions when i do eat, but eat less often.
I agree you need more protein and veg though op. I am not a veg lover either but I have my favourites and stick to them. Soups are great. I'm a convert to mushroom soup at the moment, as I'm not really a fab of tomato based soups and sauces. Jamie Oliver has a great mushroom soup recipe.

zesty a normal portion size of chicken breast is usually around 120g. Around 150g for salmon fillet. This is what I eat but DH a bit more.

However, as Cat rightly points out, if you eat less frequently overall then meals will be larger. If I skip breakfast (and no snacks at all) my main meals are much larger to compensate (because I'm hungrier). So the key thing is to measure portion sizes against what you eat over the course of the day.

DH is 6ft 2" and is moaning about his weight (like me!), but both he and I will quite happily eat a tube of Pringles / big bag of malteasers / bar of chocolate without blinking.

Right now, my body is asking for food (rumbling tummy!) as breakfast was at 6.30am, but I'm trying not to give in - so I'm going to grab a coffee and "do something" to take my mind off it until lunch at about 12.30pm.

Lunch will be an omelette with protein (ham), veg (tomatoes and pepper) with lettuce on the side.

DH is away to the supermarket, so he's buying a load of stuff to make soup (which I'll then measure and freeze into single portions so I can take to work).

Lasagna for dinner with loads of added veg to bulk it out and salad on the side and some garlic bread as a "naughty" - I think if I cut out fun stuff completely, then I'll shoot myself in the foot and just pig out.

MFP is proving to be a bit of an eye opener in terms of portions - I've set it to lose a lb a week, so it's allowing me 1250 calories without any exercise (sedentary lifestyle due to office job), but it's scary that things like orange juice has so many calories!

I think this is going to be a major lifestyle overhaul for both of us - DH is being dragged along for the ride; we have a family wedding next year and I do not want to spend time hunting for outfits and crying when nothing looks good (like the last time!).

I've l've also got problems with portion sizes. I've been eating carefully for about a year and a half now and lost a lot of weight, but to be honest although I know now that a 'normal' portion is as some posters have said, I stop eating/give myself a normal portion because I know I should, not because it satisfies me. Like you I can easily eat a tube of pringles or big bag of maltesers without batting an eyelid. After a meal! And I'm only 5' 3". I don't know whether it's because I'm wired that way, or that decades of overeating and yo-yo dieting have messed up whatever it is that controls appetite - perhaps a bit of both.

I've just started doing 5:2, and over on the 5:2 chat threads a lot of posters say that their appetites have been re-set. So I'm hoping it has that effect for me. I've proved to myself that I can eat smaller portions when I have to, but I'd like to feel satisfied with them, and not constantly feel like I'm depriving myself.

DorisAllTheDay I've been doing 5:2 for 12 months and my appetite has definitely been "re-set". I started noticing that after 4 or 5 months. I really cannot physically eat a tube of Pringles. On Friday I had a slice of iced carrot cake for breakfast (a treat to myself) but then had to skip lunch as I was physically so full from the cake. That never happened before 5:2!

hairypaws what does the hypnotherapy involve? sounds interesting.

OP here - I've NC'd to go with my blog name, kind of.

Anyway, I've tried 5:2 but as I have non-anaemic iron deficiency which isn't controlled yet (iron levels are still fluctuating), the 5:2 diet exacerbated things (dreadful side effects on fast days) so I stopped last year.

This time (can you tell I suck!) it's going to be about getting portions right, no denial of stuff, exercising or at least moving more - if I want a Mars bar, then I bloody well have to earn it; I figure 1 shred session equals 1 bar.

Course, at the moment I'm sitting on the couch and coughing while wrapped in a blanket and hugging a hot water bottle as I have a terrible cold; exercise is not at the top of my list!

Normal for me is about two or three fist sized amounts for ALL the food for dinner, of which 150-200g ideally is protein. Less for breakfast (one fist size or less) and lunch (one or two fist sized). But I don't snack and I avoid sugar and refined carbs... Sometimes I'm not hungry so I eat less, it varies a lot throughout my monthly cycle.

Tricks to help you reduce portion sizes.

• Drink a pint of water right before every meal : down in one so its in your tummy
• When serving food, keep all of it on the flat bit of the plate, do not serve enough to go onto the sloping part
• put all big bowls and plates away in a box for a month while you get used to smaller portions.
• go to a charity shop and buy some 1970's glasses and realise how tiny they are compared with modern ones.

AND
look at these pictures
www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

Not without us groaning at you!

Love those food photos at wisegeek, talkin, I find a visual image much easier to work with then someone quoting weights - they dont mean much to me.

backforgood
glad you like : I have those bookmarked as they are just so, so useful
OP
I hope they help you as well.

Here's another ....
I see the flabby bits on myself because I just do .... others don't
so I use this site
cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html
to remind myself how I fit in
various people have found it quite inspirational ...

I like that too - thanks Talkin

Talkin that is a fascinating and fabulous website.

Wow - that height/weight image site is very inspirational.

I think it sort of proves that I also have some body dysmorphia going on - I look in the mirror and see nothing but wobbles and fat; and there is quite a bit of it, but looking at the photographs, then I don't think it's maybe as bad as I think it is.

It may go some way to explaining why DH gets so narky with me when we're out and I'm asking him to compare me to other women walking by so I can sort of see how I look to others IYSWIM.

Actually, that sounds like I'm judging them, I'm not, I just want to see how I look; it's not about them IYSWIM?

Zesty 120g raw weight I'm afraid so even less cooked weight!

I try and stick to about 60g pasta or rice and I've found if you have lots of veg/sauce it is enough. I could still eat more but I am used to small portions now. I used to eat half a bag of pasta in a meal!

Nugget I do similar. Approx 125g raw meat per person (so some lost as fat/water in the cooking) when doing a meat meal.

I would have 50g dry weight pasta or 25g dry weight of rice (so about 2-3 heaped tablespoons) or 2-3 new potatoes, or often no accompanying carb, and then tonnes of veg/salad, and a generous amount of fat, be it natural fat from the meat (fatty mince, pork cracking, chicken skin etc) or cheese/mayo/olive oil/creamy sauce.

However this is with the disclaimer that I am trying to eat lower carb, 25g rice is a small helping.

We often would have stuff like quinoa/buckwheat/lentils/pearl barley as our "carb" if having any carb at all, and these have much lower % carb than the traditionals of pasta/rice, and consequently lower calories too. Prob why 50g pasta/25g rice leaves me stuffed.