Help Yourself! Perfect Portions

Portion control is a key factor to reaching fitness and health goals. It’s one of those basics that are common sense….but can still cause you trouble. In the wake of Mayor Bloombergs proposed legislation (limiting the portion size that sodas may be served in NYC)  Collier Fitness has decided to share some info about portion sizes.

USDA Food Pyramids address many of the questions people have about servings and portion sizes. Unfortunatley…the cool kids don’t want to pull out their food pyramid at the restaurant. So just bookmark this blog and check it on your phone. No one will know what you’re reading.

First off, let’s remember Calories:  The number of servings from each food group recommended by the Pyramid depends on your calorie needs.

• Children ages 2 to 6 years many inactive women, and some older adults may need about 1,600 calories per day.
• Most children over 6, teen girls, active women, and many inactive men may need about 2,200 calories per day.
• Teen boys and active men may need about 2,800 calories per day. (people with teenage boys in their home can attest to this.)

A portion is the amount of food you choose to eat. There is no standard portion size and no single right or wrong portion size. A serving is a standard amount used to help give advice about how much to eat or to identify how many calories and nutrients are in a food.

So to determine what sized portion of a food to put on your plate, think about how much of your daily servings it amounts to. For example, the USDA recommends that you have between 6-11 servings a day from the bread, pasta, grains food group. (This is the food group its hard to say no to!) So if you wake up and have a bagel DON’T think “ooo yummy bagel that’s one serving down and ten to go!” Lol dream on Not quite. One bagel 4 ½ inches in diameter = 4 servings of  bread. The movie theater bucket o’ popcorn = 8 servings. Does that mean you can’t have bagels or popcorn? No! It just means buy the smaller bagel. Get the smaller size of the overpriced movie popcorn without all of the liquid death butter drizzle. Reduce the size of your portions and you can eat all day. You’ll avoid hitting the wall where you’ve maxed out on calories and servings by 1:00pm and are contemplating having an apple for dinner. Also, by eating smaller portions throughout the day you are telling your metabolism KEEP ON BURNING BABY! You are also maintaining your body’s energy stores at a much more even keel.

Here! Memorize this chart to the best of your ability: USDA Portion Guide

 Most things in life are fine in moderation like visits from in laws chocolate. It’s when things get out of balance that the trouble starts. Utilize the USDA charts to help you work on when to say “when” when it comes to filling your plate. :0) Skip the all you can eat buffet and order a plated meal. Pack anything extra to go and eat it later. Resist the urge to go back for seconds a la Oliver Twist. You want cheesecake? Fine, have a slice and take the rest to work. Just don’t settle in with a fork and the remote and eat until your fork hits plate. The reason fad diets don’t work is because they often completely deny the body a food or food group it needs to survive. But reducing portion sizes is a lifestyle change. Not a diet. Good luck!