Losing Weight & Saving Money – Part 1

We live in a country where people overeat, don’t exercise and are slowly becoming more and more overweight. A new year brings new resolutions of losing weight, but people set unattainable goals and set themselves up for failure. Instead of resolving to join a gym, exercise 4 times a week and start a low carb diet, how about tweaking some of the things you already do and making them work for you?

Today, let’s look at portion size. Does anyone even know what a “normal” portion is and what it looks like?? Most people cannot accurately estimate a serving size and it leads to overeating. In conjunction with super sized fast food meals and it’s no wonder people are failing – we’re consuming way too many calories!

Here are some common foods, their serving size and how to easily decipher how much of them you should eat:

• Cereal – 1 Cup – the size of your fist
• Pancake – 1 – the size of a CD
• Pasta, Rice, Potatoes – 1/2 Cup – 1/2 of a baseball
• Bread – 1 slice – the size of a cassette
• Cornbread – 1 Piece – the size of a bar of soap
• Cheese – 1 1/2 oz. – 4 stacked dice or 2 slices
• Ice Cream – 1/2 Cup – 1/2 of a baseball
• Margarine – 1 Teaspoon – 1 dice
• Meat, Fish, Poultry – 3 oz. – the size of a deck of cards
• Raisins – 1/4 cup – the size of a large egg
• Peanut Butter – 2 Tablespoons – the size of a ping pong ball

When you first start doing portion control, you’ll probably feel like you’re going to starve to death. It is a short term feeling and as your body adjusts you’ll start to wonder how you ever ate such large quantities. And your pocketbook will thank you.