Today, after a long afternoon of classes that left me quite hungry, I knew it'd be too dangerous to go home straight, which entails walking right past a McDonald's. So I decided on a nearby Chinese restaurant. Not for rolls or anything too greasy, but for something simple and that I love -- Cantonese rice with shrimps. It's not the best option, but since I do my best to not tell myself "this is FORBIDDEN for good and forever and you'll never have it EVER again in your whole life" (yeah, right...), I did a compromise: I'd buy the rice, and portion it into two meals to avoid overeating.

I went home, put one half of the rice box in a bowl, and the other in a Tupperware box. Then I realized.

That bowl is an Asian bowl, the kind of which is usually found in Chinese restaurants to put rice in. I think it's a fairly standard size, so you folks may approximately see how much it can contain. And I was pretty much satisfied after I had eaten it.

Before, I used to eat that whole box of rice in *one sitting*. When it can be used to make two meals, or even three.

Now I seriously wonder where I used to put all that food in my belly.

And I marvel at how simply placing it in another container completely put the size of that huge portion of rice back into perspective.

I totally understand! It wasn't til I actually LOOKED at what a portion of something was and compared it to what I was ACTUALLY eating that I realized that it wasn't WHAT I was eating but how MUCH I ate.

That being said, I totally pigged out today, but I so deserved it!

Sounds like quite an insightful moment - good for you!

I had that same aha! moment last week! At my gym, they had out a regular size plate and had placed on it the serving sizes for different food items. For instance, meat is about the size of a deck of cards. Side dishes are about the size of a computer mouse!!!! I think that's where I get into trouble with things like rice or pastsa! My "portions" are usually twice that size! Another thing they had was a lightbulb - the portion of a potato. Very intersting!

I totally know what you mean about the lightbulb moment! I always wondered why I gained weight when I eat so "healthily"...turns out that my portions were enormous. Lean chicken on salad with a small amount of vinaigrette is all good and well until you eat 3 portions of it for one meal!

Congrats to you on having that moment.

i had that moment a while ago. buying smaller dishes helped me A LOT with this.

I had that same light bulb moment before. I just took a real look at what I used to eat and thought, wow. That's A LOT! I couldn't believe it. Like eating the entire quart of Chinese food delivery. Wow. That's so much.
I'm so glad I'm eating better now, if not to lose weight, but to just treat myself better!

I have two small asian size bowls and two old hand-made pottery bowls that I use. My actually dinner set has these MASSIVE buckets they call bowls that I refuse to use now because when full they hold probably a good 2-3 serves of anything (unless it's soup hehe).

I'll only eat off the small bread plates now as well...out went the dinner plates. I found that even though there is less on it mentally i'm happy because it seemed like a huge serve.

My housemates of course think i'm wonderfully funny but ah well...they're at that hateful 18 year old stage where they eat anything and gain nothing. Bah :P

haha, oh i agree. small plates have done wonders for me. the plate is FULL and looks so good. i also have to split my meals up into portions before hand, because i still can't really tell when i am full. i always eat EVERYTHING, so it has to be pre-portioned! congratulations on the light bulb moment! it's amazing how off we were, huh?

Great lightbulb moment! I've also been working at portion control, and stopping myself before I am stuffed.

Aye, I too had switched to smaller plates and bowls a few months ago. Psychologically, it helps tricking the mind into not going into that awful mode of "virtual hunger" (pr psychological hunger, or whatever it is called).

But those boxes of take-off food were really a surprise. I guess I was buying a little too much the idea of "we French people have controlled portions in restaurants" (yeah, riiiight). No wonder it's so easy to gain weight when eating those fairly often.

I know exactly what you mean. Now that I've been measuring everything, I realize that I had no idea what a good portion was. I ate 2 or 3 times as much as what I should and that's probably why I feel blubbery now!

I'm definitely a supporter of the "smaller plates" club. I'm lazy and hate dishes so I use a lot of paper plates, I started buying the next size down instead of the traditional size paper plates and it honestly helps! Now when I eat on my regular glass dishes and use one of my large dinner plates my meal looks so small!

Hehe, I'm at my parents' currently, and I'm amazed at how they fill the plates. I mean it doesn't look to be *that* much, but compared to my current quantities, it just seems huge. Well, it doesn't help that they also add dessert + a large slab of bread with cheese after lunch/dinner, hehe. Looking back on it, that's how I got taught to eat, so no wonder it's hard to get rid of all the bad habits now!

The mesauring cup is my new best friend. Portions are key. I've only just started to notice now, because I normally don't clear my plate, and even then I'm stuffed, but I need to clear even less of it.
Oh well, even more leftovers for later.