Hey ladies,

I took a semester-long hiatus (which I spent drinking my calories and eating hangover food) but I'm back and ready to get serious. Miraculously, I managed to only gain back 6 pounds in the last 5 months (I know this is a lot, but in the past I've gained back my diet weight and then some right away), so I guess some of my eating habits stuck.

Anyway, I'm tired of feeling ashamed of the way I eat, and I've begun to realize what gross proportions many Americans eat in. I used to look at people who could just eat a six-inch veggie sub for dinner and think they must be starving themselves, but now I realize the sheer volume I and other obese people eat is just out of control.

The past two days, I stayed within my 1200-calorie limit, and I'm ready to give this another go. Thanks for still being here

ParadiseFalls

Personally, I've always wondered how lots of Americans can eat the portions they do! When I was in Florida, the portions is restaurants were HUGE, and I could taste that they were full of lots of non-natural things (and feel it in my stomach, which is stupidly sensitive to that kind of thing xD). Waiters would always ask "if I had really finished" and give me weird looks and all I could think was "NO, I'M NOT THE WEIRD ONE HERE!"

Having seen the size of American portions in several restaurants, I'd say just cut what you'd consider a "normal American portion" by half. Oh, and for when you're cooking, use smaller pans and plates and stuff, I find that really helps to stop me from piling my plate up, cus even too much of food that's good for you can make you gain back weight.

But it seems like you already know what you're doing, so I'll just say good luck and I'm sure you can do it

Welcome back!

Portions in this country are insane - to the point where most people think it's normal and then get confused when they gain weight.

Glad you're back!

Welcome back!

I've realized that too! I can remember going to Chick Fil A and thinking one wasn't enough so I would have two sandwiches. CRAZY!

Regarding American portion sizes - the same is true of soft drinks. I can remember as a kid in the 1970s, going hunting for glass bottles to collect the 5¢ deposits. Sometimes I'd find those old 6 1/2 ounce coke bottles. I used to wonder where those came from (because Coca-Cola stopped bottling them in the 1960s and I never saw them for sale.)

Can you imagine a vendor today selling such small portions of soda?

Nowadays you don't even see the 16 oz cans in the gas stations, they are usually selling 20 oz or 24 oz plastic bottles of it.

I remember when 7-Eleven introduced the "Big Gulp" (32 oz). That was supposed to be a HUUUGGE drink for the time. Go to any fast food place today and they hand you a "Gulp" sized paper cup as a "regular" sized drink.

Huge problem! We know what to eat if we got back to the basics, fruit veggies proteins we'd be fine as long as we measure and weigh everything. Portion control is key.

Terri

You know something else about portion size. I never make my children finish their plate. I was made to do that and it really is so bad... especially when you eat out. I want them to learn to stop eating when they are full.

I have a terrible time with portions. I have no idea how to limit myself to smaller portions. It just seems that I will never have enough to eat and I am sort of a black out when I eat....choosing always huge portions of everything. Have no idea how not to eat three times more than I need. Seems that eating huge portions is the only way to overcome the cravings. Crazy is right. I am sure this started a long, long time ago and has had a lot of time to become stronger and more impossible to control

Exactly...and that shouldn't be! I hear so many skinny women say that just tasting things satisfies their cravings, but I can't imagine ever feeling that way.

Tasting things is worse than not tasting them at all. Anyone who says that tasting something is better than eating a bathtub full of it is either lying or a robot.

Truly laughing out loud from this comment. Every time I read a diet "tip" of just having a small portion of a food to satisfy a craving makes me talk back to the book/article. It may work for some folks, but not the way I'm wired.

I do eat small portions these days but still avoid some foods entirely because a small portion would only make me crazy (2 cookies, are you kidding, a serving is 2 dozen?!?!)

For home portions, I second what Flamethrower says about smaller plates - it really works for me.
And last time, I lost a lot of the weight by taking a small portion onto my small plate, with the absolute promise to myself that if I was still hungry after I'd taken my time eating I would go back for seconds. It worked most of the time, although this time I'm doing much better with the cage/armour of light that is calorie counting.

The other thing that still works for me is the really stupid trick of cutting my sandwich into 4 (on my tiny plate). Even though my brain knows, really, that it's just getting One Sandwich, it also believes it's getting four. Silly brain.

I couple the small portions, though, with having zero portions of trigger foods. Oh, I want a huge slab of cake today!

It seems like the longer you go with eating smaller portions, the easier it gets. You rewire your brain. I've only been eating healthy daily for about 6 weeks and I am already used to my new portions. Plus, when you're eating healthy foods, portion sizes can be pretty large and still low cal.

remember one thing weight loss is a life change not a diet you should never drink your calories