It can be tough to lose weight by cutting calories alone, especially if you don't have an accurate concept of how much you eat in a day. Confusion sometimes surrounds what constitutes a "serving" or how a serving size may differ from a portion. Thus, it's important to serve amounts that are large enough to fill you up but not so big that they contribute to weight gain or prevent you from losing extra pounds.
Step 1
Figure out how many calories you eat every day. Since weight loss is a matter of calories eaten vs. calories burned, it's hard to plan successful portions unless you have a numeric starting point. Using an online calorie counter as a tracking tool, type in everything you eat for several days. Then calculate the average number of total calories you eat daily.
Step 2
Decide how many calories you'd like to cut from your diet. According to the National Institutes of Health, you can lose about a pound per week by cutting 500 calories daily or two pounds per week by cutting 1,000 calories daily. When you know the number of calories to eat for your desired pace of weight loss, you can more easily dish out portions that fit those constraints.
Step 3
Read and pay attention to nutrition facts labels. Each label points out a recommended serving size for the product and how many calories are in that serving amount, as well as how much fat, protein, fiber and other nutrients. For example, if you buy a 20-oz. soft drink and have the whole thing, you might be consuming several hundred calories instead of about 150, which is the serving size -- half the bottle.
Step 4
Reduce the portion sizes of foods you normally eat. You can simply serve yourself less to start with, of course, but it's helpful to trick your subconscious into thinking that you're getting more food. For example, use small bowls and plates for eating, and keep the serving platters and dishes out of sight so that you're not tempted to reach for second and third helpings.
Step 5
Eat more foods with low energy densities and fewer calorie-rich foods. When foods have low energy densities, you can serve larger portions without eating more calories. According to MayoClinic.com, low energy-dense foods are optimal for weight loss because they have high fiber and water contents to help you stay full, but low calorie and fat counts. Serve larger portions of fruits, vegetables, nonfat dairy and other natural, low-calorie foods, and smaller portions of prepared foods. Finally, use the calorie counter to keep track of how many calories you're eating with the new portion sizes. If you're still not reaching your goal, continue to cut back until you notice weight loss progress.
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