Articles
Counting calories: Get back to weight-loss basics
Content
Calories: Fuel for your body
Tipping the scale
Cutting calories
Saving calories by cutting high-calorie, low-nutrition items
Swapping high-calorie foods for lower calorie options
Reducing your portion sizes
Putting it all together
Reducing your portion sizes
The sizes of your portions affect how many calories you're getting. Twice the amount of food means twice the number of calories.
It's common to underestimate how much you're eating, especially if you're dining out. Controlling your portions is a good way to control calories.
Don't confuse a serving with a portion. A portion is the amount of food you put on your plate.
| Typical portion | Calories* | Standard serving | Calories* |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Actual calories may vary by brand. | |||
| Orange juice, 8 oz. (248 g) | 120 | Orange juice, 4 oz. (124 g) | 60 |
| Buttermilk pancake, 6-inch diameter (77 g) | 175 | Buttermilk pancake, 4-inch diameter (38 g) | 86 |
| Whole-grain pasta, cooked, 2 cups (280 g) | 414 | Whole-grain pasta, cooked, 1/2 cup (70 g) | 103 |
Try these tips to control portion sizes and cut calories:
- Start small. At the beginning of a meal, take slightly less than what you think you'll eat. If you're still hungry, eat more vegetables or fruit.
- Eat from plates, not packages. Eating directly from a container gives you no sense of how much you're eating. Seeing food on a plate or in a bowl keeps you aware of how much you're eating. Consider using a smaller plate or bowl.
- Check food labels. Be sure to check the Nutrition Facts panel for the serving size and number of calories per serving. You may find that the small bag of chips you eat with lunch every day, for example, is two servings, not one, which means twice the calories you thought.
- Use a calorie counter. Check out reputable resources that offer tools to count calories, such as websites or smartphone applications.
