Portion Distortion?

Weight watching is not for wimps. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. I have learned a few good things along the way and I’ve struggled with a few I can not seem to get through. Here’s a post about a little bit of both.

Lesson 2: Portion Control. My husband and I have classic cars. Neither our 67 Chevelle nor our 65 Impala have a cup holder. No cup holder. We have an early ninety something Rodeo that he loves, and is great on gas. It has no cup holder, and it is not an automatic. Do you know how difficult it is to shift, steer, and hold a venti mocha? My thighs are too big and the drink is too hot to balance it gracefully between my legs they way my sweety does his Dr. Pepper. We adored our ninety something Jetta. It had a cup holder. A cup holder that only allowed a child sized fountain drink to fit below the rest of the console. No large, absolutely no supersized sweet tea could fit. Now, our 2000+ SUV and extended cab truck…. not one, not two but four cup holders in the truck and six in my SUV. These cup holders could fit a liter bottle of soda, a supersized drink or maybe even a quart of OJ. Just like the cup holder evolution, our liquid intake has at least quadrupled over my adult life. It is easy to drink more than a healthy intake of calories for an entire day in one super sized beverage from the drive thru. The rest of our portions have grown as well.

Normal portions seem to be some sort of cryptic secret in society. A healthy portion of meat is 3 ounces. Why do our burgers come in pounds?  1 pound is equivalent to 16 ounces, a ¼ pound burger is equivalent to 4 ounces… and let’s not forget the common “double quarter pounder.” Really? That is almost 3 servings of meat alone! A serving of meat is visually equivalent to the palm of your hand or a deck of cards. Really? When was the last time you got that on a plate??? When we compare nutritional values and portions to what we actually consume, it can be quite a difference.

This week, it is my challenge to capture my portions. I vow to drink an extremely limited number of calories. I am planning water, water, and more water. Somehow, I have trouble counting my mochas and lattes, so it’ll be just my old faithful black coffee this week. I vow to actually use my measuring cups. I have really cool ladelish ½ and 1 cup spoons… they make me feel like I am not actually measuring. ;) This makes me more likely to use them. I actually bought a food scale. I have never owned one of these. I plan to be shocked.

This is Week 3 of tracking (well, mostly) and weighing in. I lost a few pounds prior to the “official” weigh in, but the success has certainly shown on the scale. Week 1 I weighed on a Sat morning and was down 2.2 pounds. I smile with each stone as we transfered 22 stones from the LOSE to the LOSS jar. Basketball bumped the following weigh in, so I weighed Week 2 only 4 days later at 6pm and was up 0.8 pounds. That actually was a good feeling for me, because I expected a few pounds up due to the breakfast, lunch and snacks on board. I reluctantly removed 8 stones from my LOSS jar and placed it back in the LOSE jar. Week 3 I weighed again in the evening and was down 2.8 pounds; 0.8 pounds I had lost once already and 2 new pounds. Yippee! It was fantastic to transfer 28 stones from the LOSE to the LOSS jar. I am enjoying watching the stones, and chose to celebrate with a new digital, glass scale to help me keep in check between weigh ins.

If you are considering buying a food scale or a you scale, our CVS had sleek, glass scales that were only $9.99 each, regular price. A $20 bargain and hopefully shocks and smiles to come.