Here’s what a portion of your favourite food really looks like

When it comes to weight loss and healthy eating, it’s not just about WHAT you eat. How much you eat makes up the second part of the equation and is often just as important to consider.

The modern, western diet is all about enormous portions and the amount of food on our plates has continued to grow over the past decade.

Why are our portions so big?

No doubt, we’ve all been offered the option to ‘upgrade to a larger size’ or seen the size of some of the slabs of meat at Coles and Woolies that are supposed to constitute as a single serve.

Part of the problem lies in our ingrained attitude towards food and consumption.

From a very young age, we are encouraged to eat everything that we are served on our plates. Many of us can probably recall family dinners where there was no dessert if dinner wasn’t completely finished.

While enjoying our food and having a healthy attitude to what we are served is important, we often grow up confused as to exactly how much we actually NEED to eat.

It doesn’t help that when faced with a full plate, we often end up eating everything on offer, simply because when we are faced with food and begin eating, we find it very difficult to assess the actual portions included.

So, what’s the solution to overeating?

The best way to keep an eye on how much you’re eating is to get to know your portion sizes and stick to serving that size up on your plate. If you don’t have a piece of chicken the size of toddler’s head on offer, you’re not going to end up overeating.

Another way to avoid blowing out your portions is to divide your plate into sections, for example protein, veggies and carbs.

Fill up the veggies section with plenty of delicious options and top off the plate with a serving of protein and carbs.

This is 1 serve or portion of your favourite foods

• Cereal – 1 cup
• Bread – 2 slices
• Rice/pasta/noodles – 1 cup
• Sweet potato – 1/2 medium sweet potato
• Potato – 1 medium potato
• Fruit (bananas/apple/orange/pear/mango) – 1 medium sized piece
• Dried fruit – 1.5 tbsp sultanas or 4 dried apricots
• Milk – 250ml glass
• Yoghurt – 200g tub
• Chicken – 65-100g or a fist sized breast fillet
• Lamb – 65-100g or two small lamb chops
• Beef – 65-100g or a palm sized fillet/steak etc
• Eggs – 2 small

Taking control of your daily and weekly meal plan and portion sizes

If you are on a mission to lose weight, tackle your eating habits and watch your portion sizes our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge can help.

Whether you are wanting to lose 4 kilograms or 40 kilograms the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is an effective weight loss program created by mums – FOR MUMS – to help them lose weight while tucking into healthy, family-friendly meals.

The Challenge is home to 3,500+ recipes, 350 exercises and 24/7 social support.

What’s more, each week you are given a weekly meal plan to follow which has been curated by Healthy Mummy nutritionists. Our meal plan consists of 3 snacks and 3 main meals a day.

The meal plan has been designed to ensure you are getting enough vegetables, protein, fats and carbs in your day. What’s more, it meal plan is accompanying by additional nutritional information – meaning you can easily monitor your portion sizes and daily calorie intake.

You can learn more about the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge here.

Nikola’s weight loss success on the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge

Nikola has been following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge since August 2015 and has lost 16+kg, totally changed her eating habits and has gained a whole lot of knowledge on the importance of portion control and meal timing.

When it comes to portion control – Nikola’s greatest tip is “Use snap lock bags for portioning.”

She adds, “The snack size bags are perfect for putting in 2 bliss balls, 1 muffin, a slice of cake etc. By having snacks portioned and frozen in this way, it also stops me from having that sneaky ‘extra muffin'”.

You can read MORE about Nikola’s transformation journey (plus meal prep tips) HERE.