Portion Control for Weight Control

How to Calculate Portion Sizes

Eat Healthy for Life: How Big is One Serving?

It's not always possible to weigh your portions, but I do recommend you do so whenever you can as you start a new eating plan. After a while, you will get a feel for what an appropriate portion is.

When you don't have your kitchen scale handy, here are some visual cues you can use to be sure you are not exceeding your allowance.

• 4 oz. meat, fish (steak), or poultry: size of a deck of cards or bar of soap
• 3 oz. fish filet: size of a checkbook
• 1 oz. cheese: size of 6 dice
• medium potato: size of a computer mouse
• 1 cup pasta or rice: size of a tennis ball
• medium apple or orange: the size of a tennis ball
• 1 cup chopped cooked or raw vegetables or fruit: baseball size
• snack of pretzels or chips: tennis ball
• ¼ cup of nuts or dried fruits: golf ball
• ½ cup ice cream: tennis ball
• a pancake or waffle: compact disc
• 1 teaspoon (of peanut butter, butter, etc.): tip of your thumb

Don't confuse portion with serving size.

Serving size is the amount recommended from each food group and is found on the Nutrition Facts panel of packaged foods as well as on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid.

For example, a recommended serving of whole grains is one slice of bread or ½ cup of rice or pasta.

But your eating plan may allow more or less. So one cup is like a tennis ball; ¼ cup is like a golf ball.

You may wonder why one cup of rice is like a tennis ball while one cup of chopped fruit or vegetable is like a baseball.

That's because the chopped food has air between the chunks and takes up more volume.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.