Portion sizes

I have been working really hard at getting my portion sizes right - but I rarely get it right. Take the other day. I was preparing my evening meal and I took on a new determination to get my portion size right. So, first to the veg. I cut off a couple of cauliflower stalks, then thought, that doesn't look much so I'll add another one. Then I stopped myself, and said no, even though it looks like very little food, I am not going to have the third piece. I also cut off and chopped up what seemed to be a tiny piece of butternut squash. Then to pasta. Previously I have weighed out about 35 to 40g but this has always been too much. Determined to get my portion size right this time, I weighed out just 30g instead. Proud of myself up to this point, I turned to the main protein element of my meal, scallops. I don't have these very often because they're so expensive, but they are high in protein and low in fat so ideal for bandits. There were five left in the pack. I think if there had been twenty in the pack I would probably have selected four - but since there were only five, I didn't want to leave one on its own (it might get lonely!!) - so I had five.......

Anyway, I cooked it all - then came the acid test - to put it on my 7-inch side plate and see whether I had got the volume right for the first time. Well, basically, no, I hadn't. First of all, it wouldn't all fit on the plate (!) so I had to remove some (about half) of the butternut squash and cauliflower and put them in a dish in the microwave - for eating later or the next day. What I had left fit on the plate, just, and was approximately in the right proportions (one quarter scallops, one quarter pasta, one half veg). However, I couldn't eat it all - in fact I left half the pasta and a little of the veg. The next day I found the dish of 'overflow' veg that I had left in the microwave and chucked it in the bin.

So the result is, that despite a really strenuous and determined effort to get my portion size right, I made about twice as much pasta and veggies as I needed and could have easily done without the fifth scallop!! I was really trying, honest!

This evening I have been much more successful - it did all fit on the plate and I did manage to eat it all. The total calorific value was about 250. However, it was clearly still too much because I am absolutely stuffed - and I ate it more than an hour and a half ago. It's a long process this brain re-training, this change from thinking obese to thinking thin. My next plan is to prepare a meal in my normal way, and whatever I think is the 'right' amount, I am going to halve it!!! I'll see how that goes and let you know.