We are overeating about to 500 calories per day. No wonder we are gaining weight. Extra calories come from sweetened drinks and fast food. These are two often-mentioned culprits. However, big portion sizes contribute to our expanding waistlines.

Tips for Portion Control
- Measure
If you want to know how much you are eating, you just have to break out the measuring cups and spoons. Pour a typical bowl of breakfast cereal, then measure the amount in your bowl. Compare that to the serving size listed on the label, and adjust the amount in your bowl correspondingly. Do the same for everything you eat, and you will see precisely where you can make some changes.

- Purchase calorie-portioned foods
Owing to the new 100-calorie snacks, already portioned for us; there are no more guesswork or reading labels and then counting out the exact number of cookies or crackers in a serving.

- Use smaller bowls and plates
A standard dinner plate is about 12 inches. If your plates and bowls are too big, you have to purchase new, smaller dishes to help rein in expanding portions.
Recommended sizes:
- For dinner use 10-inch plate
- For lunch 8-inch plate
- For cereal or soup use 5.5-ounce bowl
- For drinks use 6.5-ounce glass

Use Your Hands
You can’t carry around measuring cups all the time. That’s why you have t find the other way to measure your portions, for example your hands. Use following comparisons to estimate portion sizes when you are eating out or at a friend's house:
- A woman's fist — one cup serving of vegetables or fruit
- A handful — about one-half cup cooked or raw vegetables or cut fruit, a piece of fruit, or one-half cup of cooked rice or pasta
- A deck of cards — a three-ounce serving of fish, meat or poultry
- A golf ball — one-quarter cup of dried fruit or nuts
- A tennis ball — about one cup of ice cream, pasta, potato or rice
- A computer mouse — about the size of a small baked potato
- A compact disc — one serving of pancake or small waffle
- A thumb tip — about one teaspoon of margarine or peanut butter
- A Ping-Pong ball — two tablespoons of peanut butter or salad dressing
- Four dice — one ounce of cheese