Trying to lose weight? Watch your portion sizes at home and when dining out. Avoid food portions larger than your fist. Isn’t Monday a good day to start?

From the family dinner table to the local Ruby Tuesdays, we’re learning a cardinal rule of healthy eating: size does matter. And the message is clear: Minimize, don’t super-size.

“Portion sizes have increased across the board,” says Lisa Young, a registered dietitian and author of The Portion Teller: Smartsize Your Way to Permanent Weight Loss. “Despite the fact that certain names are going away, I've found that portion sizes are still getting bigger. Wendy's did get rid of the ‘Biggie’ sizes, but in a very sneaky way. It's one thing if you call it ‘jumbo,’ it's another thing if you get rid of the word ‘Biggie’ and then just call it ‘medium.’”

Tips to controlling portions

Indeed, portion control is the cause de jour of dietitians and nutritionists, because they – and successful dieters – say that reining in the amount of food on yoru plate is the cornerstone of any successful weight management strategy.

If you think that you’re the only one trying to control your portions, consider this: more than three-fourths of Americans are trying to do the same thing to manage their weight, according to a new report from the Hartman Group, a market research firm in Bellevue, Washington.

People surveyed by Hartman are trying to control their portions by:

•  Not eating between meals;

•  Eating only at certain times of the day;

•  Avoiding restaurants that specialize in large servings;

•  Going for pre-portioned, single-serve multi-packs of food.

•  Avoiding snacks put out at work for everybody to share.

•  Ordering full portions and splitting between two adults;

•  Eating a partial serving and taking the rest home;

•  Trying to order reduced size portions such as those intended for children or seniors.

 But, they are probably like many of us: conceding that controlling portions is much easier said than done.

"While consumers seem resigned to the idea that portion control is a personal battle of will, they are also mindful that the temptation to over indulge – at home, at work, when snacking, when dining out – is  specially great when the land of opportunity offers just too much of a tasty thing,” Hartman researchers say, in the report.

Challenging balance

In portion control’s battle of the bulge, Hartman says, women are more apt than men to minimize their meals and believe that servings in restaurants are generally enough for two people. And they’re getting some help from a small handful of restaurant chains that are reducing portions– and prices to reflect the smaller amount of food they’re dishing up.

“It really is a challenge to find a balance between the portion size consumers want and the amount of money they want to pay,” Young says. “Even though people recognize they need to eat less, they don't want to pay the price for regular portions and receive less.”

What’s more, in the grocery store, more of us are snatching up those “single-serve” packages than the popular “100-calorie” foods that have become hallmarks of manufacturers seeking to pacify portion-control fans.

However, more than half of the people in the Hartman poll said they don’t buy single-serve or 100- calorie products because of expense, but many make single servings themselves out of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other fresh and prepared foods.

"There was a time not long ago when 'value' in packaged foods meant larger bags, larger containers, larger trays, larger bottles and the infamously larger cups found at McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and 7-Eleven,” the report says. “Bigger has always just seemed better in this land of rising opportunity.”

Check this out . . .

•  What do the French know about portion control that we don't?

•  12 Tips to Make Losing Weight Much Easier

•  Do Restaurant Profits Trump Healthy Food?

•  A Disproportionate Amount of Food: Portion Control and Weight Loss

•  Putting Portions in Perspective

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Nubella News, a division of Marketing Technology Solutions, Inc., offers content intended for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We encourage our readers to seek prompt medical care for health issues and consult their physicians before starting a new diet, fitness regimen, or medical treatment.