Are portion sizes sabotaging your weight loss?

Portion sizes have gradually increased over the past 50 years. There’s a variety of reasons for this and most of them are beyond our control and have therefore gone unnoticed. Examples are:

• The average size of our plates and bowls has increased. Changing from a 9 inch plate to an 11 inch plate (only 2 inches bigger) can result in us serving ourselves an extra 300kcal, which will cause us to gain 1lb in weight every two weeks
• Food manufacturers are increasing the size of foods we buy at the supermarket. From processed foods such as pizza and crisps to everyday essentials like slices of bread and eggs. 20 years ago most people brought medium sliced bread but now thick sliced has become the norm. If you eat 2 slices of bread every day that’s an extra 40kcal, resulting in a weight gain of 4lb a year.
• We now have the option to buy share bags of crisps, chocolate and sweet rather than just small individual packets, which can lead to us to eat more than we intended to.
• Restaurants and fast food outlets are serving larger portions. With promotions to go large for 30p or adding a side of fries for just £1 it’s hard to resist the offer of more.

So if you’ve found your weight creeping up despite eating lots of healthy foods maybe portion sizes could be to blame. Reversing the trend of our supersized portions can be challenging, at Spoonit® we are passionate about making portion control simple, check out our products at www.spoonit.co.uk