It really helps with the portions -- people kind of pick up that chain restaurant thing of loading up a big plate. My European reatives would see the average US chain restaurant plate and think it was a platter to be passed around the table!

In fact, I believe the size of the average US dinner plate has also expanded over the past 50 years or so.

I find using a smaller bowl helps if I'm having cereal. My lizard brain still has its "bowl of cereal" but it's generally only 2/3 as much as I'd otherwise have.

I think the serving size listed was 3/4 of a cup. I put that much in my GINORMOUS cereal bowl and was shocked -- realized I'd been having 4 servings (and half the time putting more in later to "finish the milk" lol

I never got over that, I just gave up cereal entirely because I could never reconcile that - I always wanted more of it! I find if I have something like yogurt and fruit or eggs and spinach for breakfast it is much more satisfying and I don't get the snack cravings.

You're right, those are better foods to keep cravings down.

I have sometimes taken 3/4 of my plate home when eating in a restaurant.

Serving sizes are a huge reason why we're getting more obese as a nation.

Restaurant food is not necessarily very healthy food at all. You have no control of ingredients or amounts of ingredients. In a typical casual eating establishment, some or most of the food may be processed and pre-cooked! They might just nuke it to warm it up. There may be hydrogenated oils used.

Toxins store in the fat so the body holds on (or creates more fat) when confronted with a toxic diet.

The best thing is to eat fresh, minimally processed foods. While you have a goal to lose weight, vow not to step into a single restaurant if at all possible. Otherwise, eat before joining your company so you are not tempted by the menu. When you reach your goal weight, practice maintenance by asking your companions to visit a raw foods restaurant or a vegan one once in a while

but whatever the (de)merits of the food, there's also just plain more of it offered now - with excessive portions pushed (in the case of fast food) with the "logic" of the bargain. Why "settle" for just a few fries when for pennies more you can have twice as many?

It's a real double whammy!

Also... where I live (rural Indiana) good luck finding the options you mention!

When you order a sandwich they push the supersize option on you with the reasoning that it's cheaper to order a big drink and a big order of fries with the sandwich. I'm insistent that all I **want** is the sandwich -- which is all I ordered in the first place. Why should I want to pay whatever cost for things I don't want, and will most likely wind up throwing away? But I guess a lot of people are swayed by the cost factor to order the full meal when all they really want (and need) is a sandwich.

(That said, I can't remember the last time I had anything from McDonald's or any fast-food place, other than a drink and I was out and about and thirsty.)

You **can** eat out...you just have to plan ahead.

Fast food is NOT HEALTHY. When you are trying to release weight, you must purify your system at the same time. I realize that people can lose weight in a myriad of ways but if you want to stop the yo-yo-ing and really make a lifelong change, fast food must be thought of as garbage. Because anything heated to a high temperature is not good for the body. And the foods are also processed to death--unrecognizable from their natural state.

No need to lecture me on the evils of fast food. But some people are swayed by the "economics" of how these places market their junk.

I am saying that it's not healthy to eat out. Well, there may be a rare restaurant with clean food--I know one in particular. But especially when you are in the stage of releasing weight, it makes sense to control everything you put in your mouth so you know exactly what ingredients were used! And it's just not a good policy to eat out too often, even when you have reached your goal weight. It's too easy to consume more calories when you don't know what ingredients (or what amounts of them) were used.

You can manage eating out. When you know you are going to eat out, do your homework and plan what you'll do.

That's all I'm saying.

I've been on a weight loss plan since March that stresses portion control, but also realizes that sometimes you will have to eat out, so you learn strategies about how to do so so that you won't wreck your diet. So, again, no need to lecture. Thanks.

Do you think that it would be helpful to most people if the caloric info was posted beside the menu items at restaurants, provided that the info is accurate?

A lot of places have menus online with nutrition information provided. If you know where you're going, look it up and plan what you're going to have, and stick to it. If there is no such information, ask the server how the food is prepared.

I have a stack of such menus that I've printed out.

You'll also have to make some decisions beforehand, too, such as order an appetizer and skip dessert, or vice versa, as well as if you're going to drink alcohol.

As far as bigger portions, the easy way to handle that is ask for a box. Eat your normal portion and take the rest home.