I did an experiment with a few of my clients who I've known for a number of years. They've been following my program, but started to feel like things needed some adjustments. They just weren't keeping their weight where they want to keep it. So the first thing that I asked them was whether they were still following the plan that I had created for them.
"Yes, very much so!" was the answer from them all.
After updating my records with their current data, I asked them to do one thing for me for a few days before we changed anything about their program. I asked them to measure their portions again, just like when we began the program. All of them had since been just "eyeballing" their servings.
Just this one little change was a huge eye opener. Everyone was eating more than they thought. One very common place where servings were almost twice as large as they thought was with grains. Instead of a half of a cup of cereal, they were eating nearly a whole cup. Instead of a 1/2 cup of noodles, they were easily eating a cup or more. The one cup of milk for hot cocoa in the evening had turned into 1 1/2 cups.
By the time we added up all the extra unexpected food eaten during the day, they were eating almost 50 grams of carbohydrate, and 200 calories more than planned. While a little extra protein isn't a problem, and they were pretty aware of their fat servings, the carbs will put the cabosh on your weight loss (or assist with weight gain) faster than you can say "my pants must have shrunk!"
So it's well worth it to check yourself everyone once in awhile. Go back to measuring out your portions. If you want to eyeball, make sure that you always use the same bowls, cups, and glasses that you've done your initial measuring into. And if you're having trouble losing weight, or maintaining your weight loss, return to measuring your portions. Very often, that's at the root of the problem if you can't figure out what else is wrong. And it's such an easy fix.
Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner