Welcome back to Carol’s Corner. Hope you continually are able to find the guidance , motivation, and inspiration , for whatever phase of this lifetime journey you find yourself. Today’s picture is a new outfit I just got. Love that I can wear this top. We shall see in a day or two if I have to adjust some things. I am at the mall three days a week till Christmas , so my own eating habits are not what they should be and my sleep even less so. A little know fact from my own experience that I will share with you. Did you know if you go without sleep, your weight will not drop an ounce till you do? In fact you might gain until you get enough rest. I have had this happen to me personally many a time. Just a little something to know. So, let’s continue on with our discussion of what it takes to lose weight. Today we are going to talk about portion sizes and how it affects the calories you consume. Most times we don’t realize that our portions are much larger than they should be. Let’s look at a few examples of typical serving sizes, versus proper serving sizes . An 8 oz. glass of Orange Juice is 120 calories. Now just reduce that to a 4 oz glass , and we only consume 60 calories. Next we’ll take a six inch buttermilk pancake versus a smaller 4 inch version. The larger portion is 175 calories , while the smaller one is only 85 calories , quite a substantial difference . Our last example is a portion size of 1 1/2 cups of whole-grain spaghetti which has a whopping 260 calories. Trim that to a smaller serving of 1/2 cup and you only consume 85 calories, huge difference. You can see by these examples, what a difference controlling your portion sizes makes. So let’s try some tips to control our portion sizes. Start small. At the beginning of a meal , take a slightly smaller portion than you would usually eat. If you’re truly hungry you can go back for more, the operative word being truly. Eat from plates, not packages. Never eat from any kind of package or container, because you don’t see how much you’re consuming. Seeing your food on a plate or bowl makes you more aware of what you are actually eating. Consider switching to a smaller plate or bowl and you might actually consume less than you would have. Read labels. Reading a label can show you many things. You might find that what you thought was one serving, was actually two. It will also give you a wealth of nutritional information. Use a calorie counter. Research reputable sources such as websites or smart phone applications. The Mayo Clinic suggests trying the Super Tracker at ChooseMyPlate.gov. So we’ve learned in the past few sessions , that we can replace high calorie foods with lower calorie alternatives, and that by controlling portion sizes we can cut our calorie count considerably. In our next session we are going to try and explain the importance of increased physical activity , in managing a successful and sustainable weight management plan. Thanks again to the information found from the Mayo Clinic. I hope you have found this information to be of value to you, as make your way through this never ending journey. See you next time and God Bless.