Portion Control

Lets talk about portion sizes. Obesity is a huge problem and it is partly due to the fact that people over eat. I do not believe there are any "evil" foods that you should never ever eat. With that being said, I do know that you should eat only little amounts of good things. This chart may be able to help some of you visualize your portion sizes.

Or perhaps this will help- try associating a portion size to an object, like below:

1 cup - baseball

1/2 cup - lightbulb

1 0z. or 2 Tbsp - golfball

1 Tbsp - poker chip

3 oz. meat - deck of cards

3 oz. fish - checkbook

This week I heard that the U.S. military is starting to join in the battle against obesity. Their recruiting numbers are down and they are attributing it in part to the fact that the rate of overweight and obese 17-24 year olds (their main recruits) has increased significantly over the past few years. Interesting, huh? It must be a big deal if even the military is getting involved- especially when they have so much to do elsewhere.

So take a moment and study up on your portion sizes- make a little guide for yourself or print one off (WebMD has a wallet-sized one here) and vow to stick to it for at least a week. This way you get to enjoy all of your favorite foods and still keep that waistline down! You will be surprised at how little you can eat and feel just great!

Triathlon Update: Well, today is the day I have to register (or else the price goes up). After much thought and consideration, I think I am going to make my first tri a bi instead. I just haven't been able to train as I was hoping to and I really don't want my first experience to be a terrible one because I am forcing myself when I am unprepared because then I know I won't want to do it again. Plus this event has the option of doing 2 out of the 3 events...so May 22nd will be a biathlon and I will be doing a real triathlon sometime later this summer (I will let you know the date once I do a bit more research.)