Moderation = suggested serving size?

Just curious, is it considered eating in "moderation," if you're eating 1 serving size? For example, the breakfast cereal that I love is 1/2 cup = 1 serving....if I ate 1 serving size, does that mean I'm eating in moderation?  Just seems such miniscule amount....it definitely doesn't fill me up.  I'm trying to figure out what it means to eat in "moderation."  I'm having whole wheat pasta tonight for dinner.  1 serving is only 2/3 cup 

Eating in moderation simply means you are making conscious choices regarding your serving sizes based on your personal needs and goals. A "moderate" amount is not a specific amount, but an intelligent choice based on being aware and knowledgeable.

So if you eat 2 servings of rice, that is still considered moderation as long as you are getting all your nutrients and not going over your daily calories. Most people have extra calories to blow on a carb or protein or whatever they want. If you want the extra calories to be rice or cereal, it's fine.

But eating 5 cups of rice on a regular basis would probably NOT be a moderate amount for 99.999% of the population.

Does that make sense?

I agree with yummy kitty, many times moderation = more than 1 serving, or less than one serving. If there is cake at a party, I'll often have 1/2  piece, that is my moderation. Cereal, milk, even fruit, I often eat 2 servings at a time.

Yes, it does make sense.  I guess I've always ate more than I should so I need to figure out what moderation means to me.  Thanks to you both.

I can relate. Moderation is by biggest hurdle in the weight-loss arena. Good luck figuring out what portions are best for you!

Portion sizes depend on the individual. It takes time to figure out the portion size that satisfies you.

For those of us who have become overweight often we are ignoring the signals our stomachs are giving when we are satisfied. It takes time to retrain ourselves for that.

Initially I just made up portion sizes according to the calories I intended to have. If that failed to fill me up I tried to find things that would fill me up without impacting on the calories. Things like salads and vegetables are good as fillers.

As I am originally from Bangladesh (I live in the UK), I eat a lot of rice and curry. I used to have several cups of rice per sitting. Now 1 cups worth (as listed here on CC) is sufficient - actually sometimes it seems very filling now.

I am also trying to eat slower as I find that I can eat more if I eat fast. This gives the stomach time to signal the brain that it is satisfied or full. I think it takes around 10-20 mins for the stomach to send this signal.

If you observe your slim friends and family you will notice that they do exactly this, eat slowly and then stop when they are satisfied. Rarely do they overeat. However we can relearn this and I'm finding that over time I started to have some success at this.

After all who wants to log their calories forever to regulate what they eat? I certainly dont. I want to be able to regulate it like all those naturally slim people.

However, until I learn to do this properly and have reached my target weight I will be logging my calories. The tools here on CC are a vital part of my diet regime.

Log the portion size you eat.  My own portions of low calorie vegetables are twice the 1 cup size reccomended by the USDA.  My portions of high fat foods are about half what's reccomended.

See this

A Simple Diet Plan   Click on the links in the article for detailed information about portion sizes.

For me, moderation is enough food to satisfy my hunger, enough variety to satisfy my appetite, and enough nutrition to keep me healthy.  Now that I have been eating more mindfully for the past 6 months, and logging my calories for the past 3 months, this process is becoming more intuitive.  I used the standard serving sizes (1 slice of bread, 1 cup of rice, 4 ounces of chicken, etc.) as guidelines to break the habits of a lifetime (1/2 loaf of baguette, a plate full of rice, an entire chicken breast, etc.).  Now, if I prefer to have 2 slices of bread and 2 ounces of chicken (that is 2 servings of bread and 1/2 serving of meat) that is what I do.

As long as I log it, I allow myself up to 2 or 3 servings of "real" food, half servings of "treat" food (dessert, wine, fried food) on an occasional basis, and minimal amounts of "junk" food (chips, fast food, etc.).