Using packaged meals for portion control?

Anyone else trying this? I have come to the conclusion that there is no way that my well meaning wife can make anything close to a real portion for me. I for all intents and purposes am admittedly a food junkie! I have a problem with emotional eating and of course as a dumb "supersize" American, I have lost all control on what a portion is. I have decided to drop the atkins for several reasons, mainyl is because I just dont see it working like it has in the past and I'm tried of trying to make it work eating odd things and soem things that are reportedly good for me.

I eat a sensible breakfast of egg and wheat toast.

Snack - Almonds or an apple or something

Lunch - lean cuisine or similiar (there are millions of them and some are not too horrible) I usually will add some sort of package of Kashi crackers or something.

Snack - kashi bar or fruit

Dinner- here is the hard part! Dinner is a real meal! I fight to eat and get the heck out of the front of the house when done!!

Snack - fruit or yogurt - or maybe a piece of wheat toast.

I'm really trying to get this done!!!

I avoid packaged meals and bars like the plague. I do make my own preportioned meals though - I'll cook about 4 or 5 portions when I cook and make lunches out of the left overs, that way it's portioned out for me and I just need to microwave it for a couple minutes.  Why not make a routine of cooking up some lunches on Sunday for the week?

Also, it looks like you may not be eating enough for the average man. I'd suggest adding some protien to your snacks, some cottage cheese mixed with that yogurt and fruit or a protien shake - very important to have protien at every meal. This will help your hunger for when you sit down to dinner.

If you want portion-control invest in some kitchen scales.  For a few weeks weigh and measure what goes on your plate or into your lunchbox.   After a short time you'll find that you can 'eye-ball' the quantities quite easily and that you've retrained your idea of what a portion of something should look like.  Then it's plain sailing.  Plus, if you eat out, you can judge more easily whether you're being given too much.

Another way to look at it.....  Fill the typical dinner plate as follows: 1/2 vegetables or salads, 1/4 meat/fish/beans/eggs or other protein, 1/4 wholegrain or starchy vegetables + a little fat as a sauce or dressing.

More visual portion-control... A portion of meat or fish should be about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of cards.  A portion of grains (pasta/rice/noodles) should be about the size of a tennis ball.  A baked potato should be about the size of a computer mouse.  Vegetables you don't need to portion-control all that much.  Use fats and sauces in teaspoons....

Lean cuisines and so forth are fine as a back-up but they tend to contain a lot of salt and they're also quite unsatsfying being that they're small portions and nutritionally poor .... rather than adding crackers another time, add several portions of vegetables.

Good luck

I've done the pre-packaged thing, with the same idea in mind; that it's too much trouble to try to portion in advance, and all the work is done for me.  As a result I stalled my weight loss.

Here's the bottom line: Calories in vs. calories out, right? Right.....EXCEPT:

You body is a machine.  If you take a high-performance racecar, and fill it with the cheapest fuels/oils/lubricants/fluids you can find, how well is it going to perform?  I've come to realize that the more nutritional the food you put in your body, the better your body will function, in all aspects, including your metabolism.  You'll burn MORE calories a day just sitting around because you're running at optimal level.  Most pre-packaged foods are, well, basically crap.  They're expensive, and really just empty calories. 

So, even if you end up eating a few more calories a day, you'll be healthier and feel better, and you'll probably find you actually lose more weight.

All this being said, there ARE a few pre-packaged foods that aren't that bad, and are good at supplimenting your daily calories if you're on the run, etc, but I would suggest staying away from them for your main meals.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Maybe now is a good time to stake a place in the kitchen.  Get in there with your wife and learn to cook!  Buy some good cook books that show portion sizes, calories and other nurtritional information about each dish.  You and your wife can learn each dish together and your time in the kitchen can be a way to reconnect with one another.

Besides, if you learn to cook for yourself you will have a much better idea of what various foods are when you go out to dinner in a restaurant or at a friends house.  You will never fear what you are served because you will have a really good idea of what kind of calories are in each dish and can eat appropriately.

GI Janes advice about portioning your plate is wonderful.  You might also try eating your veggies first.  Eat all of them.  That way, as you move on to something else you are not so hungry.

These are really great ideas.  I have a problem with portion control but am getting a lot better.  I try to stay away from the prepackaged stuff too.  I tend to make my own lunches and always make sure to include veges.  Dinner is my worst meal too in regards to portion control.  Most of the meals i make are pretty healthy so i try to have a small portion of the main dish and then have more veges/salad.  Seems to be working for me

If you know dinner is your weakness, I`d go as far as filling 2/3 of the plate with veggies and 1/3 with meat & starches. That way you can go for seconds almost guilt-free. And I honestly think that you won`t be able to fit in thirds if you finish all your veggies.