If you trying to get slim and are interested in losing 10 pounds in one week then it is a good idea to make sure that you are measuring your food portions in a way that will result in fast, efficient and safe weight loss.

There is a reason that mastering portion control always ends up on lists about the 10 best ways to lose weight. It is because the number one way to lose weight is to take in less calories than you ever expend. However it sometimes gets tedious measuring and weighing every single thing that you eat in order to make sure that you are getting the correct portion.

The big bonus to measuring portions this way is that I can now go to a restaurant and simply by visualizing portions using my body parts I can figure out how much to eat.

Here is an example of how this works –

• A serving of meat should be the size of the palm of your hands, a deck of cards or the size of a computer mouse
• A salad should be the size of both hands cupped together (although in theory you can eat unlimited greens or vegetables on most diets)
• Poultry should be the size of one hand and about the size of your hand and about the thickness of your palm.
• The portion of potatoes or pasta should be the equivalent of your balled up fist.
• Fruits, even small fruits like berries should be about the size of what you could hold in your cupped palm.
• A portion of cheese should be the size of a pair of dice
• You should never use more than a pinch of salt
• Never have more than a flat teaspoon full of  olive oil.
• One serving of butter is exactly a pat of butter like you see in a restaurant.
• One serving of soup is about three quarters of a coffee mug full

The idea behind portion control is not to deprive yourself of food. You can still reward yourself by eating but you need to eat less.  This is not the kind of calorie deprivation that causes the kind of extreme temptation, guild and dieting associated with crash and fad dieting.

However for this type of portion control to work there are some foods that you do need  to avoid altogether while on this diet. You really should stay away from colas, French Fries and baked goods. Huge dishes of pasta are not a good idea either just simply because the pasta tends to have too much gluten and salt in it to keep you skinny for long.

However after a workout it is okay to reward yourself with the food you love as long as it follows the rules of portion control. This means you can have two cubes of cheese with some vegetables rather than several slabs of cheese.

If you practice portion control long enough you will realize that you are just find with the portions described and that you will not feel hungry at all.