Everyday Systems

Just wondering if people are using a 9 inch or 11 inch plate.? I know it sounds silly, but I want to be strict for now.

Currently, I have a 10-inch plate. It's old redware that was made by McCoy. It is beginning to chip though and I am in the market to buy Corelle's smaller Sandstone sets.

As a friend of mine pointed out though, how much you pack your plate is an issue too. I've seen some people pile enormous portions on small plates. I try to divide my plate into quarters with 1/4 carb, 1/4 protein and 1/2 fruit and veggies but even doing that, I COULD stack alot on there if I chose too. I'm trying to take nice "lady like" portions.

small plate, fill the whole thing. Large plate, fill the middle and leave the rim empty. Works out about the same. When I am having a hungry day, the plate will be quite full. But on a normal day, normal portions. I am starting to trust myself more to be the judge.

Breakfast is a Corelle "luncheon" plate, because I also have juice in a glass and sometimes a little dish of fruit. Lunch is in little containers, dumped onto whatever size plate they have in the cafeteria where I work. Dinner is a "dinner" Corelle plate, but I try not to fill it completely, because we usually have a little plate of fruit on the side.

I use 9" round plates. Even an appropriate sized portion of meat, vegs, carbs looks like a ton of food on it.

So it's better for me to pile it on the 9" rather than pile it on the 13". Which is a ridiculous amount of food! Oy!

Officially, as far as the No S Diet rules are concerned, it doesn't matter how big your plates are.

But it does obviously make a difference, both because you can't fit as many calories on a small plate and because you'll get that Pavlovian "empty plate = done" signal sooner, so you'll want to eat less.

That being said, I would not worry about this in the beginning, if ever. By far the most important thing is to establish the "empty plate = stop" association and the habit of not snacking between meals. For these, a full, maybe somewhat overfull plate is helpful in minimizing the temptation to violate the literal rules. If you reach for a second small plate or a snack because your one small plate wasn't enough, all those calories that you virtuously avoided (and then some) come sneaking back plus you've reduced the power of the "1=done" association.

Once you have these habits firmly ingrained, then you can worry about plate size if you want -- like I said, it does make sense. But my guess is you won't need to, because the "1 plate, whatever size, and you're done" rule is enough to do the job -- it has been for me.

Reinhard

Personally, I prefer to skip the plate and just use one of those nifty, rectangular cafeteria-style trays.

Just kidding.

Joel

I've never measured my plate, but it's beautiful!

One of the things I remember Reinhard mentioning, when I first discovered this site, was how meals used to be a family ritual. In the last few years I had developed a very unhelpful way of eating - at the counter, or on the run, so one day in my first week I went to Value Village and bought a lovely bone-china dinner plate. I started to make a little ceremony of meal-times - even breakfast - and I think this is what helped to break my snacking, and eating in a hurry habits.