It’s easy to eat so much more than you originally planned, especially when you go out to dinner. Serving sizes have become so big these days that people have begun to get used to eating large quantities of food, especially at restaurants, which has led to the problem of obesity in both children and adults in the United States.

The bad news is you might be eating all of the right foods, but you also may just be eating too much of those foods. If you want to lose weight, you must be sure that the serving sizes that you’re eating aren’t too big. Fortunately, understanding serving sizes is fairly straightforward.

Determining serving sizes always starts with the Food Pyramid, the nutritional chart that all schoolchildren learn about. The Food Pyramid offers suggested daily serving sizes from each of the food groups as follows:

- Two to three servings from foods in the milk, yogurt, and cheese group
- Three to five servings of vegetables
- Two to three servings from the meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, and dry beans group
- Two to four servings of fruit
- Eight to eleven servings of bread, rice, pasta, and cereal group.

How big your serving size should be largely depends on how many calories you should eat each day. According to the government’s dietary guidelines children between two and six, women, and certain older adults should have an intake of approximately 1600 calories per day while children over six, teenage girls, women who are active, and the majority of men need 2,200 calories each day. Those who need the most calories, around 2,800, are teenage boys and active men.

Many of us don’t eat the exact number of servings as the Food Pyramid recommends; many eat fewer or a few more, but it’s good to be sure to try to keep your caloric intake close to what it should be.

In addition to using the Food Pyramid to help determine your daily nutritional needs, you can also make use of the Nutrition Fact panel. Every food product that you purchase in the United States is required to have a Nutrition Fact panel on the packaging. The Nutrition Fact panel includes such information on the food product as total number of calories, total grams of fat, total grams of carbohydrates, and the percentage of vitamins and minerals in the product. It also tells you the typical serving size.

Be aware, however, that there are often differences between the information on the Food Pyramid and on the Nutritional Fact panel, according to the Federal Citizen Information Center. For example, a serving size on the Food Pyramid may be half that of the serving size on the Nutritional Fact panel.

The Federal Citizen Information Center also recommends using a smaller bowl or dish for your meals. If you use a smaller plate, you’ll eat less. Additionally, eat smaller portions and avoid going back for seconds.

Finally, don’t eat too many foods that are high in calories; rather, opt for healthier foods like fruits and vegetables.