If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that you’ll lose weight only if you eat fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis. It’s important to understand that 1 pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories. Thus, sensible weight loss plans frequently recommend that you reduce what you eat by 500 calories per day in order to cut out 3500 calories (that 1 pound) per week.

To help keep your calorie intake in check, try these tips:

• Control your portions. Frequently it’s not the types of foods we choose that thwart our diet plans, but rather the quantities.
  
  
• Use common, everyday reference points to help you recognize a healthy portion size. A deck of cards fills about the same space as a 3-ounce serving of meat. A tennis ball is about the size of a serving of mashed potatoes.
  
  
• Write down everything you eat. It’s easy to forget, if you’re hungry when lunch rolls around, that you had a midmorning snack.
  
  
• Increase the “hidden” exercise in your daily routines. Park farther from the door. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
  
  
• Fill up on healthy selections. Choose foods that add bulk to your diet and that will help fill you up sooner, like raw vegetable salads.
  
  
• Don’t eat right from the package. When you eat from a “family size” bag of chips, for example, you’re less likely to notice when you’ve had one serving and more likely to overindulge.
  
  
• Pay attention to labels. Note the size of one serving (this information is on all packaged foods) and the fat and calorie totals per serving.