Same here doug. My portion sizes have been smaller than ever. Although
in the last week I over ate on some portions-and felt stuffed
afterwards. Today I had two filets of tilapia, one would have been
enough. I ended up not eating for the next 8-9 hours. Its so little
food it looks like TOO little, but its just right.

I haven't been using butter as much. I had Smart Balance from before I
started atkins. No hydrogenated or bad fats. It has less than 10% of
the fat of butter and 25% of the calories. I noticed cooking with
butter was a common denominator on my highest fat & calorie days. I
still cook with butter sometimes--depends upon the dish.

Food that can hangout in the fridge is really helpful. deviled eggs
were a big plus for me. Two halves made a perfect snack in mid
afternoon.  I like making a frittata (basically a baked, deep dish
omelet) loaded it with fried veggies and maybe bacon or breakfast
sausage, topped with a cheese. With 8 servings (~7 carbs, 200-225 cals
each) it lasts for days, hot or cold. I use it for breakfast or a
quick lunch with a little salad. Its added some variety to my
breakfasts-which got boring. Finding make-ahead meals that lasts a few
days has been very positive for me. I normally don't care for
leftovers--I normally bore of eating the same thing repeatedly.

I make extra walks for myself. Instead of mailing stuff on the corner
I walk to the post office and back (1.5 miles).

The big plus for me with spring approaching is the garden work. I've
already spent about 8 hours shoveling out ground(1 ft deep), sifting
for rocks, amending it back. I've got at least another 50 square feet
to prep (6-12 inches down). And I think I'm going to do two other lots
by the garage. Just waiting for dry warmer weather. Temps in the sunny
50s is fine if it isn't windy. With those activity levels I will see
greater weight drops.

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)
350/315/Mar-315/200
Atkins since Jan 12, 2004
OWL-35 carbs/day (CCLL=?)

<< p.s. Please add some diet tips there! >><BR><BR>

Here are my mind games:

A smaller dinner plate helps, a 10" plate instead of a 14" plate, or whatever.
Another thing, sometimes I weigh foods, but when I don't feel like doing that,
I follow the Zone Diet guideline that recommends portion sizes roughly equal to
the palm of your hand.  So, approximating my small hand, a portion of chicken
comes to about 3 oz.  For bigger people, bigger hands, bigger portions.  It is
especially helpful in restaurants.

Another trick that helps me is to add something to a meal that is really low in
calories and carbs, like a cucumber salad with rice vinegar dressing (it comes
to about 15 calories for 1/3 cup).  That extra serving makes me feel like I've
had enough when without it I might still be hunting for more to eat.

While portion control is sensible, I'm concerned that the item you chose to
reduce was the meat.  The meat in my experience is the most likely item to
reduce appetite.  You may wish to monitor your calories for several days and
see if you really get a net reduction.