[katiesue]

The easiest way I find to moderate salad dressings is to order it on the side (or at home put it on the side) and just dip your fork in it instead of pouring it all over the top. You get the same flavor but you don't eat as much of it.

I think whatever method works for you personally is great. It's all basically calories in/calories out. How you make that work for you is up to each individual. And what works great for one may not work at all for someone else.

Portion control is a huge problem. Both my Mom and my Aunt have struggled with this for years. They both must consume everything on their plate. No matter what. My Mom will even consume most of the garnish as well. This makes eating out really hard for them because resturant portions can be huge. This is one of the few advantages I see with "diet" tv type dinners etc. They are smaller portions. If you make say Mac & Cheese you are more tempted to eat the whole box. If you eat a lean cuisine there's only a set smaller amount. Living alone is also harder to maintain portion control as it's not so easy to make just one portion of say stew or soup.