One of the easiest ways to lose weight is to reduce the size of the portions of food you eat. The Food Pyramid recommends that a serving of beef should be 2 to 3 ounces - but in fact, our portions are usually much larger. A typical fast-food hamburger, for example, is 4 to 8 ounces, and you can order steaks and roast beef by the ounce - up to 16 ounces! - in many steak houses.

Similarly, while a serving of French fries should be about 10 fries, a large order of fries from a fast food restaurant can be four times that many. In fact, a single meal at a fast food restaurant can average 2,000 calories - that's the upper limit of total daily calories for many people.

Related information: Lifestyle changes - Manage weight | Nutrition channel: Weight Management Center