Portion Size

Portion size counts, this is generally accepted.. 

But it could be awfully boring and stressing  to weight everything that goes on your plate, all the time
. 

A fine trick of all diet has been to associate portion size with objects form everyday life.  Like a meat portion is a pack of card size, a pasta portion is like a tennis ball, a veggie size is what goes in a bowl, a potato portion is the size of a computer mouse a.s.o.  

But... We do have cups and bowls all sizes.  Computer mouse? A disappearing specie. 
At the beginning of your diet is a good thinking to choose recipients and a method to measure your portions.

A cup size is defined here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)

I'm in Europe so I use a 250 ml cup. USA cups are around 240 ml. 
The difference won' t fatten me, I'm sure.
A bowl is a cup and a half.

I'm using this chart and rules to quickly size my meals:

Beans: 1/3 bowl

Veggies: what goes in my both hands

Meat: half my hand 

Fish: my whole hand

Cheese: my thumb
Dairy: 1 yogurt unit or a cupa of milk or kefir

Bread: 1 slice

Pasta, rice, other starches: what would fill my cupped palm or 1/3 bowl
Nuts: what would fill my cupped palmWine: 1 glass if you're a woman, 2 glasses if you're a man, but not everyday.Other liquors? Just a dash, a taste now and then.

Sweets: no more than 100 calories a day and it better be dark chocolate.

Fruits: one of these 1 apple, 1 mandarin, 4 apricots, a cup of grapes, a cup of cherries or raspberries a.s.o.

Portions are really small, shocking isn' t it? But don't worry. You are not supposed to suffer hunger in a correct diet. You will feel better in time. You can find more in Dr Agatston's  book about the South Beach diet or on the South Beach Community site. 

A quick way to solve portioning is to place food on your plate using these simple rules:

 - 1/4 plate, a protein portion (eg. meat, fish)

 - 1/4 plate, starches or beans, 

 - 1/2 plate, veggies

For example, 1 portion of chicken meat, a similar portion in size of rice, and veggies twice as much in size.  

Use some artistic skills to make your plate look like in a good restaurant. Eat slowly and go for more only if you're still hungry.
Better wait for 10 minutes and then decide if you want some more food.
Your brain need time to process signals from your body and decide if more fuel is necessary.

This could work also in your vacation, to help you eat as usual, even there are many temptaitons.