Coming off a wonderful Easter weekend I felt the need to talk about controlling portion sizes of the food we eat. After Easter lunch with the family, my 2 sisters and I took a brisk walk through the neighborhood down to one of the towns really nice parks with a great walking trail. One of my beautiful sisters told me that part of her problem wasn’t just eating healthy foods because she did do that…….it was the amount that she ate. She said when she really likes something she has a really hard time not eating more than she should. I think we are all like that.  Many times people begin to exercise and change their diet. They eat all the right things. The problem is they eat too much. Weight control in reality is a numbers game. You need to know what your body burns in a day. You need to know what you are burning in  the activities you are doing. I know many people go on feel…..and that’s great……but eventually that catches up to you. I am a firm believer in knowing your numbers. One of the most important numbers is your BMR.   BMR stands for Basal Metabolism Rate. If you are working with a trainer I would suggest asking them to calculate it for you. Many gyms will provide this service as well. The one thing I strongly recommend is a heart rate monitor. This device is small (like a watch) and will tell you the calories you burn and if you are burning them in your target zone. Price ranges vary from inexpensive to very expensive depending on what bells and whistles you want. Whatever you decide to spend I believe it is well worth it.