………..well it certainly does when it comes to following a healthy diet. Oh how I wish I’d remembered this old adage on Friday night.

All day long I’d had a craving for some Maltesers and after a hectic work at week and with a quiet night ahead I thought I would treat myself to a packet. I am a true believer in listening to what your body says (within reason) when it comes to food and my body was saying ‘Maltesers. Now.’ Loud and clear!

After a thorough check of the sweet shelves there were no Maltesers to be seen. The helpful assistant pointed me to the end of the aisle where the big ‘share-packs’ were displayed. That was the smallest bag they had. For a moment my will power spoke sense to me, telling me to just leave them as once I’d eaten my dinner the craving would subside. However my naughty self took over and I purchased the share-pack thinking that I’d only have a few and my boyfriend would be sure to eat more than me anyway, so it would be ok. Homeward bound.

The Mexican chicken dish with kidney beans and natural yogurt certainly didn’t leave my palette unsatisfied, yet for some reason I was compelled to open the Maltesers as we sat down to watch the film. Even the fact that I couldn’t hear the start of the film for my relentless crunching on the chocolaty honeycomb treats didn’t stop me. The share-pack was empty and I’d failed to share any!

Now had I just gone to another shop and bought the standard size packet my craving would’ve been satisfied and I wouldn’t have greedily guzzled 4 times the portion that I did. Empty calorie central.

I was so disappointed in myself, so my tip to you all is that if you know your will power level is at a low be sure to only buy / serve a portion size that you need – not a portion size for greed.

Do you have any top tips to help with portion control? Share them in the comments box below.