[saagarjha]

Interestingly, the my parents were the ones serving me for the majority of my childhood. I guess they had already internalized this rule and knew how much food I needed ;)

At restaurants, we would usually skimp on appetizers and other “fluff” before the main course, which I have found makes the total amount of food not overly large.

[tapland]

Tbh your post reads as 'I avoided overeating by me learning how much I needed to eat and me never putting extra on the plate'

In reality I guess you had unusual parents who were good at telling how much you needed, so you didn't avoid this problem in any way at all, you were just not subject to it.

[saagarjha]

I need to serve myself now, so I still think the suggestion applies?