If you want to lost weight, you know that calories matter. But in most cases, meticulously counting calories is not the solution. That approach is often tedious, inexact, and unsustainable and when eating becomes too complicated, people are more likely to give up and fall back on old habits.
So what can you do? The key is to find ways to eat quality foods in appropriate amounts.
USING YOUR HANDS
It’s easy, portable, and customized precisely for you. In fact, all you need is your hand and the ability to count to two.
Here’s how it works:
* Your palm determines your protein portions.
* Your fist determines your veggie portions.
* Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.
* Your thumb determines your fat portions.
Of course, everybody is a little different. But since bigger people tend to have bigger hands and smaller people tend to have smaller hands, your own hand provides just the right measuring guidance for your food intake.
Let’s break down how this works one food group at a time.
PROTEIN
For protein-dense foods like meat, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, and Greek yogurt, use a palm sized serving. This means the serving had the same thickness and diameter as your palm. Each palm sized serving provides approximately 20-30 grams of protein.
For Men, a good guideline is 6-8 palm sized portions of protein each day. That’s two palm sized portions in each meal, assuming you eat four meals per day.
For Women, the recommendation is 4-6 palm sized portions of protein each day. That works out to roughly one palm sized portion in each meal. (Again assuming four meals per day.)
This helps you meet your protein needs to build muscle, burn fat, improve recovery, and boost performance.
VEGETABLES
For non starchy colorful vegetables (Think broccoli, spinach, salad, carrots, etc.) use a fist sized serving. Again, a fist sized portion has the same thickness and diameter as your fist.
For Men, the guideline is 6-8 sized portions of vegetables each day. That comes out to roughly two fist sized portions in each meal.
For Women, the recommendation is 4-6 fist sized portions of vegetables each day, or about one fist sized portion each meal.
Of course, you’re free to eat more veggies but just adding one fist sized portion to each meal is a great starting place.
CARBOHYDRATES
For Carbohydrate-dense foods like grains, starches, or fruits use a cupped hand to determine your serving size. Each cupped handful provides approximately 20-30g of carbohydrates.
For Men, the guideline is 6-8 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates each day. This works out to roughly one cupped handful in each meal.
For Women, the recommendation is 4-6 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates each day. This works out to roughly one cupped handful in each meal.
This gives you enough carbs to fuel performance, maintain hormones, and feel good without getting excessive.
FAT
For fat-dense foods like oil, butters, nut butters, and nuts/seeds, use your entire thumb to determine your serving size. A thumb sized portion is the thickness and entire length of your thumb, and each serving provides approximately 7-12g of fat.
For Men, the guideline is 6-8 thumb sized portions of fat each day. This works out to roughly two thumb sized portions of fat in each meal.
For Women, the recommendation is 4-6 thumb sized portions of fat each day. This works out to roughly one thumb sized portion in each meal.
This amount gives clients enough fats to support the immune system, maintain sex hormones, and perform many other vital functions without being excessive.
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