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Portion Sizes
Nutrition | February 03, 2015
I’m not a fan of counting calories, because quite frankly it’s a little bit of a hassle and besides, it’s not always accurate. If you rely on searching for nutrition facts in handbooks, websites or apps, you can’t be sure the data are correct. In fact, research has shown they can be off by about 25% because of measurement errors, incorrect labeling, or food quality. You have to also consider “calories out” which comes with another 25% measurement error because it’s hard to determine exactly how many calories you burn on any given day. It will vary depending on the activities, workouts, and individual differences. The good news is that calorie counting is rarely necessary. All you need is your own hands to determine your portion sizes:
- Your palm determines your protein portions.
- Your cupped hands determine your veggie portions.
- Your one cupped hand determines your carb and fruit portions.
- Your thumb determines your fat portions.
Protein Intake
For protein dense foods like meat, fish, or egg whites use one palm sized serving. Two palms for men.
Vegetable Intake
For veggies like broccoli, spinach, salad, carrots, etc. use two hands cupped together sized serving. Double the amount for men.
Fruit and Starchy Carb Intake
For carbohydrate dense foods like grains, starches or fruits use a cupped hand sized serving. Two cupped hands for men.
Fat Intake
For fat dense foods like oils, nuts, nut butters, avocado, egg yolk, etc. – use your entire thumb sized serving. Two thumbs for men.
Body Size
Our hand size correlates pretty closely with our body size including muscle, bone, the whole deal. Therefor your hand is a personalized and portable measuring device for your food intake.
Planning your meals
Based on the guidelines above, which assume you’ll be eating about 4 times a day, you now have a simple and flexible guide for meal planning. Remember that this is a starting point. You can adjust your portions or meal frequency depending on your goals and the progress you’re making. You can’t know exactly how your body will respond in advance, so stay flexible and adjust your portions based on your hunger, fullness, goals, etc.
For example if you’re trying to lose weight but don’t seem to get any results, you can try to eliminate a cupped palm of carbs at a particular meals. Or if you’re having trouble gaining weight, you can add an extra cupped palm of carbs or a palm of protein. Since this is a starting point, it will always be important to adjust your portions based on how is this working for YOU.
If you want to take this a little further and dig a little deeper, I have a really good guide to help you eat right for your body type.
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka, I would like to ask you about the portion of fat. I can understand that you eat 6 almonds as a snack for example but when I open the avocado I eat at least half of it for breakfast plain or in the smoothie od in a dinner salad. isn’t thumb size portion really small?
Private Member |
santa cruz, ca
Yeah, I don’t agree that an avocado is a “fat” food. It is not like eating oils or butter. It is a complete food full of other macro and micronutrients, like fibers and amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and all the phytonutrients that are unique to an avocado. It is a fruit, and the body does not assimilate it the same way that it assimilates other fats or fatty foods.
Private Member |
I would love to know what you ate today:-)
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
I am a mesomorph leaning on the endomorph side of the range. Do you replace one type of food with anothe, eg when skipping the carbs for proper timing, do you double your veggies ? Or just omit ? I tend to be better disciplined in the morning and then getting looser towards end of day, any tip to overcome this ?
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka! I don’t understand why men need double size of everything. I thought nutrition needs depending on weight and goals and not gender.
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
It’s just a starting point for guys, also assuming they’re active and want to put on or retain muscles.
Private Member |
moscow, russia
I don’t pay attention on portion size, I’m counting how much protein, carbs and fats I eat per day for 1 kg of my body weight. It gives me confidence that my body gets all macronutrient. If I don’t do it, I’m nervous. XD.
Private Member |
Could you do a post on an example of your day using portion sizes?
Thanks
Private Member |
Oh man, I love that photo! I think it’s also pretty funny because it reminds me of the way children’s books picture the evil witch who offers poisoned candy to the children 😀 Aside from that, there is some really useful info in this article, including the creative way you showed portion sizes. I’ve found that since running your own business, you’ve grown above and beyond yourself. I’m certainly impressed.
Private Member |
sydney, aus
Woah! Those portion sizes are tiny. Iv always been fit and thin, eat whatever ( mainly healthy, salads, fruit etc) and how much I want. Ive always been a good weight and really athletic. So how does those portions sizes relate to someone like me? Some days I eat half an avocado or 3 handfuls of almonds and maybe 3 rows of dark chocolate after + 3 main meals n snacks and I’ve never put on weight from these eating habits. Always consistent. So I’m confused. Do you eat these portion sizes only if you want too lose weight? I do want to lose 3kg to get Down to 55kg. So would this work for me?
Thanks 🙂
Private Member |
I’ve always asked myself how do we measure yogurt then 😀
Private Member |
gold coast, qld, australia
This is so easy to base on 😀 Thanks zuzka.
But I am confused with the portion size for men, when you said double the portion. Does that mean based on his palm size and doubled it ?
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
Exactly. Men do typically need to eat more in order to fulfill their daily caloric needs.