HAND METHOD PORTION CONTROL

Portioning your food is an important part of managing your weight and is commonly done with a scale or measuring cups. Instead of using the two most popular methods, however, you can simply use your fingers, palms, and fists to estimate portion sizes for meal and snack items.

As to the benefit of using your hands rather than a scale or measuring cups, one is that your hands are always with you, which makes the hand method for portion control particularly useful when you’re eating out. Second, unlike its competing methods, the hand method doesn’t require any extra equipment or steps, which makes it easy to perform. As such, it’s of benefit if you find measuring your food by traditional means to be too much of a drain on your time and energy.

NOTE:
As convenient as the hand portion method is, it isn’t as accurate as the gold standard method, which is weighing. That said, the method is accurate enough to help you make sure that you’re eating the right amount of food to reach your goals.¹To create a balanced plate, you should eat 1-2 fists of vegetables, 1-2 cupped hands of carbs, 1-2 palms of lean protein, and 1-2 thumbs of fat at most, if not all, of your meals. Depending on your exact weight management goal, add or remove one half portion of carbs or fat from each meal when a plateau occurs.

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer and online coach in San Diego. He's helped hundreds of people lose weight, build muscle, and become more attractive to their loved one so they don't have as strong of a desire to cheat on them anymore. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys making fun of Drake and people who like the guy.

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