3 ways to portion out your food
One of the biggest challenges I hear around eating healthy is knowing how to portion out your food.
Knowing the proper amount to eat can be tough if we don’t have the time or resources to measure out our food each meal.
Properly portioning out your meals is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. It helps ensure that you eat balanced and full meals so that you can build lean muscle and increase your energy levels.
With practice and the help of a few simple methods we’ll cover below, you can train yourself to portion out your meals with confidence.
Here are 3 ways to portion out your food:
The Hand Method: Your hand can be an excellent tool to estimate portion sizes. This is because our hands are proportional to us based on our size. Here’s a quick visual of how the hand method works.
For example, 1 serving of protein (meat, fish, poultry) should be about the size of your palm, while 1 serving of carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoes) should be about the size of your hand when it’s cupped. 1 serving of vegetables can be measured by your fist, and 1 serving of fats (like avocados or olive oil) can be measured by the length of your thumb.
The Plate Method: This one is simple, use your plate to help you portion out your food. How you divide your plate will depend on your goals and where you’re at. For example, someone wanting to gain weight will probably have a larger portion of their plate filled with carbs/fats than someone who is trying to lean out. Below is one example of a way you could do this.
Here is the most basic method I recommend to people:
Divide your plate into 3 equal sections, with each section representing a food group. For example, 1 section is for protein, 1 for carbohydrates, and 1 for vegetables. This can help you visually understand what a balanced meal looks like, while ensuring that you get a good combo of macro and micronutrients.
Weighing your food (Macro Counting): This is the most intense method. Macro counting is the most effective way to hit your goals, but it also requires a lot more time and planning than the other 2 methods. For this reason, I’ve found that it’s not sustainable or neccessary for most busy people.
That being said, if it’s something you want to do, you have 2 options:
1) Work with a coach to help you create a nutrition plan based on your goals
2) Use a macro calculator online to give you an idea of what your numbers should look like, then break those numbers down into the # of meals you’ll eat per day
Remember, mindfully eating the right amounts of the right foods is essential to a healthy lifestyle. By using these methods, you can ensure that you are eating balanced and nutritious foods and feeding your body the best fuel you can.
Picking a method to use:
How you choose to portion out your food should depend on the difficulty of the goal you’re trying to achieve and how quickly you’re trying to acheive it.
To demonstrate this, let’s think about the following 2 examples.
A bodybuilder with a competition in 8 weeks has a small amount of time and a difficult goal. This person would want to be strict with their nutrition and shoot for 95% adhearance to the plan. Macro counting would be best for them.
Someone who is simply trying to get leaner and increase overall strength + energy without a specific date in mind for their goal, however, could use either the hand method or the plate method and still see great results. They don’t have to be as strict because their goal isn’t bound by an upcoming deadline
These methods are all just tools to add to your toolbox. Use whichever one you feel will work best for you!
Thanks for reading 🙂
Dane