Appropriate Body Fat Range for a Female Client

Oftentimes, the simplest method is the about effective method.

That’due south one of the big reasons we usually propose our
mitt portion method
to clients who want to be enlightened of how much they’re eating to lose or gain weight, and/or to improve their health.

You might exist wondering: If it’southward and so simple, why publish an FAQ?!

Well, even though our hand portion method has been validated through our experience with over 100,000 clients, no food tracking system is perfect.

Like any other method of food tracking, questions are bound to come one time you lot (or your clients) offset using manus portions.

So to help yous primary the system, nosotros’ve put together this “handy” guide.

It includes answers to all the most pressing hand-portion questions our coaches receive—plus some you lot (or your clients) might non have even thought of still.

Use the links below to jump directly to the answers you’re looking for, or give the whole FAQ a read to acquire how to troubleshoot the most mutual issues ahead of time. Question #1:

Question #1:
“How do I explicate hand portions to my clients?!”

Question #2:
“How accurate are hand portions?”

Question #3:
“How many hand portions should I eat?”

Question #4:
“Tin I practice paw portions with Paleo, keto, plant-based eating, and other diets?”

Question #5:
“Practice I gauge my portions before or afterwards cooking?”

Question #six:
“How practise I handle foods that don’t fit?”

Question #vii:
“How do I account for mixed-food meals?”

Question #8:
“Are legumes and lentils poly peptide or carbs?”

Question #9:
“What do I do when I’m non seeing results with manus portions?”

Question #10:
“How do I get skeptical clients on board with trying mitt portions?”

Bonus Question:
“Okay, but are in that location times when hand portions aren’t appropriate?”

++++

10 common manus-portion questions, answered

Question #i: “How do I explain hand portions to my clients?!”

Proceed information technology short and sweet.

Nosotros’d suggest starting with something similar:

You use your hand as a personalized, portable portioning tool.

You lot’re not actually measuring your food, but rather using your hand to estimate portion size. The following paradigm sums it up nicely (and you lot can find a
more than detailed infographic here.)

At that place are quite a few advantages to the system. 2 we’d recommend mentioning right off the bat:

#1: Your hands are with you everywhere you go.
This means you have a consistent reference bespeak wherever you are—at the airport, your mom’s house, work lunches, cafe restaurants, and more. (It too means you don’t accept to listen to your table mates groan as yous furiously search for calorie counts in your nutrient tracking app.)

#2: Your easily are generally proportional to your torso and always the same size.
So they serve as a reliable reference bespeak—without the need for measuring cups or a food scale. (No need to wonder if your scale’southward batteries are dying, or sheepishly pull your measuring cups out of your purse at your friend’s birthday dinner.)

From there, you can tackle a client’s specific questions or concerns equally they come upwards.

Question #2: “How accurate are hand portions?”

Our internal calculations show hand portions are about 95 percent as accurate every bit carefully weighing, measuring, and

tracking your nutrient
. With


essentially


less effort and time involved.

And since calorie databases—the tool most people use to track calories and macros—can be off by equally much as xx percentage, the 5 percent difference hither is negligible for nigh.^ane

Plus, as each mitt portion correlates to a certain amount of protein, carbs, and/or fat, this method counts calories and macros for you.

It can assist to run into what that might wait like in real-food terms, so the tables beneath provide perspective on what we consider
general
hand portion sizes.

For Men
1 palm (protein)	~4 oz (115 thousand) cooked meat / tofu, 1 loving cup Greek yogurt / cottage cheese, 1 scoop protein pulverisation, 2 whole eggs
i fist (veggies)	~1 cup non-starchy vegetables (spinach, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, etc.)
one cupped paw (carbs)	~⅔ cup (130 g) cooked grains / legumes (rice, lentils, oats, etc.), 1 medium fruit, 1 medium tuber (potatoes, yams, etc.)
i thumb (fats)	~ane tablespoon (14 g) oils, nuts, seeds, nut butters, cheese, dark chocolate, etc.

For Women
i palm (protein)	~iii oz (85 g) cooked meat / tofu, one cup Greek yogurt / cottage cheese, one scoop poly peptide powder, ii whole eggs
i fist (veggies)	~1 loving cup non-starchy vegetables (spinach, carrots, cauliflower, peppers, etc.)
1 cupped mitt (carbs)	~½ loving cup (100 chiliad) cooked grains / legumes (rice, lentils, oats, etc.), 1 medium fruit, 1 medium tuber (potatoes, yams, etc.)
1 pollex (fat)	~one tablespoon (14 k) oils, nuts, seeds, nut butters, cheese, dark chocolate, etc.

Want to run across the math? That’s totally fair, specially if you’re a numbers-oriented kind of person.

In the tables below, yous can see what each portion is approximately equivalent to in grams of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and calories.

Note that the manus portion system assumes a mixed intake, significant you’ll swallow various food sources of each category. In other words, it assumes you’ll eat different poly peptide sources like chicken, eggs, cottage cheese, and tofu for protein, as opposed to living on craven breast.

Too, equally y’all can run across in the table below, well-nigh foods aren’t purely one macronutrient. That’south okay—the manus portion system accounts for that, as well.

Men’s portion macros
one palm poly peptide	~ 24 g protein, two g carbs, iv.5 k fat, 145 kcal
1 fist veggies	~ 1.v g protein, 5 1000 carbs, 0 thou fat, 25 kcal
1 cupped paw of carbs	~ 3 g protein, 25 grand carbs, i g fat, 120 kcal
1 thumb fats	~ 2 one thousand protein, 2 g carbs, 9 g fat, 100 kcal

Women’southward portion macros
ane palm poly peptide	~ 22 g protein, ii g carbs, 4 grand fat, 130 kcal
1 fist veggies	~ i.5 m protein, 5 thousand carbs, 0 thousand fat, 25 kcal
one cupped hand of carbs	~ iii g poly peptide, 22 g carbs, i g fat, 110 kcal
1 thumb fats	~ 2 g poly peptide, ii g carbs, 8 g fat, xc kcal

Testing the paw portion math

Let’s encounter how this system works in practice and in comparison to manually tracking macros and calories.

Example i: High-level female athlete, 135 pounds with 18% torso fatty, who trains twice per day

• Pre-Workout @ 6am: xvi oz blackness coffee, 1 cup patently depression-fatty Greek yogurt, 1 cup chopped pineapple, 2 tbsp chopped walnuts, ane glass of h2o
• Conditioning @ 7:xv-viii:30am: Sips on 16 oz h2o during training session
• Post-Conditioning Shake @ 9:00am: 12 oz water, 2 scoops protein pulverization, 1 medium apple, 1/two cup old-fashioned oats, two cups of spinach, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, 1 tbsp almond butter
• Lunch @ 12pm: 3 oz salmon, ane cup steamed mixed veggies, one medium sugariness white potato, 1 tbsp coconut oil, two spectacles of h2o
• Mid-Afternoon Snack @ 4pm: 1 banana, 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1-2 glasses of water
• Conditioning @ 5:thirty-6pm: Sips on xvi oz h2o during preparation session
• Mail-Workout Dinner @ 7pm: three oz chopped chicken breast, 2 cups cooked whole grain pasta, plus 2 cups sautéed veggies with 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic and white cooking wine, 2 glasses of water

If yous calculate the calories and macronutrients of this person’s intake using the USDA nutrient database, you’ll get:

• 2672 kcal
• 170 grand protein
• 264 chiliad carbs
• 104 g fat

And if yous put this person’southward intake into hand-size portion terms, yous’ll get:

• Protein = 5 palms (Greek yogurt, poly peptide pulverisation x two, salmon, chicken)
• Veggies = 5 fists (spinach x 2, mixed veggies, sauteed veggies 10 2)
• Carbs = 10 cupped hands (pineapple x two, apple tree, oats, sweetness potato, banana, pasta 10 4)
• Fats = 9 thumbs (walnuts x 2, flax seed, almond butter, kokosnoot oil, peanut butter x two, olive oil x two)

When you multiply those portion numbers using approximate hand-portion math for women (see above table), it would provide anestimated intake of:

• 2672 kcal (exactly the same as calculating information technology with apps and spreadsheets)
• 166 thousand poly peptide (4 k fewer than calculating information technology with apps and spreadsheets)
• 273 one thousand carbs (9 g more than calculating it with apps and spreadsheets)
• 102 g fat (two grand fewer than computing it with apps and spreadsheets)

Case 2: Moderately active male, 210 pounds with 17% body fat

• Wake @ v:30am: 12 oz black java
• Breakfast @ seven:00am: four whole eggs with a big bunch of peppers, scallions, and mushrooms cooked in a large pat of butter, placed on whole wheat wrap, with ~ane oz cheese, 1 cupped hand of blackness beans, and some pico de gallo, large drinking glass of water, 12 oz black coffee
• Super Shake @ 10:30am: ~ten oz water, 2 scoops chocolate protein pulverisation, 2 cups of spinach, 2 cups frozen cherries, ~1 tablespoon cacao nibs, ~one tablespoon of chia seeds
• Lunch @ 2pm: 4 oz turkey breast, ~⅔ loving cup quinoa, 1 fist of mixed veggies, 1 apple, 2 thumbs of roasted almonds, i-2 big spectacles of h2o
• 1-2 cups green tea @ 3-4pm
• Dinner @ 6pm: viii oz sirloin (lean), ii cupped hands of roasted red potatoes with onions, 2 cups roasted rainbow carrots, 2 tbsp olive oil for roasting, i drinking glass wine, 1-two big glasses of h2o

If you summate the calories and macronutrients of this person’s intake using the USDA food database, y’all’ll get:

• 3130 kcal
• 212 g protein
• 283 g carbs
• 111 k fatty

And if y’all put this person’s intake into hand-size portion terms, you’ll become:

• Poly peptide = 7 palms (eggs x 2, protein pulverization x 2, turkey, sirloin x two)
• Veggies = half-dozen fists (scallions / peppers / mushrooms / pico, spinach x two, mixed veggies, rainbow carrots x 2)
• Carbs = ix cupped easily (wrap, beans, cherries x iii, quinoa, apple, potato x 2)
• Fats = 8 thumbs (butter, guacamole, cacao nibs, chia seeds, almonds x 2, olive oil 10 2)
• Alcohol = 1 (wine)

When you lot multiply those portion numbers using gauge hand-portion math for men, information technology’d provide anestimated intake of:

• 3183 kcal (53 kcal more calculating it with apps and spreadsheets)
• 220g protein (8 one thousand more than than computing it with apps and spreadsheets)
• 285g carbs (two g more than computing it with apps and spreadsheets)
• 113g fat (2 thousand more than than calculating it with apps and spreadsheets)

When looking at both examples, simply using your hands would be 96-100% as accurate every bit weighing, measuring, and logging all foods on apps or spreadsheets. Plus, with the known error rates of calories and macronutrients present on labels and in nutrient databases, this level of accuracy volition likely suffice for all but the most advanced individuals (i.e., people being paid to wait a certain way).

Make no mistake: Hand portions
aren’t as accurate as macro tracking. But
they are accurate enough to help you consistently track your food intake, and achieve your goals
(including
transforming your body, if that’s what you’re later). And that’due south what actually matters.

Question #iii: “How many hand portions should I eat each day?”

It depends.

There’s no one-size-fits-all recommendation that’ll work for everyone, but nosotros do have some general guidelines for people who want to effort it out. Virtually people will meet their needs with a starting framework of:

• one-2 palms of poly peptide-dense foods at each meal
• 1-two fists of vegetables at each repast
• 1-ii cupped handfuls of carbohydrates at most meals
• 1-2 thumbs of fat-dense foods at most meals

Of course, depending on your goals, you lot may need to arrange these general recommendations in social club to come across results.

That’s exactly why we created the

Precision Nutrition Computer
.

Designed, developed, and tested in the Precision Nutrition research lab—and proven constructive with thousands of clients—it’s the nigh comprehensive calorie, portion, and macro estimator available.

The calculator takes into business relationship:

• Your personal details
  (height, historic period, weight, sex activity)
• Physical activity levels
  (both daily movement and purposeful practise)
• Diet and fitness goals
  (weight loss, muscle gain, trunk recomposition, amend health, peak operation)
• The appointment you want to reach your goal past
  (within reason!)
• The irresolute and adaptive nature of homo metabolism
  (a major benefit of this reckoner)

Hither’s what’due south really absurd:

One time it estimates your calorie and macronutrient needs, it automatically converts those numbers into hand portions.

And later on those are calculated, we’ll send you lot a free, personalized guide to using our hand portion arrangement for hitting your calorie and macro targets.

Question #four: “Can I do hand portions with Paleo, keto, plant-based eating, and other diets?”

No thing the eating fashion, the respond is nearly surely yes.

In fact, our
paw portions figurer
gives you the option of choosing from a variety of eating styles, including
Mediterranean, Paleo, vegetarian, ketogenic, and fully found-based.
(If yous’ll swallow practically annihilation with no restrictions, at that place’south an option for that, too.)

What’due south more than, you can accommodate your macronutrient separate—that is, your relative proportions of protein, carbohydrates, and fats—before you get your results.

So if you’re non into keto (<10 pct carbs), but yous prefer to eat lower-carb, y’all tin can adapt your hand portions to account for that. Aforementioned goes if you prefer a depression-fat diet, or if you accept any other preference well-nigh your macronutrient ratio.

The low-tech mode to do this is to simply supersede 1 portion for some other. For instance, let’southward say you lot prefer a low-fatty diet, and you eat 4 meals a mean solar day. At 2 of your meals, you might naught the pollex of fats, instead adding an extra palm of protein, or an actress cupped handful of carbs. (You lot could also separate the extra portion betwixt the protein and carbs.)

The bottom line: The hand portions system is endlessly adjustable to a variety of eating styles, with almost no math required.

Question #five: “Practice I gauge my portions before or subsequently cooking?”

One of the most mutual questions asked about using your hands to measure out portions is whether the hand portions are for cooked or uncooked foods.

The answer is both.

Mitt portions are for
plating
your nutrient, not
cooking
it. For foods you lot eat cooked, you approximate them once cooked (east.g., meat, pasta, rice). For foods y’all eat raw, y’all gauge them raw.

And if a food tin be eaten both cooked or raw (such as spinach, for example) then you would utilize your hand to judge the amount that is going onto your plate, whether you cooked it or not. (While there is a calorie departure between the cooked and uncooked version, that simply really matters for folks with the most advanced aesthetic goals, such as bodybuilders).

That way, hand portions tin exist used anywhere: dwelling, restaurants, buffets, conferences, at a friend’southward business firm, the office.

Question #6: “How do I handle foods that don’t fit perfectly into a category?”

Most foods clearly fit into the hand portion categories: protein, carbohydrates, fatty, and vegetables. (If you’re non sure about a certain food,
this infographic will provide answers.)

Simply some foods and drinks don’t seem like they fit well into the hand-size portion system.

The good news: There are workarounds.

Most notably problematic are liquids and foods fabricated from multiple ingredients (equally opposed to whole foods).

Here’due south how to handle them. And no, you don’t have to pour drinks into your cupped mitt to measure them!

Dairy

Cow’s milk, non-Greek yogurt, and kefir are tricky as they’re a pretty even mix of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, or tin vary depending on the fat level you choose (for instance, whole, depression fatty, skim).

We suggest making the decision of how to count a specific type of milk or yogurt based on the fatty or sugar content.

• Generally, consider one cup (8 ounces) of whole milk products a “thumb” of fat. (Yes, even though it’s larger than a thumb and too provides some protein and carbs.)
• Anything lower in fat (0 to 2 percent) is more often than not considered a cupped hand of carbs (while also providing some fats and protein).
• A cup of anything highly-sweetened (chocolate milk, strawberry yogurt) is generally considered a cupped manus of carbs (while likewise providing fats and poly peptide).

So what happens in this situation: You have a total-fatty yogurt or whole milk that’s highly sweetened? Is it a fat or carb?

Think of information technology this way: If it’s already full-fat, y’all know information technology’s a thumb of fatty. Just if a lot of saccharide is as well added to information technology, then information technology’southward


likewise


a cupped hand of carbs.

The key hither is to pick an approach, and utilize it consistently. For near people, this is probably more than important than the actual classification itself.

That’due south because the paw portion system already has built-in buffers: It assumes your protein, fatty, and carb sources comprise smaller amounts of the other macros.

What’s more, if y’all’re consistent with how you gauge foods, you can more hands adjust based on the results y’all’re getting.

Establish milks

Plant milks are much like cow’s milk above. They tend to provide a mix of macros, depending on the source, and nomenclature would also depend on whether or not they’re sweetened.

Generally, unsweetened versions (like plainly almond milk) don’t count as annihilation, as they typically only have about xxx to xl calories in a whole cup (viii ounces), and are often consumed in relatively small amounts.

A sweetened version, yet, would be considered a cupped hand of carbs.

Again, the key is to selection an approach and follow it consistently.

Eggs

Eggs are considered a protein, but considering they’re liquid in their raw form, people are sometimes unsure about how to measure them.

In general, ii cooked whole eggs are the size of a palm. Four cooked egg whites are also the size of an average palm.

Of form, actual amounts may vary based on the size of your private palm.

One question nosotros’ve gotten about eggs: Why do two eggs count as a palm of protein when they just take near 6 grams of protein each? (So 12 grams of protein in total.)

Information technology’s a adept question. First, it’s important to remember:

With paw portions, we’re using our hands to gauge the portion size. We’re not contrary-engineering the portions based on how many macros are in a given food.

ii eggs are the size of an average palm, which is why they’re counted as one palm of poly peptide.

If you’re wondering how this impacts your total protein intake, the respond goes back to the idea of assuming a mixed intake of a variety of different protein sources.

Overall, we estimate that each palm of poly peptide is approximately 20 to 30 grams of poly peptide. It’due south true two eggs provide less protein than, say, a palm of chicken breast. Just… a palm of chicken breast is actually
in a higher place
that twenty- to 30-gram range.

The idea:
Most
sources—but non all—volition land in that 20- to 30-gram range. And the
average
of all the different protein sources you eat volition certainly end upward in that range, even if there are some individual exceptions (like eggs and chicken breast).

Cookies, water ice cream, chips (and other compound foods)

With naturally-occurring or minimally-processed foods, information technology’s usually all-time to assign only one mitt portion to a food.

Simply with these highly-processed “compound” foods, you’ll desire to assign ii (or more) mitt portions. Considering just similar dairy products that are full-fat and highly sweetened, they count as both fat and carbs.

Hither’s an easy way to account for highly-candy and compound foods: one handful is equal to one thumb of fatty and one cupped hand of carbs.

Soda and juice

Unfortunately, a serving of soda doesn’t actually fit into a cupped hand. Regardless,
consider a 12-ounce can of non-diet soda every bit one cupped paw of carbs.

Certainly, viii ounces would exist preferable from the standpoint of concrete size (and saccharide total), but 12 ounces actually simplifies the process, as these beverages about often come pre-packaged this manner.

(This is similar to how we account for bananas, apples, oranges, pears, and other fruits of different sizes, since they’re “pre-packaged” past nature.)

Again, the consistency of how you approximate your manus portions is really the nigh important factor.

As for juice,
consider an 8-ounce glass of juice to be i cupped hand of carbs.

Alcohol

In many ways, alcohol should exist its ain portion category, as the vast bulk of its calories are derived from its alcohol content (7 kcal/gram), not its carb, protein or fat content.

This applies to pretty much all booze, be it light beer, microbrew/craft beer, vino, hard ciders, and spirits.

A “serving” of booze is about 5 ounces for vino, 1 ounce for spirits (example: vodka, whiskey, tequila), and 12 ounces for beer.

All the same, with the rise of arts and crafts beers, such every bit double IPAs that have much higher alcohol content than “regular” beer, the standard “beer serving” doesn’t hold up as well equally it once did.

Virtually “regular” beer is nigh iv to 5 pct alcohol by volume (ABV). Many craft beers tin can exist equally high as 9 percent ABV, some even reaching 15 to xx percentage ABV.

And since booze itself provides calories (over again, 7 kcal/gram), doubling or tripling the booze content dramatically increases the calorie content.

Additionally, many craft beers take higher amounts of carbs than “regular” beers. The amount of carbs in a beer depends on how it’s made.

If the beer has a thicker mouthfeel, darker appearance, and sweeter season, it volition most likely take more than carbs. The amount of carbs in a 12 ounce “serving” of beer ranges from 2 to xvi grams. Plus, many craft beers come in xvi ounce sizes, or pints, which means they are 33 pct larger, and thus provide 33 percent more booze, carbs, and calories.

Is your caput spinning yet? Don’t overcomplicate. Like nosotros said, simpler is better.

So…

For hand portion purposes, nosotros recommend counting them equally follows:

• A serving of wine, spirits or “regular” beer counts as ane cupped hand of carbs or ane thumb of fat.
• A serving of dessert wine, sweetened spirit (e.one thousand. gin and tonic, margarita), or sweeter/loftier-alcohol/craft beer counts as two portions—either 2 cupped easily of carbs, 2 thumbs of fat, or 1 of each.

One last note on alcohol: While you can count your alcohol intake with hand portions, it is yet important to be mindful of your overall number of drinks. (You lot tin acquire more here about how
all drinking comes with potential wellness effects.)

Question #7: “How do I count portions for mixed-food meals?”

Dishes comprised of a big mix of foods, such as soups and stews, can brand it tricky to assign mitt portions (only as they make it hard if yous’re tracking macros or calories).

You simply accept to eyeball it, and make your all-time guess, especially if you didn’t brand the repast yourself.

Ultimately, the general goal is to get a portion of protein, veggies, quality carbs, and/or healthy fats in each serving. This is relatively piece of cake to do when cooking for yourself. When eating meals fabricated by others, simply guesstimate likewise equally you can.

Most chiefly, if the goal is annihilation other than weight gain, eat slowly and mindfully, until satisfied.

Often, mixed-food meals like this are a combination of poly peptide, carbs, and fats, simply are a bit lower in veggies. Calculation a vegetable on the side tin can be very helpful. And calculation additional protein can also exist helpful if the meal seems to have a greater proportion of carbs and fats (which they oft do).

One thing to remember here: For meals yous have frequently, “set it and forget it.” Pregnant, establish how y’all’ll guess the hand portions, and consistently follow that approach. That way, if yous always want to arrange your intake, you’ll know how to count the hand portions. (If you determine to eat one-half the usual amount of a soup, you’d and so only count half the usual paw portions.)

Question #eight: “Should I count legumes and lentils every bit poly peptide or carbs?”

Legumes and lentils
contain both protein and carbs, so where should they be counted?

Respond: It depends on the meal itself and/or the eating style of the individual.

If someone is
fully plant-based/vegan, then it’s probable the legumes or lentils will count as their poly peptide source, since those are probably the virtually protein-dumbo foods they’re consuming in a given meal.

For most other eaters, beans and legumes would mostly count as a carb source, since they are far richer in carbs than protein.

But they can also count as both… under certain atmospheric condition.

Our suggestion: Choose the most protein-rich food (assuming there is ane) equally your protein source, and slot the other items from there.

Examples:

1. Chicken with beans, broccoli and olive oil
2. Beans with rice, broccoli and olive oil
3. Two portions of beans with broccoli and olive oil
4. 1 portion of beans with broccoli and olive oil

In example 1, chicken is the protein (the almost protein-rich part of the dish), beans are the carbs, broccoli is the vegetable, and olive oil is the fat.

In instance 2, beans are the protein (the about poly peptide-rich function of the dish), rice is the carb, broccoli is the vegetable, and olive oil is the fatty.

In example 3, 1 serving of beans would count equally protein, and the other serving would count as carbs. In this scenario, it gets more than hard because it’south less clear-cut than the get-go 2 examples.

In example 4, information technology would depend on the eater. Omnivore? Then we’d likely count the beans as a carb. Establish-based? Then we’d probable count the beans equally a protein.

Question #nine: “What do I exercise when I’yard not seeing results with hand portions?”

Y’all can always consider tweaking your hand portions, but before yous do that it can be helpful to understand realistic rates of progress.

Stick with a consistent number of hand portions for at to the lowest degree two weeks and monitor your progress earlier trying to switch things upwards. This allows enough time to determine whether you’re getting closer to your goal—or not.

If your goal is fat loss…

How fast you tin lose body fat depends on how consistently you can, or want to, follow the guidelines you lot’re given.

Realistic rates of fat loss per calendar week

Progress	% Body Weight	Men	Women
Extreme	one-ane.5% trunk weight	~2-three lb (0.91-1.36 kg)	~1.65-2.5 lb (0.75-1.thirteen kg)
Reasonable	0.five-1% body weight	~i-two lb (0.45-0.91 kg)	~0.8-1.65 lb (0.36-0.75 kg)
Comfortable	<0.5% body weight	~<one lb (0.45 kg)	~<0.8 lb (0.36 kg)

Here’s how to quantify each of these categories:

Farthermost: Requires about ninety to 100 percent consistency.

Reasonable:  Requires about 70 to 85 percent consistency.

Comfortable: Requires about 50 to 65 percent consistency.

Clearly, the more consequent you are, the faster your progress, and the more fat y’all may lose.

It’s also important to realize that fat loss is rarely linear. It fluctuates from mean solar day to twenty-four hour period and week to week. The goal is to meet an overall tendency downwardly over fourth dimension.

Simply if you’re not seeing that trend…

You tin adjust your hand portions by removing i to two cupped handfuls of carbs and/or 1 to 2 thumbs of fats from your daily intake. (That’s two to iii total portions of carbs and fats, combined.) This works out to eating about 250 calories less per twenty-four hour period.

If your goal is muscle gain…

The ability to gain muscle is dependent on age, biological sexual practice, genetics, and consistency with food intake, along with resistance training experience, intensity, frequency, way, volume, and more than.

Realistic rates of muscle gain per calendar month

Fettle level	Men		Women
Beginner	one-ane.v% trunk weight	~i.v-ii.5 lb (0.68-1.13 kg)	0.5-0.75% trunk weight	~0.65-1 lb (0.29-0.45 kg)
Intermediate	0.5-0.75% torso weight	~0.75-1.25 lb (0.34-0.56 kg)	0.25-0.375% torso weight	~0.325-0.5 lb (0.xiv-0.23 kg)
Advanced	0.25-0.375% body weight	~0.375-0.625 lb (0.17-.28 kg)	0.125-0.1875% body weight	~0.1625-0.25 lb (0.07-0.11 kg)

Much like fat loss, musculus gain is often not linear. Progress seems to come in fits and spurts, particularly after the beginning year of defended training.

But if you’re not gaining musculus as expected…

Only add i to 2 cupped handfuls of carbs and/or 1 to 2 thumbs of fats to your daily intake. (Again, that’south 2 to three full portions of carbs and fats, combined.) This works out to an increase of nigh 250 calories a day.

Want to learn more? Hither’s a
deep dive into how to accommodate your portions when you’re not seeing progress, plus a neat
downloadable reference guide
on how to tweak your intake to get better results.

Question #10: “How do I get skeptical clients on board with trying mitt portions?”

If you lot’re a coach, you may have clients used to counting calories and/or macros, who don’t believe that paw portions could possibly deliver the same results.

On the other hand, you might have clients who don’t count annihilation, preferring a more intuitive method instead.

There’due south cypher incorrect with either of these approaches. (Here’southward more than info on
how hand portions, macro counting, calorie counting and intuitive eating compare.)

But when a customer isn’t seeing the results they’re looking for with their current nutrient intake tracking method, you might take a hunch that hand portions could assistance.

And so how do you help hand-portion skeptics?

Care for using paw portions as an experiment.

Self-experimentation is one of the cornerstones of our very ain coaching program. (Learn more than:
3 diet experiments that can change your eating habits.)

Why? It takes away the pressure to make a “perfect” diet pick. If you experiment with something and it doesn’t piece of work out—no big deal. You’re one step closer to figuring out what works for you lot by procedure of emptying.

And best case scenario? You lot find something that really
does
work for y’all.

So if your customer is willing to try out paw portions for ii weeks, brand information technology an experiment.

Encourage them to gather their data about the feel like a scientist, without judgement.

At the end of the 2 weeks, check in to run into how the experiment went, and decide how you’ll move forward together.

We discover that hand portions work for many (if non near!) of our clients once they try them. Simply be open to the idea that your client may still feel uncertain about hand portions after their experiment is done. That’south okay.

Every person is dissimilar, and you lot never know exactly how a particular way of eating is going to work until you try.

Bonus question: “Okay, but are there times when manus portions
aren’t
appropriate?”

People who want to eat, motion, and alive better usually do well with hand portions. They’re user-friendly, easy to understand, and highly customizable with very piddling effort involved.

But it’d exist wrong to say that hand portions are hands-downwardly the best approach for


everyone

.

Different strategies work for dissimilar types of goals. Ultimately, whether you lot choose to use hand portions,
PN’southward plate method, macro counting,
food timing
protocols, or whatsoever other nutritional tool depends on what you lot hope to reach, or the “job to be done.”

In detail, mitt portions may not be the right approach for people who accept the near aggressive artful and functioning goals.

For instance, professional athletes and physique models may need a more precise strategy, such as macro counting or even a strict meal programme. It’s the same with athletes who demand to cut weight or achieve a specific body fat percentage—such as in grooming for a UFC fight.

Go along in listen: These people are essentially existence paid to swallow this fashion. Information technology’s function of their task. And that comes with tradeoffs.

(If yous’re wondering what those tradeoffs might await like, check out our resource on
the toll of getting lean.)

There will likewise be some people who try hand portions and merely don’t like them.

For example, people who love numbers and data might find tracking macros and calories along with torso changes empowering. These folks are also usually emotionally discrete from the numbers—seeing them equally data rather than assigning them “proficient” or “bad” values.

These people might experiment with manus portions, as described above, and say, “Nah, I’m practiced.” That’s valid.

It really comes down to this:

Hand portions work for a lot of—if not almost—people. But there are always exceptions, because there’s no unmarried best mode to eat.

References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

If you’re a coach, or you desire to be…

You lot can help people build nutrition and lifestyle habits that improve their physical and mental health, bolster their amnesty, assistance them ameliorate manage stress, and get
sustainable
results. Nosotros’ll testify you how.

If you’d like to acquire more, consider the
PN Level i Diet Coaching Certification.