Your hand is the measuring cup
No scale, no app, no counting. Four hand shapes cover everything on the plate.
The four measures
One shape for each kind of food.
Build a plate
One or two of each is a meal for most moderately active people.
Why a hand and not a cup
Your hand is in proportion to the rest of you, it never changes size, and it's at every meal you'll ever eat. Checked against weighing and logging every bite, it comes out about 95% as accurate, for a fraction of the effort.
Then adjust
The starting plate is a guess. Your results tell you which way to move it. Protein and vegetables usually stay put; carbs and fats are the dials.
The awkward ones
Eight questions everybody asks in the first week. For all of them: pick an answer and stick to it. Being consistent matters more than being exactly right.
This week
Pick one.
Measure one meal a dayHold your hand next to the plate before you eat. That's all. You're training your eye, not keeping score.
Start at one or two of eachPalm, fist, cupped hand, thumb. Eat that for a week and notice how you feel between meals.
Change one thing, then waitAdd or remove one cupped handful or one thumb at a couple of meals. Give it two weeks before you judge it.
