Free tool
Hand portion calorie estimator
The hand-portion method gives you a body-calibrated way to estimate calories without weighing food. Your hand scales with your body — bigger people have bigger hands and (usually) need more food.
Estimated meal calories
400
kcal · this meal
Macro breakdown
- Per portion type
- Protein
- 110 kcal
- Vegetables
- 60 kcal
- Carbs
- 130 kcal
- Fats
- 100 kcal
For mixed dishes (lasagna, casseroles, sauced foods) the hand method loses accuracy because the ingredients are hidden. Use the highest-density category you can identify for those, or accept a ±20% error band.
Buy it back
Open the CalBurndown app to log 400 kcal and see what to walk, ruck, or stand to stay on budget.
Formula & assumptions
Each part of your hand corresponds to a portion of a food category. Tip: keep your hand flat and relaxed when comparing, not fully splayed.
Palm = 1 portion protein ≈ 25 g protein ≈ 100–130 kcal Fist = 1 portion vegetables ≈ small bowl ≈ 25 kcal Cupped = 1 portion carbs ≈ 35 g carbs ≈ 130 kcal Thumb = 1 portion fats ≈ 11 g fat ≈ 100 kcal
Calorie values above assume lean protein (chicken, fish, lean beef). For fattier proteins (salmon, 80/20 ground beef, dark-meat chicken), add ~40 kcal per palm. For cooked-in-oil veggies, add ~50 kcal per fist.
Accuracy: Precision Nutrition's research on the hand-portion method puts it at roughly 95% as accurate as weighing food — for plates where you can see the ingredients clearly. It loses accuracy on mixed dishes (lasagna, casseroles, sauced foods) where ingredients are hidden. For those, see our notes on photo calorie counter accuracy — same challenges, different tool.
References
Precision Nutrition (2017). Hand portion guide. precisionnutrition.com/hand-portion-faq
Mozaffarian, D. et al. (2011). Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain. New England Journal of Medicine, 364(25), 2392–2404. (Portion size as the single largest predictor of long-term weight gain in a 20-year cohort.)