2 Effective Alternatives to Calorie Tracking (That Deliver Real Results)

Diets, like clothes, should be tailored to you.
––Joan Rivers

Between holidays, BBQs, and parties, calorie-tracking in the summer sometimes is about as practical as eating pizza with a spoon.

For this reason and for all my clients who want to transition away from tracking calories and macros, I’ve developed two effective alternatives to help you achieve your nutrition goals without MyFitnessPal:
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• The One-Plate Rule for a single meal
• The Fists and Thumbs Method for a day or longer

The One-Plate Rule

This is based on the Athlete’s Plate, a nutritional tool validated by research and designed to help active people and athletes fuel adequately based on their training demands.

And it’s as simple as it sounds.

Put everything you eat on the same plate and don’t go back for seconds.

Pick a standard-sized plate or bowl––not a saucer, but not a whole-ass food tray, either. Don’t overthink it.

The Deficit Plate:
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• 1/2 plate: vegetables
• 1/4: lean protein
• 1/4: starchy carbs

The Maintenance Plate:

• 1/3 plate: vegetables
• 1/3: lean protein
• 1/3: starchy carbs

The Surplus Plate:

• 1/4 plate: vegetables
• 1/4: lean protein
• 1/2: starchy carbs

Want dessert or an alcoholic drink without overloading on calories?

Deficit and Maintenance Plates: Choose a single serving of either and take out the starchy carbs from your plate without changing the protein and vegetable ratios.

Surplus Plate: Choose a single serving of either and change the ratios to the Deficit or Maintenance Plate, depending on how generous your calorie budget is.

Account for hidden calories:

Whatever your calorie budget, meals out––whether at a restaurant, wedding, or BBQ––are almost always higher in calories than what you’d make at home due to overblown serving sizes and the ingredients used in the cooking process.

Use these additional strategies to enjoy something tasty without a side of 10,000 hidden calories:

• Ask for sauces, dressings, and other condiments on the side;
• Choose a fat-free cooking method, like grilling, boiling, or steaming;
• If you’re going for a fat-containing cooking method, request half the oil and/or butter;
• Pro tip to add calorie-friendly flavour: get the sauce on the side and dip your fork tines in it for each mouthful. More flavour, minimal calories.

The Fists and Thumbs Method

How does it work?

• One fist = One portion of carbs, protein, calorie-containing sugary drinks, vegetables, and fruit
• One thumb = One portion of fat

You can use either counting method for alcohol. Thumbs work well for shots, whereas fists are more suited to bigger serving sizes.

How do you implement it?

Step 1. For at least three days to a week, track your food on both a calorie-tracking app and your Thumbs and Fists Log, which can be an old-fashioned notebook or a note on your phone. If you’re only using this method as a temporary alternative to tracking calories––for example, you’re going away on holiday next week––then practise at home in preparation for the trip.

This step has two advantages.

First, you get to grips with this new way of tracking. (Duh.)

Second, when adding up all of your fists and thumbs, you can work out roughly how many calories they correspond to because you’ve been tracking both at the same time.

Step 2. Convert your daily calories and macros into daily fists and thumbs as follows.

First, count all of your fists and thumbs for one day.

Second, separate the fists into:

• Fruit and vegetables
• Starchy carbs
• Protein

My client Em implemented this method just a couple of weeks ago whilst visiting a friend for a long weekend, so I’ll use a 1700-calorie day from their log as an example.

This is what Em’s typical 1700-calorie day looks like in fists and thumbs, with all their macros nailed:

• Fruit and vegetables: 10 fists
• Protein: 4 fists
• Carbs: 5 fists
• Fats: 3 thumbs
• Total: 22 portions

How do you make exchanges?

• 1 fist of carbs or protein = 1 thumb of fat
• 1 fist of vegetables or fruit = 0.5 fist of carbs or protein, or 0.5 thumb of fat

 
For instance, you can replace a fist of potato with a thumb of butter or two fists of vegetables.

Using this “exchange rate,” you can convert any calorie target into a number of fists and thumbs.

Here’s how:

• Count each fist of fruit and vegetables as 0.5 fist of carbs.
• Using Em’s example above, 10 fists of fruit and vegetables = 5 fists of carbs
• As a result, these are their revised calorically equivalent portions:
  • Protein = 4
  • Carbs (including fruit and vegetables) = 10
  • Fats = 3
  • Total = 17
• So 1700 calories = 17 calorically equivalent portions
• Divide the calories by the total portions: 1700 / 17 = 100
• For Em, each portion of carbs, protein, and fat = 100 kcals
• Since vegetables and fruit count as half of that, 1 fist of either = 50 kcals
• So, if Em wanted to increase calories to 1800, they would add either 1 portion of carbs, protein, or fat, or 2 portions of fruit and vegetables.

What about mixed-macro foods?

Many foods contain a combination of two or even all three macros, like beans, salmon, and eggs. What do?

Don’t overcomplicate it. Pick the main macronutrient and stick with it.

For example, I’d count beans as a carb, and salmon and eggs as a protein.

Being “correct” is irrelevant because this method is personalised to you, not one-size-fits-all, so there’s no single “right” way to do it.

Instead, being consistent is key. For instance, if you log salmon as a protein and measure it in fists today, don’t change it to a fat and thumbs tomorrow.

What about highly palatable foods?

Cake, cookies, chips, French fries, and the like are typically a mix of highly processed carbs and fats, which is why they’re so high in calories, but also low in nutrients like fibre and protein.

You can measure these foods as either thumbs or fists depending on what’s easier, but count them as double the portion.

In other words:
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• 1 fist of cake = 2 fists of carbs
• 1 thumb of cake = 2 thumbs of fats

This is a straightforward and effective way to account for the extra calories coming from both carbs and fats.

What if what I’m eating is more than one fist but less than two?

Again, keep it simple.

If it’s more than one fist, count it as 1.5.

Err on the side of overestimating rather than underestimating.

And, for the love of all the gods, do not use any other decimals, like 1.13333 of a fist. That’s just mental masturbation.

In summary, if you can’t or don’t want to count your calories, you don’t have to.

With my One-Plate Rule or Fists and Thumbs, you can stop tracking and continue to make strides towards your goals.
 
Thanks for reading. May you make the best gains.
 
If you’re contemplating transitioning away from calorie-tracking, but you’re not sure how to go about it, I have a two-part podcast on this that you can listen to here.
 
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