Why weighing makes people quit
Weighing every food is precise, but it's slow, awkward in public, and easy to resent. For most people the accuracy gain isn't worth the friction.
Good portion estimates that you actually keep doing beat perfect measurements you abandon after a week.
The hand method
Your hand is a portable measuring set: a palm is roughly a protein serving, a cupped hand a portion of carbs, a thumb a serving of fats, and a fist about a cup of vegetables.
It's not exact, but it's consistent — and consistency is what makes tracking work over time.
Use reference objects
Compare food to everyday objects: a deck of cards for meat, a tennis ball for a cup, a golf ball for a couple of tablespoons, a poker chip for a teaspoon of oil.
After a week or two you'll start estimating these automatically, without thinking about it.
Let a photo do the estimating
The lowest-effort method is to photograph the plate. An AI calorie counter reads the items and estimates the portion, calories and macros for you — no scale, no math.
SpoonCheck is built for exactly this: snap the meal, nudge the portion if needed, and it's logged. It shines on homemade and mixed plates that databases handle badly.
Estimating when eating out
Restaurants are where weighing is impossible anyway. Use the hand method for the protein, assume sauces and oils add more than they look, and photograph the plate to anchor your estimate.
Round up a little on restaurant meals and move on — a calm overestimate beats skipping the log entirely.
You don't owe anyone a food scale. Estimate calmly, photograph when you can, and trust that 'about right, most of the time' is genuinely enough.