The Big Deal About Macros
Macros have more recently become “trendy,” though for those in the fitness community, they’ve always been vital to success when it comes to weight loss/gain and muscle building/cutting. From a nutrition standpoint, the diet is comprised of macronutrients and micronutrients. Your macronutrients are your carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and are your energy sources. Micronutrients are your vitamins and minerals. This blog will go into a little bit of detail on how you can make your macros work for you when it comes to your fitness goals.
No matter what way you slice the pie, if you’re trying to lose weight, your calories in have to be less than your calories out. There’s no way to lose a substantial amount of weight without a calorie deficit, and for fat loss, total calorie intake matters more than the specific macro breakdown. Once a deficit is achieved, macros can be targeted more goal-specifically. That being said, if all of your calories come from fat, that’s also not great. Balanced meals on a deficit are key when trying to shed fat.
Carbs and proteins are both 4 calories per gram, while fats are 9 calories per gram. One pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories, meaning if you want to decrease your weight by 1lb/week, you would need to cut your calories by 3,500 over a week span. As you can see, you can eat a lot more carbs and protein than fats when counting calories. Macro ratios are very much subjective, but you want to make sure you’re eating in grams of protein close to your goal body weight, or current weight if in maintenance. Maintaining lean muscle mass will be key in sustainable body change.
Another thing I want to touch on is that the quality of the macronutrients is important. Fruits and vegetables provide the body with healthy sugars and fiber. Certain grains do the same thing. A cup of broccoli is not the same as a cup of lucky charms. Sure, they’re both carbs, but the body needs the micronutrients and fiber from the broccoli, it does not need the refined sugar from the lucky charms. Similarly with fats, cooking with pounds of butter is not the same as eating an avocado or some raw nuts. All of those things should be consumed in moderation, especially depending on your goals, but avocado provides healthy fats (omega 3’s and 6’s) needed by the body on a cellular and neurological level, so they are functional in your diet. Learning to make proper food choices will be a game changer in your progress.
Contrary to the widely accepted nutritional guidelines, your macro ratios should be 40-50% carbs, 30-40% protein, and 15-20% fats, especially if you’re trying to lose fat.
The biggest piece of this puzzle is going to be learning how to track your intake. This step is vital in weight loss, especially for people that haven’t seen success with other methods. Knowing exactly what you’re consuming is usually enough to spark lifestyle change - as it can be very eyeopening. Without logging, you really don’t know how much of what your body is getting. This is as simple as using a food logging app such as myfitnesspal. The app does the majority of the work for you. There is also the age old method of a pen and paper to track calories and macros - believe it or not, I started out this way not all that long ago.
Overall, sustainability needs to be the name of the game. If you’re in it for the long haul, the changes you make will be following you around for a while. So find foods that fit into your daily calorie and macro goals, and make them something you enjoy. This is the best way to reach longterm success.