You may have heard of macros and macro tracking. It is a way of eating to help you reach your physique goals, whether it is to lose body fat or gain more muscle. If you’re not familiar with it or just starting to learn about it, it may be a little overwhelming at first. So, if you want to learn what macros are and how to get started with macro tracking, then read on, because I am going to break it all down for you.
So, some of you may have heard of macros or macro tracking and some of you might be wondering what the heck a macro is. When I first heard of it several years ago, I had no idea what macro tracking was. It was my curiosity that led me to it and the more I learned about it the more I wanted to give it a try.
Like most eating approaches, or “diets,” though I hate that word, macro tracking is founded in either calorie reduction or surplus, depending on the goal. In the case of a fat loss goal, it is founded on calorie reduction, though it is much more than that. One of the reasons I love macro tracking is that it doesn’t restrict you from any foods or food groups. There’s a term used in macro tracking, that if it fits your macros, you can eat it. One of the cons with macro tracking is that it can be tedious.
Though it can be overwhelming initially, macro tracking is probably my favorite eating approach. So, I find it worth the little extra effort to track. Since it can be a little overwhelming, today I am going to walk through:
- What macros are.
- What macro tracking is.
- How to determine your macros.
- Tracking macros.
- Progress tracking.
As I say often in my podcast episodes and this blog, I hate the word “diet” because it implies restriction, deprivation, and that it is a temporary way of eating. It also does something psychologically; it puts us in this mindset of restriction. It makes you constantly obsess about what you can and cannot have, to where you then become obsessed with the things that are “off limits.” So, needless to say, I avoid the word “diet” for these reasons. That said I have tried every diet there is. Most of them have one thing in common, which is they all involve a form of caloric reduction or restriction. Some may dress this up differently than others, but at the end of the day, many diets out there either eliminate entire food groups or require pretty drastic cuts in the amount of food or calories you can consume in a day.
In earlier episodes and blog posts I have discussed my two go-to approaches for nutrition for weight loss and changing my physique. One doesn’t require tracking so long as you are eating whole or fresh foods, lean protein, lots of vegetables and fruit and lower fat dairy. The other is macro tracking. I discovered macro tracking about four years ago and it is what I tend to follow most of the time.
While it is like many “diets” in the sense that, if your goal is fat loss, you do need to be in a calorie deficit. However, it is important not to make the deficit too large so as to trigger your body to slow the metabolism and so you are giving your body enough fuel while you are trying to lose weight. I have found it is so much more realistic than any other way of eating, which makes it much easier to sustain long term, while also getting results.
So, let’s get into macros and macro tracking.
- What are macros?
“Macros” is just short-hand for macronutrients. Every food we eat is comprised of certain macro nutrients. There are three main types of macros: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Your body needs a certain amount of all three to function properly. - What is macro tracking?
Macro tracking is simply tracking the amount of each of the three macronutrients you eat each day. With macro tracking you break down your daily caloric intake into certain ratios of the three macronutrients. Depending on your goals, you may have different ratios. For example, your caloric intake may be broken down into 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 30% fat or it could be 30% protein, 45% carbohydrates, and 25% fat, and so on. - How to determine your macros.
You can research macros and calculating macros online. You’ll find you can determine your levels yourself with a lot of complicated math, or, fortunately, you can find many free macro calculators online as well. I’ve used several different calculators, but the first one and often my go-to is calculator.net. You can find it simply by googling macro calculator.
You enter all the different information into the calculator and it will provide you with your daily macro targets. As you’ll see it’s based on height, weight, sex, and age. It will also ask about activity level and your goal, either maintain current weight, weight loss, or weight gain. You can then get the calculation of your macro targets. If you use the calculator.net macro calculator, you also get more options to choose from how the macro ratios are set; so, if you want them balanced or even, you can select that, or you can opt for higher carb ratio or higher protein ratio, etc.
You’ll get a certain number of grams you can eat of each macro nutrient for each day. For example, entering my information and choosing “balanced” I get 101 grams of protein, 220 grams of carbohydrates, and 47 grams of fat. - Tracking macros.
Now that you have your daily targets, the next thing is tracking your macros each day. One important thing with macros is that in order to get results you have to be exact and consistent. A general rule is that you should be within 3-5 grams of each target each day, ideally hitting the targets exactly each day. The better the consistency the better the results. This means you also need to measure and weigh your food, so you know exactly what you are eating and how many macros. As we know food labels and nutrition facts can be misleading and one thing I learned fast when I started macro tracking is that the label is often completely off when it comes to the number of servings per container. This is especially true of those salad kits you can get at the grocery store.
I don’t stress too much when it comes to green vegetables as they are generally low in calories and carbohydrates and high in nutrients. Otherwise, I measure and weigh everything. Like I said, it can be tedious, but with some planning ahead and spending a little time on the weekend or whatever days you have off in your week, you can find ways to save time and hassle. For example, I buy pre shredded rotisserie chicken breast and weigh out 3 or 4-ounce servings and bag them. I do the same thing with mixed vegetables, so I can just grab them and throw them in my lunch bag. This way I already know the amount I have, the macros, and I save time in the mornings. The more you do it the more you figure out hacks and you start to memorize the macros in different things, making it easier with time.
It is important that you are tracking everything you eat and your totals as you go through the day, so you know where you are and you can ensure you hit all your targets. It’s better to spread it out through the day than try and save them up. You should really avoid this except for special occasions or instances where you don’t have much choice. For the most part you should be eating three meals a day and at least two snacks in between, especially if you work out.
The last thing I’ll note about tracking is alcohol. I do not usually drink, so I don’t track it, but there is a special way you have to track alcohol when it comes to macro tracking. This is because alcohol is actually it’s own macro due to the way it interacts in the body. To put it simply, when you drink, your body switches from using food for fuel to using the alcohol for fuel. So, it’s really not your friend when you are trying to lose weight. That said, you can still fit it into macros, but you need to know how. It’s not like you might be familiar with, with low carb diets, where it’s just the amount of carbs in the alcohol, like wine or beer, for example that you have to worry about.
You have to convert the calories in the alcohol to either carbohydrates or fat (don’t swap protein for alcohol). It’s a bit too technical to explain here, but carbohydrates = 4 calories per gram and fat = 9 calories per gram. So, you take the calories in the drink, like and divide by 4 if converting to carbohydrates and divide by 9 if converting to fat. I can tell you, from when I have done this, that a standard glass of red wine converts to 31 grams of carbohydrates or 14 grams of fat and one ounce of hard liquor converts to 18 grams of carbohydrates or 9 grams of fat. So, if you do drink, you need to plan your daily macros around it to make sure your staying within your targets. - Progress tracking.
The last key element with macro tracking is tracking your progress. This is important so you know when you need to adjust your macro levels. The general rule is every two weeks, check your weight and measurements. If you are seeing drops in at least one of these areas, then stay with the current levels and keep at whatever exercise you are doing as well, if you are exercising. When you get to the point that the scale and the measurements aren’t changing, then it’s time to recalculate based on your current weight. Also adjust for any changes in activity level if that is relevant. At this point you continue at the new levels for two weeks, and repeat with the progress checks to determine when to adjust.
So, that is all about macros and macro tracking. I hope you find this helpful. Regardless what you do, keeping track of your food and water intake as well as exercise are all great ways to keep you on track and sustain your progress. I have been doing this for years to keep my head in the game so to speak. Check out my fitness and progress trackers available on amazon at the links below:
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I hope this has helped you and you feel like you have a handle on getting started with macro tracking. Please share your thoughts in the comments. If you want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, please like and subscribe. You can also find Faith Fitness Joy on Facebook and Instagram or check out the podcast at https://faithfitnessjoy.podbean.com. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the comments and on the socials!