Macro tracking 101. But before we get into all that the big question: What is a macro?

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Herbert Skinner
5 years ago
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1 Macro tracking 101 The information contained in this document is for informational and entertainment purposes only. If you have questions regarding nutrition, diet and health please consult your physician or a registered dietitian. Welcome to the most flexible results-getting eating plan on the planet! I am a fan of macro-based nutrition because what you eat really DOES matter when it comes to transforming your physique. It s not just a matter of cutting calories that works for simple weight loss. But to target your physique transformation (for instance, shedding fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible, or building muscle while gaining as little fat as possible) you must pay specific attention to your food choices. If you re new to tracking your macros, RELAX. Do not overthink it. I will make it as simple as possible to understand and follow your program. The number one issue I see people struggling with when it comes to tracking macros is that they make it far more complicated than it needs to be. That being said, there can be a bit of learning curve. However, the effort you make to learn to track your macros will pay off in numerous ways. It will give you more control over your nutrition than will simply following (and then falling off) a meal plan. You will learn firsthand how your body responds to different foods and you ll see your results skyrocket. And you ll never be on or off plan again because, basically, all foods are on your plan (within reason, and I ll cover that later). But before we get into all that the big question: What is a macro? It s shorthand for macronutrient the big nutrients that all foods are categorized by: protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Meanwhile, micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that are contained in your food. Most foods contain a combination of all three macronutrients. And also, to make it trickier (but not really) carbohydrates are often broken down into two further groups: starchy and non-starchy. Starchy carbs are things like potatoes (all kinds!), corn, peas, winter squashes and grains (rice, quinoa, wheat, barley). Why do we care about macros? Because if you want above-average results from your workout and nutrition program, what you eat really does matter. For instance, one macronutrient (protein) can be more muscle-sparing if you are in fat-loss mode. Also, just as importantly, one macronutrients/foods (carbs) are more easily stored as fat. And yet another fat has a higher calorie load than the others. That being said, even though protein can help you stay full and spare muscle when you re dieting, you still need to eat carbs for energy and health. And you need fat to among other things -- properly use the micronutrients your food contains. Finding the right mix for your goals is the key.

2 ALL MACRONUTRIENT TYPES ARE VITAL AND IMPORTANT. EVEN FAT. (NOTE: two-thirds of your brain is made of up fat.) Step 1 The first step in tracking your macros is to set up a food log I like myfitnesspal.com. I recommend using your laptop/desktop vs. a tablet or phone app when creating meal plans. The apps can be too clunky and time consuming/frustrating when you first start because the macros aren t shown on the same page as your food log. In fact, I pretty much always use my laptop when I m food journaling. So, log into myfitnesspal and set up an account. After you do this, the site is going to spit out a bunch of numbers for you such as recommended calories per day and some recommended macros. IGNORE THEM. You can go into your settings and change them to your recommended numbers if you want, but I generally just ignore what myfitnesspal tells me to do and I do my own thing. I encourage you to do this, too, because changing the recommendations can be a major pain in the neck. That being said: while you re setting your meal plan, please do go into the settings and change them so that you have 5 to 6 meals a day in your food log. You don t HAVE to do this, but it makes it a lot easier to plan if you do so. So, now you have created an empty food journal. It should look something like this: Do you see the calories, carbs, fat, protein, sugar, fiber numbers above, the ones generated by myfitnesspal? REMINDER: ignore them. NOTE: THE NUMBERS AND FOODS/PORTIONS BELOW ARE SAMPLES ONLY. THEY ARE MERELY HERE FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES. DO NOT USE THEM FOR YOUR OWN PLAN!

3 Let s say you are aiming for the following macronutrient breakdown. 120 grams protein 120 grams carbohydrates (50 from starchy carbs) 45 grams of fat The first thing you should do is come up with a list of foods you d like to include in your meals. Let s say you plan on eating a traditional clean eating diet (a good choice, especially if you re new to this and/or you have big goal ahead). See the document healthy food choices for assistance in choosing foods for your plan. These food choices will help keep your blood sugar stable (key for losing fat in trouble zones like the belly), keeping your plumbing humming (fiber is a good thing), and generally making sure you re eating a balanced and healthy program to not only fuel your workouts but also your life. Step 2 Plan your proteins. Studies show that protein intake broken down evenly over the course of a day is beneficial, so based on 120 grams of protein and 6 meals, that means eating 20 grams of protein per meal (120 divided by 6 = 20). Here is the journal with protein choices added. The first few times you use myfitnesspal it will take a little longer to input your food choices because you don t have any foods saved in your food library. The more you use myfitnesspal the easier it ll be because you will just be able to click on your already saved foods rather than having to do a database search. (And yes, myfitnesspal is yelling at me in red in the picture above that I am over my protein recommendations. Am I paying attention? No. I am not. Also, my number isn t 120, it s 113. It doesn t have to be exact it just needs to be close. You ll see why later.)

4 Step 3 Add your starchy carbs. These preferably are eaten early in the day and/or post-workout. Step 4 Add fruit if you are going to be eating any (note: unless you are in the last lap of contest preparation, you should eat some fruit every day berries, apples, kiwis, etc.). It might be cheating a little but I used low-sugar cherry preserves as a fruit topping for my breakfast pancakes. Step 5 Add your non-starchy veggies to your food journal to get your daily carb number where you want it to be. Yes, this will be more veggies than you normally eat. Remember the micronutrients I mentioned above? Your body is going to LOVE the vitamins/minerals/flavonoids/cool things it will get from all those veggies (plus the fiber). The good news is you can use all kinds of condiments to flavor them up: spices, balsamic vinegar - which has tons of antioxidants - as well as mustard, hot sauce, and more. I personally use a lot of frozen vegetables as they are more economical and they are less apt to spoil. Studies repeatedly show they are comparable to grocery store produce when it comes to nutrition.

5 But wait!!! What happened to the protein number? It s OUT OF CONTROL! We are over our allotted 120 grams by 22 grams! How did THAT happen?!!!! (It happened because very few foods are purely protein or carb, that s how veggies contain protein. )

6 Step 6 Readjust the protein portions in a couple meals so that they are in-line with the macro suggestions. I recommend doing this in your larger meals (breakfast and lunch, in this case) and then tweaking wherever else you can. Don t obsess about it. You don t have to be perfect with your numbers just get ballpark-close.

7 Step 7 Add in fats. Yes, you need them! And that s that. The numbers aren t exact but they are close, and that s what counts. Create three meals plans like this, and rotate through them. And then next week, make more. Over time you ll find this to become second nature. But what about calories, you ask? How many should you be getting? How do you know? If you are hitting the macronutrient totals you are getting the right number of calories. For instance, in our theoretical macro breakdown, the target goal was 1,400 calories. We hit that pretty close, didn t we? 1 gram of protein = 4 calories 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories 1 gram of fat = 9 calories But you don t have to do all that extra math it s figured in to the program.

8 Key things to remember: DO NOT ADD YOUR WORKOUTS TO MYFITNESSPAL. The site will automatically readjust your calories and macros and even though you aren t supposed to pay attention to them, you won t be able to help yourself and you WILL pay attention to them. Your workouts are already figured into your macros. Keep your fiber above 25 grams a day. You can add low- to no-calorie condiments to your meals. You must count the fat you use to grill/cook/etc. any of your foods. If you use nonstick sprays, keep the sprays to a minimum as they still contain calories. When you find foods in the database, make sure they are comparable to how you re using them. For instance, if you are using a dry measure for your oatmeal, make sure that is how it is formatted in the database. Why? A half-cup of uncooked oatmeal has twice the carbohydrates/calories as a half-cup cooked oatmeal. That adds up over time. Drink water throughout the day. You don t necessarily need a whole gallon, but drink at minimum 8 8- ounce glasses. Do not include your coffee/tea/etc. intake in this number.

FLEXIBLE DIETING. What it means is, you ll have the choice to take a flexible (yet still calculated) approach to your diet. THE MACRONUTRIENT BASICS

FLEXIBLE DIETING. What it means is, you ll have the choice to take a flexible (yet still calculated) approach to your diet. THE MACRONUTRIENT BASICS FLEXIBLE DIETING Let s face it, on occasion, you may not want to follow your meal plan. That is completely fine. BUT This does not mean nutrition goes out the window. What it means is, you ll have the