

Often with macro tracking people can get so focused on the macronutrient itself (protein, carb, fat) that they forget about the quality of the food and the micronutrients that make it nutritious. You’ll get good at reading nutrition labels, finding foods you enjoy, and reducing the intake of foods that you don’t. You might think you eat a high protein, low-fat diet, however, after tracking, you might find just the opposite. Tracking macros helps you better understand how specific foods make you feel and what areas you’re over or under in. If you’re not willing to stop and think about what you’re eating, how much you’re eating, and log it, macros probably aren’t the best fit for you. Without doing this, you might mindlessly eat and be on the ‘mental hamster wheel’ of not understanding why you’re not making progress CON: Added Stressorįor people who eat a lot of different things, who don’t plan their meals or their snacks, and who don’t prioritize their time to log, macros and macro tracking can be an added stressor. This can be useful in understanding exactly how much and of what you eat on a daily basis so that you can make the necessary adjustments to work towards your goals. While tracking macros ins’t for all, we’ve broken down the pros and cons for you to see for yourself if it might be a good fit and something worthwhile to try. Counting calories brings attention and focus to how much you’re eating, whereas macros bring attention to how much and of what you’re eating. Attention to detail, reading nutrition labels, and accurately measuring your food is important with tracking macros.Ĭalories on the other hand are a great introduction to weight loss and weight gain. Instead of focusing on the calories, you’re going to focus on the macros that make up those calories.

Macro tracking is designed to help optimize body weight and composition. An averagely active individual looking to lose weight might have a more balanced macronutrient ratio of protein, carbs, and fat. For example, an athlete may have followed a high carb, high protein macro split with low fat to optimize muscle growth and reduce body fat. By changing the ratio of macros, you can change your body composition. Macro tracking is simply keeping a count of all the protein, carbs, and fat that you eat on a daily basis to achieve a health or aesthetic goal. For example, both carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories per 1 gram and fat has 9 calories per gram. Macronutrients are what makeup calorie totals. Macro is short for macronutrients which are protein, carbs, and fat.
#Macro tracking how to#
If you’ve come to this article, you’re probably wondering if macro tracking is for you, and how to decide if it is or isn’t, right? Let’s dig into the pros and cons of macro tracking so that you can make a decision for yourself. See the page in the Macro Book and reverse dieting… more to come.For many people, macro tracking can be the key to the door of their goals. Susie Q will slowly increase calories over a period of time with the goal of increasing her metabolism without gaining weight. 1500 calories is pretty low, and Susie Q’s goal should be to restore her metabolism and overall health so that she can be at a place where she can eat a healthy amount while losing weight. Then, those cutting calories becomes the maintenance level and in order to lose, you have to cut more calories. When we drop calories, our bodies will lose weight until they adapt. She is a chronic dieter, and has been cutting calories for too long. Susie Q is an example of someone who would benefit from reverse dieting. Let’s use an example: Susie Q calculates her maintenance macros at 2000 calories/day, but she is currently eating 1500 calories and unable to lose weight.

When you calculate your macros following the steps in the Macro Book, you may hit my note that asks you to check if what you are currently eating is significantly less than your calculated maintenance macros. This was one of the most popular questions I am going to put together a detailed blog post on reverse dieting but here’s a brief summary. HOW TO KNOW IF I NEED TO TRY REVERSE DIETING?ĪNSWER: Reverse dieting is the process of slowly increasing calories with the goal of boosting your metabolism so you can burn more calories throughout the day.
