How to Count Macros for Weight Loss: A Beginner’s Guide
We are inundated everyday with conflicting diet advice. From the high fat Keto diet to the high protein carnivores, everyone seems to have a different idea about the best way to lose weight.
But what do the experts say?
Nutritionists and dietitians who dedicate their careers to the latest research on obesity and weight loss agree that the only real way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you consume, or to eat in a calorie deficit.
However, there are good and bad ways to eat in a calorie deficit. You can eat nothing but chips and ice cream and lose weight if you are eating few enough calories, but you probably won’t feel or look your best.
Counting macros is more than just one of the latest fitness trends. It’s a great way to find out if you are eating the right nutrients to fit your lifestyle or meet your goals, whether you are trying to gain muscle or just want to support your heart health.
Counting macros can be intimidating to the average person, especially if you haven’t spent hours of time researching nutrition. But, I promise it’s not as hard as it seems! So, let’s talk about it.
What are Macros?
The term “macro” is shorthand for macronutrients, AKA the three main components of food that help your body to function. Those three main nutrients are different from all of the vitamins and minerals that comprise micronutrients, although macronutrients do contain those things too.
These three main nutrients include protein, carbohydrates, and fats. It is important to remember that none of these three will make or break your weight loss goals the way that diet culture says they will.
All three are essential to achieving a healthy body.
The percentage of your diet that is made up of each of these nutrients though, can influence things like muscle strengthening, energy, and heart health.
Here’s how they break down:
Protein
You have probably heard protein emphasized a lot in weight loss and health research, and for good reason. Protein has amazing benefits for your body and fitness including making you feel more satiated after a meal which in turn helps you feel better eating fewer calories.
Protein also creates enzymes that power important chemical reactions in your body and helps to build the hemoglobin in your blood that carries oxygen throughout your body (think energy to climb stairs or dance to your favorite song).
Protein also helps to regulate the glucose in your blood, keeping blood sugar steady and avoiding dangerous spikes and dips in insulin that can lead to weight gain and even type 2 diabetes.
Carbohydrates
Carbs equal energy!
Rather than demonize carbs like traditional diets told us to, think of carbs as a necessary and important part of your diet. When you eat carbohydrates, your body converts them to glucose and stores them as glycogen. These compounds are used by your body to supply energy to your muscles when you exercise.
They don’t just fuel your muscle cells though. Carbohydrates also help power every other cell in your body including your brain cells. Carbs are also an important building block for serotonin. If you ever thought that bread makes you happy, it’s because it does- bonus!
Fats
Just like carbs, fats are not your enemy. Dietary fat helps your body to absorb nutrients, and helps to keep your blood glucose stable. This is because much like protein, fats are slower to digest.
Dietary fat also helps your body to produce the hormones it needs to function, and keeps your cells, brain, and nerves healthy.
Fats are not all created equal though, and it is important to note that trans fats from processed and fried foods do not have the same benefits as those naturally derived from sources like butter, olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts. So while it’s important to include fats in your diet, make sure they are from healthy sources.
The Math of Macros
Okay, now that you understand what macros are and how they benefit your health, it’s time to get down to the hard part- how do you count them? To be transparent, counting macros is a time intensive practice and because of that, the practice may not fit everyone’s lifestyle.
There are may apps that make it easier to keep track of your macros, but even so, it takes time to track your food everyday. To help, I recommend using an app like Lose It! or MyFitnessPal which come equipped with a database of the macros, calories, and nutritional value of most common foods.
I also suggest investing in a food scale. While you can get by using volumetric measurements, weighing your portions will be more accurate (and create less dishes) than measuring everything by hand.
Here’s everything you need to know to get started:
Calories per Gram
The first thing you’ll need to know is how many calories per gram each macronutrient contains. This will be important when we are doing the math later on.
Proteins contain 4 calories per gram
Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram
Fats contain 9 calories per gram
Macro Breakdown
Also essential to getting the math right is knowing what percentage of your diet should be made up by each macro. In other words, what percentage of your daily calorie intake should be made up of either protein, carbs, or fat? For this information, we defer to the experts.
The USDA Dietary Guidelines for America recommends that you get between 10%-30% of your calories from protein, 45%-65% of your calories from carbohydrates, and 20%-35% of your calories from fats.
So, with such a large range, where should you fall? This depends on your health goals. For example, if you are trying to build muscle in the gym, you should aim for more protein. If you are struggling with your cholesterol, you may want to lower your fat intake.
Doing the math
To demonstrate, lets make some assumptions based on a female aged 30-50 years old who is trying to lose weight and build muscle.
Based on averages for women in this demographic, it is safe to assume her daily calorie goal might be around 1,800 per day. To build muscle, she might set her protein goal at 30% and to have energy in the gym, she might set her carbohydrate goal to 50%, leaving 20% of her calories for fat.
Now, how do we find these percentages in a measurable quantity? Let’s convert them to grams using this formula:
Calories per day x percentage of calories / Number of calories per gram = grams of macronutrient per day
Let’s try it with protein:
Calories per day (1800) x percentage of calories (0.3) / calories per gram (4) = 135 grams of protein
So, this means that she should be aiming for and tracking 135 grams of protein everyday. Continuing on with the rest of the hypothetical goals we set, she will also be aiming for 225 grams of carbs and 40 grams of fat.
Once you have these goals in mind, you can start logging your food to try to hit these goals. Keep in mind that you don’t have to get it perfect every single day. These numbers represent goals and you should be aiming to get within a range of them rather than striving for perfection.
Benefits of Counting
Weight loss: Although counting macros does not automatically lead to weight loss without also being in a calorie deficit, tracking your food will help you to gain awareness around your diet and eliminate excess calories.
Build muscles more easily: When you lose weight, your body burns both fat and muscle cells. Tracking your macros, helps you focus your nutrition on what will help to build and maintain muscle, even while you are losing weight.
Better nutrition: Like I said before, you can eat 1,800 calories of chips each day and still lose weight. What I like about macro counting is that it puts more emphasis on actual nutrition which will not only support weight loss but important things like organ and cell function, insulin control, and your overall health.
More awareness around eating habits: One of the benefits of counting macros is simply increasing your awareness around your own eating habits, giving you more insight into how you feel when you eat certain foods. Most people have no clue that they are eating 80% carbs and they wonder why they feel crummy all the time.
What are the Downsides?
Counting macros can benefit your health and help you lose weight, but there can be downsides to the technique as well. First and foremost, food tracking is a bad idea for people who have a history of disordered eating or have a tendency toward obsessing over their food intake.
Tracking macros is also a time intensive practice and is better used as a tool to create healthy habits, and might not be sustainable for most people to do long term.
Because counting macros can become tedious, you may find yourself simplifying your diet or turning to meal prep to make things easier. While this can be helpful for some people, eating the same thing everyday can become monotonous and lead to falling off track or even bingeing.
Finally, there is a ton of great information online, but macro counting will never be an exact science. Because of the natural variations that are a part of life, it can be hard to get an exact count. There is no way to know exactly how many grams of protein are in a specific cut of chicken, so numbers will always be based on averages.
Wrap It Up
Counting macros can be beneficial for people trying to lose weight, gain better control over their health, or hit certain goals in the gym. If you feel like you want to give it a try, you are now equipped with a ton of great information to get you started.
I recommend using an app like Lose It! or MyFitnessPal to make your life easier compared to tracking your macros in a food journal or by hand. While it may not fit your lifestyle long term, counting macros is an amazing way to become more familiar with your nutrition intake and get you closer to your goals.
As with any new diet plan, you should always consult your doctor before making major changes to your diet. They may have specific recommendations for your unique health situation.
Happy counting!
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