Maybe you’ve done some research or heard people talk about tracking macros, and you’d like to learn more or give it a try. I’m going to go over simple steps to set up your own macros, or just learn more about what tracking macros is.
Most people are familiar with tracking calories. Think of tracking macros as a more in-depth way of tracking calories. You can and will lose weight by tracking calories alone; however, you can ensure you are losing body fat and maintaining lean muscle by tracking macros instead.
Let’s break down what macros are. They are the carbohydrates, proteins and fats you consume.
1g protein = 4 calories
1g carbohydrate = 4 calories
1g fat = 9 calories
When looking at food labels, the total calorie of a food is determined by protein, carbohydrates and fats alone.
Now, how do you decide what you should be consuming for weight loss? Below is how to do that.
Spend a few days using an app like MyFitnessPal to track your total calorie intake per day. Assuming you are maintaining or gaining weight, this is our starting point. (For the sake of the article, we will go with 2000 calories per day as my maintenance).
Next, you will want to start with a 300-calorie deficit from what you are currently doing. (This brings us to 1700)
For protein, you will set .7-1g per pound of weight you are. (I’m 130 lbs, so that’s 130g protein per day)
Next, we want to set fats at 30% of daily intake (1700 x .3 = 510/9 calories = 56g fat intake)
The rest we will give to carbohydrates. 130g protein (520 calories ), 56g fat (504 calories) leaves us 676 calories, and we will divide by 4 to get 169g carbohydrates.
This makes my macros for weight loss 130g protein, 169g carbs and 56g fat.
You could do this in reverse if you want to be in a calorie surplus for gaining muscle.
By definition, motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a certain way and discipline is the practice of training or teaching oneself to achieve a specific behaviour, mental or physical improvement, often through self-control and consistent action.
When it comes to health and fitness, you will find that on your journey, you switch between the two frequently. When first starting out, motivation is high. When you first get into eating for your goals and training with a purpose, you will feel motivated to see change. In time, you may find it’s harder to get to the gym and to continue eating for your fitness goals. This is normal.
This is why, for my clients, I recommend a slow and steady approach when first starting out, along with setting up a schedule and goals that are realistic. If you do too much too soon, you may experience burnout or find what you’ve started doesn’t work.
Look at your daily schedule and day-to-day stressors/non-negotiables. I’ll use myself as an example; I’m a working mother and wife with 2 kids (2 & 9). My husband is away for work 4-5 days per week. I set up my own training and nutrition in a realistic manner, and one that I can succeed at. I train 4x per week and keep my calories in a place that allows me to maintain my weight and have enough energy for the day (for me, that’s around 2,000 calories per day.
Choose a way of eating and exercise that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life. If it’s something you don’t enjoy, it will be difficult to adhere to. Some examples of this would be keto. Can you swear off carbs forever? If not, what happens when you go back to eating the way you’d like? This is why I highly recommend macro tracking because you do not have to have a good food/bad food mentality.
With exercise, choose something you enjoy. Do you like to put in headphones and escape for 45 minutes alone, or are you more of a group exercise class personality? Now, what to do when motivation is low? By the time motivation fades, you should have established daily habits. I look at training and eating healthy as a normal part of my day, the same as bathing daily. It’s just something I do. I don’t question if I should shower each day.
One of the most important things along your journey is to be able to adapt and restart when needed. No one, and I mean no one, eats perfectly or never misses a workout. It’s the discipline one has learned along the way that keeps them going. It’s telling yourself you care enough about yourself to make a change and continue along the journey.
With that said, we will all have days when we really don’t want to train. For me, I’ve found this to help; I set a timer for 10 minutes and start training. I tell myself that when the timer goes off, if I still do not want to be in the gym I can leave. I have yet to feel like I want to leave when the timer goes off. Setting small goals can also be helpful. Maybe you want to get your first unassisted pull-up or compete in a bodybuilding show.
Nutrition is typically the trickier one. Food surrounds us in our day-to-day lives. Maybe you work outside of the home, and someone brought treats, maybe you have kids, and it’s ever so tempting to take bites of their snacks, or when preparing meals, or possibly you have a busy schedule that leaves little time for meals/meal prep. Be ok with adapting when needed.
In the beginning, it will be easier to nail nutrition. Typically, you’ll start to see changes relatively quickly; clothes are fitting better, people are noticing your physical changes, energy is improving, etc. But eventually, there will be a point when you are tempted to go off plan. What happens when you go on vacation or don’t make it home as quickly as you planned and don’t have meals or snacks with you? I recommend remembering your “why” and envisioning the “you” you are trying to achieve. Do your actions reflect the person you are trying to become? Will going off plan help you reach your goals or bring you further from them? I have found myself in many drive-through lines because my kids are hungry and we aren’t close to home. In these situations, I do the best I can. I’ll get a kid’s meal instead of a combo meal so that it’s enough food to get me by until I can eat something healthier.
One of the most important things along your journey is to be able to adapt and restart when needed. No one, and I mean no one, eats perfectly or never misses a workout. It’s the discipline one has learned along the way that keeps them going. It’s telling yourself you care enough about yourself to make a change and continue along the journey. Your goals will change along the way. What typically starts off with wanting to lose weight alone will start to become wanting to fuel your body, probably so that you have energy and can continue to gain strength and muscle along the way. For me, I started by wanting to get on a bodybuilding stage in 2013. My goals have shifted into wanting to feel strong, empowered and live a healthy life for my kids and one day grandkids. I get the privilege of showing my kids that exercise and fueling our bodies is fun and important for health.
The key, in my opinion, to unlocking that next level of your health and fitness goals is to routinely show up for yourself. Day to day, week to week, hold yourself accountable. Lean into the disciplined version of yourself.
