Macro Basics: How Counting Protein, Fat and Carbs Can Help You Reach Your Body and Fitness Goals

About 6 months ago, I hit a plateau. I was working out religiously using the Kayla Itsines Beach Body Guide App and eating healthy most of the time. I had good endurance and was increasing my strength, but I wasn’t able to lose the fat covering up the lean muscles I was working so hard for.  I have a background in science, so I started researching what top athletes eat. I saw "counting macros" and "IIFYM" (if it fits your macros) everywhere from social media and bodybuilding sites, to people training for the Olympics! Honestly, the before and afters seemed too good to be true. I had to find out more.

Flash-forward 6 months, and I am the leanest, happiest and most energetic person I've been in a long time. Turns out counting macros was what I needed to push through the plateau and achieve the body I was working so hard for. If the idea of counting "macros" makes your head spin, no worries, it did for me too. That is why we are here to break it down for you!

What is a Macro?

Macros refer to the macronutrients protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Everything we consume (both food and drink) is made up of macronutrients. Macro plans focus less on calorie counting and more on the macros your body uses as fuel. The number of macros each person needs in a day depends on height, weight, gender, age, as well as how much and how hard you workout each week. It also depends on your goals: if you want to lose weight, maintain or add muscle. 

 

The Benefits of counting Macros

The biggest benefit to counting macros is no food is off-limits. By eating a balanced diet of healthy carbs, fats and proteins, and making sure you're adding lots of veggies, you're not out-lawing a certain food group, like carbs or fats. Eliminating carbs from your diet is often not sustainable for most people. It can also make you a headcase about things you "can't have," causing guilt-ridden binge sessions. On macros, if you'd like your carb at lunch to be a piece of chocolate, then more power to you! If you decide to have a donut at the office, then skip the roll with your salad at lunch. It allows you to eat all the foods you love, just in moderation. 

Secondly, the power of macros, is that instead of saying, "eat 1500 calories and you'll loose weight," it tells you how many of those calories should come from proteins, carbs and fats. In doing so, you get enough protein, which helps you build muscle and makes you feel full. Enough carbs, which give you energy. And enough fat, which also gives your body energy, supports cell growth, helps your body absorb some nutrients and produces important hormones. 

In all, counting macros is a great way to fuel your body. I've had some of the best workouts I've ever had on a consistent basis. When Ronnie first started following macros, she told me, "I've never had this kind of mental clarity at work and energy in my workouts. It feels amazing!" 

How to calculate your macros

While macro-based programs don't have you count calories, the amount of protein, carbs and fats you need is determined based on the number of calories you should consume in order to meet your goals. This number is called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Any basic calorie-focused program uses the same formula to get this number. First, you calculate the number of calories your body needs to maintain your weight by looking at your age, height, weight, gender and daily activity. If weight loss is your goal, then shave 15-20% off your TDEE to create a caloric deficit. The science on this front is pretty black and white. If you burn more calories than you eat, your body loses weight! Here's a link to an online calculator if you'd like to figure out your own TDEE.

Now that we know what our TDEE is, let's jump into how to calculate macros. First things first. 1 g of protein and 1 g of carbs both have 4 calories each. 1 g of fat has 9 calories. You'll need this information later :). For our example below, let's use a 145 lb woman who’s TDEE is 1800 calories per day to maintain her weight. 

1. Protein: Most women ages 19-45 need 0.7-0.9 g of protein per pound of body weight. So, a 145 lbs woman needs about 130 g of protein per day (145 lbs x 0.9 g of protein = 130 g of protein).
2. Fat: At Work It, we recommend 20-30% of your calories come from fat. So if your TDEE is 1,800 calories, you should eat 40-60 g of fat. (30% x 1800 calories) / 9 calories per 1 g of fat = 60g of fat.
3. Veggies: I know, I know. Veggies are not a macro, but at Work It we recommend allocating 200-250 calories per day to veggies, or 2-3 cups of veggies to each meal. Veggies help keep you full with lots of fiber and provide essential vitamins while also having very few calories!
4. Carbs: Now, calculate how many calories we have left and allocate that to carbs. We have 130 g of protein at 4 calories per gram, bringing us to 522 protein calories. Add 60 g of fat at 9 calories per gram, or 540 fat calories. Add 250 veggie calories and we are at 1,312 total calories. With that we have 488 calories remaining for carbs. Because 1 g of carbs is 4 calories, we divide that number by 4 and know we need 122 g of carbs. 

Our 145 lbs woman with a TDEE of 1,800 would use the macros P130g, F60g, C122g. If this sounds like way too much work, use this online calculator. :) 

How To plan your meals

After you figure out your macros, the easiest way to count them is to to plan your meals for each day on Sundays. The first step is to divide up your macros into anywhere from 3-6 meals. So the woman above, if eating 3 meals, would have each meal consist of  P43g, F30g, C40g (give or take). Some people like to get all their macros in 3 meals per day, others 6. It's completely up to you and what will help you stay on track. More on this topic can be found in this post, here. 

The basic principal you should follow is half your plate should consist of veggies. The other half should consist of half lean protein and half carbs. Most people do not get enough protein in their diet, so for snacks, make sure you are eating something that helps you meet your protein requirements. We also recommend eating carbs before your workout to give yourself a boost!

Now, here are some of our go to sources of macros:  

• Carbs: At Work It, we consider all fruit to be a carb. Starchy veggies like potatoes, squash, carrots and beets are also carbs. Then there's your typical rice, pasta and bread. Yum! 
• Fats: Olive oil, salad dressings, mayo, egg yokes, burger, avocado, bacon, nuts are all sources of fat. Fat is one of those things that sneak up on you. For example, 1 egg yoke has 5 g of fat, but 1/2 tbsp of olive oil has 8 g of fat, so make sure you're tracking these closely.
• Proteins: Lean protein like egg whites, chicken, turkey, fish, tofu and greek yogurt. Protein powders and shakes are great too. If you have the full egg, just make sure you're not adding cheese, avocado and olive oil too. If you do, that's okay, just decrease your fats later in the day! 

We also recommend using an app like My Fitness Pal and My Plate. These are super helpful as you're building your meal plan and searching for the macros for different foods. It's also helpful if you treat yourself with pizza at lunch and you're trying to decide how you should shift your meals later in the day to balance things out. Both apps walk you through calculating your TDEE, ask you how much weight you want to lose, then calculate your macros for you. From there, you just need to enter in what you are eating throughout the day so you know you are on track and how many other macros you need!

Is Counting Macros Right For You?

One of our guiding principals at Work It is that everyone's body responds differently to workout and diet programs. This is based on hormones, body composition, tendencies, habits, deep-rooted thoughts about food, cravings, among other things. So let's get real about if counting macros is really right for you. 

Learning how to count macros takes time in the beginning, but the work pays off. It takes a few weeks before you can eyeball your portions and plan out your day without quite a bit of work on Sundays. Because of this, Macros work well for someone who is committed to planning their meals and tracking what they eat. Someone who is genuinely interested in a new way of looking at food and wants to learn more about what macros are all about and how to calculate them.

Macros are great for someone who wants more flexibility in what they eat. For me, a macro plan provides structure to how many P,F,C to get in a day, but flexibility of how I want to get them. Sometimes I want a cheeseburger which will consist of more fat and carbs at one meal, then a salad with lean chicken later in the day to help balance it all out. For me, once I got the hang of it, this is truly a sustainable way to live. 

Lastly, counting macros is a great tool for someone who is fed up with not being able to reach their goals and is looking to break through a plateau. Like me! Macros work: In the first 6 months I lost a total of 19.8 lbs. My before and after pics above are the proof! The first photo is where I started one year ago. The second photo is after working out hard using the Kayla app for 6 months, but not eating based on macros. The third photo is 6 months later, similar workouts, but eating based on macros! By eating this way, I was able to build lean muscle, have energy in my workouts and shed that stubborn layer of fat!

Conclusion

I hope this post brought some clarity to what counting macros really means and if it is right for you. I can't even tell you how good it feels to reach my goals, and I hope our blog can give you the information, motivation and inspiration you need to achieve yours too! Lastly, if you'd like us to take the work out of creating a macro-based meal plan, please email workitseattle@outlook.com and we can create a custom meal plan for you! 

- Kelsey

Of note: Everyone's body is different. The above calculations and ratios do not always work the same for everyone. It's important to try something for a couple weeks, and tweak it if you're not seeing the results you want. It's also important to note that the numbers referenced above can be skewed greatly if you are obese, are extremely lean (less than 15% body fat), or are very tall or short.