Nutrition information fills my day, from books, to podcasts, to social media, to coaching calls, to conversations in my home…so much so that I can forget that some nutrition terms are not part of everyone’s lingo.
“Macro” is an excellent example and I wanted to take this opportunity to lay out some easy to digest information (a little nutrition pun for you there).
“Macro” is short for macronutrient and it encompasses three important dietary compounds: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Macronutrients differ from micronutrients, which refer to vitamins and minerals.
Macros dictate the total calories in your diet because each gram of macronutrient is represented by a caloric value:
1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories
If, for example, you ate an average of 2000 calories a day, it could look like this:
150g of protein = 600 calories
175g of carbohydrates = 700 calories
78g of fat = 700 calories
It’s important to note that when counting the number of grams of macronutrients in a food, we don’t count the total weight of the food. Instead, we log the precise number of grams of the macronutrient present. Most foods are a combination of macronutrient values, plus water.
A great example is a serving of natural peanut butter, which is two tablespoons, weighing in at 32g. Each serving has about 200 calories, made up of 8g of protein (32 calories), 7g of carbohydrates (28 calories), and 15g of fat (135 calories).
Other foods will lean more towards individual macros – a skinless chicken breast is mostly protein, whereas a banana is mostly carbohydrates, and butter is mostly fat – but just about every food will have at least tiny amounts of all the macros.
Many of you might be familiar with counting calories as part of current or previous work dialing in your nutrition. However, counting macros makes things a bit more precise, allowing for increased influence over body composition.
“Why is THAT?”, you might be asking.
When we think about changing our body composition, we often envision bodies that are leaner and more athletic looking. This generally means increasing the percentage of muscle relative to body fat.
In order to build and maintain muscle, we have to eat protein. Protein is comprised of amino acids, aka the building blocks of muscle. So, if you want to not only hold onto the muscle you already have while simultaneously building more, you MUST eat adequate protein. Protein is a pretty big deal and I don’t call myself a “protein-pusher” for nothing!
Carbohydrates often get a bad rap in this low carb world, but I’m here to help you break through your carb anxiety – if you have any.
Carbohydrates are incredibly important in a balanced, whole foods diet because they contain massive amounts of vitamins and minerals that you simply cannot get from other sources. They also contain an abundance of fiber, which is crucial to gut health and digestion.
And while carbohydrates promote overall health and wellness, they’re also important for providing energy when you’re working out and staying active. You need energy if you want to challenge yourself with weights in the gym or push yourself in high intensity conditioning activities.
The problem with carbohydrates comes when they are eaten in excessive amounts and from less nutrient dense, processed food sources. Choosing to eat carbohydrates in the form of nutrient-packed fruits, veggies, and whole grains will offer a plethora of health benefits and these tend to be less calorie dense, meaning you can eat more volume without the same caloric impact.
Fat can be just as controversial as carbs and while it may be true that some fats, such as trans fats, can have negative health consequences, fat is an essential component to health and will also help you on your journey to change your body composition. Like carbohydrates, fat is an energy source. It digests more slowly than carbohydrates and is therefore available over a longer duration – think a three-hour hike, vs a 30-minute high-intensity spin or boxing class.
Fat is also important to the proper function of our hormones, so like protein and carbohydrates, it is crucial to eat the right amount for your needs. Excellent fat sources include plant-based oils like olive and avocado oil, as well as whole food sources like nuts and seeds. Avocados are also a good, whole foods source of fat.
The takeaway here is that macros matter more than overall calories when we’re trying to influence body composition AND overall health health outcomes. Eating the right amount of protein will help you build muscle, while eating adequate carbohydrates will fuel your muscles for intense training sessions and support your recovery after those training sessions. Fat is essential to many functions in the body and will also provide sustained energy for longer duration workouts.
Excess calories gained through eating more macros than you need will still lead to weight gain, but undereating and sticking to overly restrictive diets are also very problematic strategies. Knowing the right amount for your individual goals is essential to achieving body composition changes.
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