Tracking what you eat each day can be helpful for many who are trying to lose weight or reach certain nutrition goals. Trying to track every single calorie might not be your best bet. Instead, consider tracking your macronutrients.
Macronutrients, also called macros for short, are the nutrient groups that your body needs in large amounts each day, including fats, carbohydrates and protein. There are many benefits to tracking macros instead of calories. First, you’ll have a more balanced diet by focusing on eating a variety of nutrients that give your body energy and help your digestive system work. Not only can this practice help you reach your health goals faster than focusing on calories alone, but this method of food logging can also help you understand which types of food make you feel good or bad, which foods improve your athletic performance and which foods help you focus or make you drag. Counting macros can also help you shift your current eating habits to healthier patterns for the long term.
You’ll need to learn how to read a nutrition facts label for this approach, but the benefits far outweigh the time you’ll spend grasping the concept of a macro diet.
What are macronutrients?
Macronutrients are molecules we need in large amounts, also known as the main nutrients we need to simply survive. Micronutrients, in contrast, are substances required in much smaller amounts, such as vitamins, minerals and electrolytes.
The three macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Despite what fad diets may focus on, you do need all three: Cutting out any one macronutrient puts you at risk for nutrient deficiencies and illness.
The IIFYM calculator takes into account your daily routine and other important factors.
This macro calculator uses your lean body mass (LBM), basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) to calculate an accurate ratio.
Legion Athletics
Price: Free
The Legion Athletics macro calculator is another very detailed calculator. It takes into account your weight, your body fat percentage and your activity level. From there, this calculator determines your lean body mass, basal metabolic rate and total daily energy expenditure.
The upside to this calculator is that you get a more accurate ratio because it considers more factors. The downside is that you need to know your body composition before using it.
You choose whether you want to gain, lose or maintain your current weight and you can use the sliders at the bottom to adjust your ratio if the automatic recommendation isn’t ideal for you.
Tracking your macros
Your macro numbers aren’t very helpful if you don’t put them to use.
“Tracking macros” refers to the process of logging all your meals throughout the day and breaking down your macro ratio to ensure you’re eating according to your goals. It sounds scary, but again, the web comes to the rescue with a slew of digital macro-tracking programs. It also gets easier with practice, and you’ll find whole foods are much easier to track than processed, pre-made foods.
The free version of MyFitnessPal doesn’t allow you to enter gram amounts for macros, only percentages. If you’re comfortable with percentages only, then MFP is a great free option because of its barcode scanning feature and massive database of foods and drinks.
Cronometer offers a detailed dashboard and reports feature to easily track macros.
The Cronometer tracker tracks vitamins and minerals in addition to macros. It also allows you to track important biometrics, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep, mood, pulse and more — but you first need this information on hand to use the features.
If you do have access to that information, Cronometer provides insight into long-term trends and a clear snapshot of your overall health. While Cronometer is impressive, it can be a bit overwhelming if you only want to track macros and not the rest of the metrics it offers.
Why should I track macros?
Know that you don’t need to track macros to be healthy, lose weight, build muscle or reach any other health goal. The only time you actually need to track macros is if your doctor told you so.
Logging your every bite can be frustrating and time-consuming, but it’s worth noting that you’ll get pretty good at eyeballing portions if you make tracking a habit.
Tracking macros can be incredibly useful for some things, such as preparing for a bodybuilding show or optimizing athletic performance. It can also be helpful if you want to implement “flexible dieting,” or the practice of eating any foods you want, as long as they fit into your macronutrient ratio. For many people struggling to lose weight, tracking macros can help you see exactly why you’re not losing weight because it provides a much more accurate estimate of your actual caloric intake.
Counting your macros may also be the key to finally eating less processed foods, as processed and packaged foods tend to be high in fats and carbs (and not often high in protein), and adding in more superfoods. Many people who want to create a calorie deficit to lose weight prefer tracking macronutrients instead of counting calories, as it takes the emphasis off of weight loss and shifts the focus to nutrition. This is very helpful for creating long-term healthy habits.
Additionally, many people enjoy tracking macros because it helps them understand what types of foods work best for their bodies (i.e. perhaps you’ll discover you thrive on higher protein). Give it a try to see if it works for your lifestyle, but don’t feel like you ever need to track your macros.
