What the Hell is a Macro - Can Counting Them Get This Weight Off?
Is it just my social media pages showing me women with perfect abs yapping about counting macros, or are you getting these Ads too?
This seems so strange to me. It’s as if macros just emerged as a thing, even though in reality they’ve been there all along and people have always manipulated them in some fashion or another to lose weight!
I count them at times and I’m willing to bet you have, too. You just might not have been aware you were doing it.
Getting the right combo of macros in your diet can do wonders for your body composition. But, like most things health and fitness, it’s not a magical cure-all.
Even if you figure out the right combo of macros for your goals, you’ve still gotta do the hard work! Build healthy habits, eat healthy foods, move your body, get sleep, manage your stress, etc.
However, if you’re doing all the things and the weight isn’t coming off, this could be your missing link.
If ya wanna know…
>> What the hell are these macros everyone’s yapping about?
>> Will tracking them help me lose weight?
>> How do I do it?
Then this post is for you, sister.
You Might Know More Than You Think
When people blather on about “macros” they are referring to the macronutrients in your food, as opposed to micronutrients.
Macronutrients provide our body with fuel: fat, protein, and carbohydrates. We need these in large amounts as opposed to micronutrients like vitamins and minerals that we get in smaller amounts.
In addition to giving your body an energy source, all three macronutrients provide your body with something a little different, and having a good balance can make your body run like a well-oiled machine.
If you’ve used a calorie counting app, like My Fitness Pal, you’ve probably seen these macros counted out, whether you recognized them as “macros” or not. If you’ve ever played in the low-carb diet space, you’ve at least counted one of the macros -carbs!
Here we’re going to talk about why you might want to track, why you may NOT want to track, and I’ll give you some quick tips on how to get started in case you decide you want to give it a go.
Keep in mind that even though this is a hot topic right now, it’s NOT the right way for every person. Some people will thrive on this approach (particularly data-driven peeps) but it will make others crazy.
In general, whether you decide to go this route for your weight loss, this knowledge of food make-up can be helpful for ALL humans. At least when you look at a plate you can eyeball it and understand a little better if your meals are balanced, even if you decide not to become a macro tracking zealot 😉
Disclaimer – I am not a dietician and I’m not handing out a meal plan here. This is for general informational purposes only.
What the hell is a macro?
Macro is short for macronutrients.
The three main macronutrients are fat, protein and carbohydrates.
Alcohol could be considered a fourth macronutrient since it provides your body with fuel, and now that you can ingest ketones as a supplement I would even toss them in as a fifth macro of sorts. But for the sake of this convo we’re talking fats, proteins, and carbs.
Macros provide fuel to your body, but they serve many other functions as well.
For instance, protein gives you 4kcal per gram, but it also contains amino acids that are the building blocks of your muscle and other tissues as well as functioning as enzymes, helping to transport hormones, and making up your cell membranes.
Protein is very satiating, which means it helps you to feel full. It’s also not super easy for your body to store protein as fat. Both of these fun little facts may be why high protein diets are so effective for weight loss. (Here are a couple of random studies but there are so many more you can dig up ->1,2,3).
Also, when we diet, we lose a little muscle along with body fat, and getting adequate protein can help mitigate this muscle loss. The more muscle you keep, the easier it is to keep fat off down the road so this is a very good thing.
Fat provides 9kcal per gram but it also makes up our hormones and nervous system tissue. Yes, fat is more easily stored in the body as fat, and it is more calorie-dense than proteins and carbs. But some fat is essential for our body to function properly. Do not be afraid of healthy fats!
Not only do fats keep your hormones plugging along, but they also help you absorb fat-soluble vitamins, keep your brain firing on all cylinders, and give your skin a beautiful glow.
It’s certainly true that not all fats are created equal. But fats, in general, have been way over-vilified in the last few decades. In addition to the other benefits mentioned, many people find their meals more satisfying and their energy levels better with a little healthy fat in the diet.
Carbohydrates provide 4kcal per gram. Carbs are a great fuel source for your body and your brain and can help to spare protein during exercise. Carbs have gotten a bad rep over the years as well with all the popularity of low-carb diets, but carbs are NOT bad for you either.
Fun carb fact - you must eat fats and protein but your body can actually make carbs. Some use this as an argument to say we should never eat them, but that’s an oversimplification. Some people will thrive on low carb, others will crash. Nutrition is a very individual beast, but let’s not jump on the “carbs are evil” bandwagon.
They can absolutely be part of a healthy weight loss plan and can provide your body with a lot of benefits. Plus, they can make our food more enjoyable and when eating fibrous carbs they can make us feel full longer.
Carbs aren’t evil, don’t buy into the hype. (And this is coming from a gal who loves the ketogenic diet – I just don’t live in it and I still love my carbs).
Ok now you know what the three main macronutrients are, but what the heck do we do with this?
Why Track Macros
If you understand the concept of calorie counting (getting the right amount of energy from your food to hit your goals) then think of counting macros along with counting your calories as NEXT LEVEL tracking.
Why do you calorie count when you’re trying to lose weight?
To put your body in a calorie deficit. You’re trying to take in fewer calories than you spend so your body will use its stored fat and you lose weight.
The thing about weight loss is that most of us mean we want fat loss. Weight loss can come from the loss of fat, muscle, or water. We definitely don’t want to lose muscle, because it helps us keep fat off our body and it gives us that “toned” look that women are always after. Water weight fluctuates constantly and can sometimes make us feel a little fluffy, but it’s not the main thing we’re trying to lose either. When we see the scale moving down, we’re really wanting it to be the fat that is leaving. Keep this in mind for the upcoming convo.
Your total nutrition is more than calories in and calories out. You have your macronutrients plus things like fiber, vitamins, minerals, water intake, food quality, etc. Calorie counting is a pretty narrow focus and tracking your macros opens that focus a bit to include more pieces of the puzzle. It’s not all-encompassing but it’s better than only looking at calories.
When you’re tracking macros you’re still tracking your calories but you’re getting even more specific. How much of these calories are coming from fat, carbs, and protein?
Tracking calories only looks at the total energy coming in, but tracking macros looks at where that energy is coming from.
Why does it matter where these calories are coming from?
Well, remember that your body uses all three macronutrients a little differently. So, depending on your goals, it can actually make a huge difference.
You can have the same amount of calories but get those calories from any variety of macronutrients…
> high protein, low fat, low carb
> high fat, low carb, moderate protein (keto)
> high carb, low protein, moderate fat
The possibilities are endless and if you’re only counting calories you may be missing how these different combinations could impact your goals.
How can they impact your goals?
Let’s use a few examples to show how this could potentially change things…
For instance, within a set number of calories, you could have a high-fat diet, low in carbs, and be in ketosis. This has certain benefits, but it also has certain limitations and not everyone wants to be in ketosis.
Some find it very satisfying and they can naturally cut back on how much food they eat and therefore lose weight easily. But for an athlete that requires a lot of carbs to fuel their workouts, they can feel sluggish and it can stall their progress.
You could also have a diet low in protein and high in fat and carbs. Even though you’re getting the same number of calories as someone on a higher protein diet, you may feel hungrier and may lose more muscle mass. You will still lose fat if you’re in a calorie deficit, but by losing more muscle you set yourself up for weight gain down the road.
You could do a super low-fat diet and feel sluggish and have a hard time keeping your hormones in balance.
Or, a popular weight loss combo is to go high protein, moderate carb, and moderate fat.
My favorite first tweak with macros is to ensure you’re getting enough protein! Even if you track nothing else.
There are some people for who a high protein diet will not be right, so again, always check with your doc before following any diet.
But for the average population, high protein works great!
Get enough protein to fuel muscle growth or at least protect you from muscle loss, and get enough fats and carbs to feel full and provide all of the benefits that they both have to offer. You can always tweak your carbs up and your fat down or vice versa depending on how you feel.
But if you’re getting the right amount of calories to lose weight and getting ample protein, it seems to make weight loss a little easier.
These are just a few examples of why you may want to pay attention to where your calories are coming from instead of just how many calories you have coming in.
I say it all the time, 1200 calories of Oreos are not going to do the same thing to your body as 1200 calories of chicken and broccoli.
Oreos = processed carbs and some unhealthy fat with no protein. It will give you the same amount of energy as the chicken and veggies but it’s obviously not going to do the exact same thing in your body.
Calorie counting is a very narrow focus. Counting macros will broaden that scope a bit. It’s still not perfectly well rounded, but it’s considering a lot more variables than just calories.
The Two Main Goals of Tracking
You could track with two different goals in mind. One is to learn more about what you’re currently eating and the other is to actually change what you’re eating. In other words, one is an assessment tool and one is an intervention.
Most people jump right into making modifications. They pick a certain number of macros they think they want to hit and start trying to follow it. I personally like to see what someone is eating on average BEFORE making any changes. It’s easier to know how to get where you’re going if you know where you’re coming from.
Let’s break these down a bit further…
Tracking as an assessment - learning your baseline
I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to start a “macro diet” or general calorie counting. Why? Because to know where you’re going you need to know where you’re at. There are a ton of calculators online that will tell you how many calories and macros you should be eating for your body size, age, goals, and activity level but they are all estimates at best.
The only way to know for sure how your body responds to different amounts of food (calories) is to know what you’re putting in your face and see what your body is doing.
If for instance you track your macros and calories for a couple of weeks and you also track your weight on the scale, you can start to see if what you’re eating now is a maintenance level of calories for you, or are you eating in a surplus (scale is going up) or a deficit (scale is going down). This is great data for you to have.
Plus, knowing where you’re starting can help you come up with more realistic goals.
For example, let’s say you’re only getting about half the protein you should be (this is the first macro I personally like to play with). You go to some online calculator, and it tells you to eat 120 grams of protein. If you’re starting out at 50 grams of protein, hitting 120g is going to feel like quite the chore and you’re going to have a hard time hitting it. If you’ve done your homework and know that you’re starting at around 50 grams, you can ease your way up towards your goal.
Remember all or nothing thinking will get you nowhere with weight loss. We don’t need to hit targets perfectly, we need to inch our way closer to them.
If you go to an online calculator and it tells you 1600 calories should put you into weight loss, but you’ve done your homework and know that you’re eating that now and not losing…then 1600 calories isn’t actually a deficit for you. It’s maintenance.
If you track your macros for a little bit and see that you get almost no fat in your diet you can look for healthy ways to add in more. This will help with your hormones and feeling more satisfied with your food.
The point is that tracking first without making any modifications can be a great way for you to learn more about your body and your current diet. Knowing where you are can better help you get where you want to be. I encourage anyone I’m working with who wants to track to do it for a period of time as a learning tool first, and as an intervention later.
Tracking as an intervention
Ok, you’ve done your homework and you’ve tracked for a period of time to see what you currently eat. Or you skipped that part and grabbed some generic goals from a tracking app or the interwebs. Either way, tracking as a means of controlling what you eat is what most people think of as “tracking your macros”.
Ya pick a goal you want you to hit, and you start tracking what you eat in an app. You can manipulate your calories, fat, protein, and carbs to hit your goals.
What your targets will vary widely based on your body size, age, activity level, and goals. Just because someone is roughly the same size as you does not mean you will need the same amount of calories and macros!
In addition to traditional macro counting where you’re tracking all three, you could also choose to just track certain macros. I’ve worked with many women who are clearly not eating enough protein and by adjusting that one macro we can get the scale moving and energy levels up.
The key is to determine what your goal is, what your body needs, and track accordingly.
There’s a lot that goes into tracking accurately should you decide to do it, but we’ll get to that later. First, ya gotta decide if this is even the right approach for you. So, let’s make a little pro’s and con’s list.
Pros to tracking
>>> Teaches you a lot about food
Understanding the difference between a carb, a fat, and a protein is a great knowledge base to have. When you start tracking there is a big learning curve. But once you know it, you’ll be that much more able to plan out nutritious and balanced meals.
>>> Can ensure you’re getting your baseline requirements for a healthy body
Are you getting enough protein? Are you getting too much or too little fat? Are you subconsciously avoiding healthy carb sources because you’ve been on and off low carb diets for so long?
We need adequate protein for muscles, fat for hormones and our nervous system, and carbs to fuel our workouts, for satisfaction and energy. That’s a way over-simplified description of what each macro does, but you get the point.
We need adequate amounts of all of them. And when we’re trying to lose weight, knowing which group to cut back on to decrease our calories can make weight loss easier.
>>> Flexibility
You can pay someone to give you a meal plan for your goals, but let me offer up the idea that it’s better to learn how to do this yourself. Once you understand what you need to be eating to hit your goal or to maintain your health, you have more flexibility and sustainability.
If someone tells you exactly what to eat to lose weight and you follow it, you may in fact lose the weight. But you can’t stick to the generic meal plan forever so even if you go that route, try to learn as you go!
Otherwise, what will happen when you go back to eating ad-lib? If you didn’t learn why you were eating what you were eating, you can’t turn around and apply it for yourself.
But, if you take the time to learn what your food is made of and how it impacts your health, you have flexibility! If you know you feel great when your macros are in a certain range, you can structure your food for the day with whatever foods you enjoy that help you hit that those amounts.
A meal plan may say something like “4 oz of chicken breast for lunch”. Well, that gets old quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice to understand that you can get the same amount of protein in 5 oz of shrimp (with fewer calories) so you can easily substitute the chicken for some shrimp?!
Now you have variety. In fact, you could substitute your chicken for some pork or beef once you know what you’re trying to hit and what other foods can get you there.
The first couple of weeks may seem like a real chore, but once you practice this it gets easier and easier. You will learn a lot about food, and you’ll learn a lot about your body! The flexibility this gives you, in the long run, is worth the brainpower to pick up this skill.
You can lose weight following food rules and eliminating whole food groups (a great option for people who hate to track). But with macros, you can keep those food groups and apply what you know about food as a template.
Once you stop tracking, if you do it long enough, you can better guess what’s on your plate and eat a well-balanced diet without tracking.
>>> No “bad” foods
So many of us are walking around with some serious food guilt. Now, I love the simplification of an “eat this, don’t eat that” food list. The barrier to entry is low, ya follow the list, nothing to learn!
But sometimes we create this thinking pattern that foods are inherently good or bad and this ends up being its own problem.
If you eat a snickers and have a meltdown because you ate a bad food, for instance, those guilty feelings aren’t really helping you. Waht’s even worse is if that “slip up” puts you on a junk food binge because you already “blew the diet” so you just have a free-for-all day, weekend, or even week.
And it’s extremely unrealistic to think you’ll never eat something that isn’t “clean” again. When we do have a snack, it’s best to enjoy it and move on. Not fall into an episode of self-loathing on the couch with 3,000 calories worth of treats.
Now, I’m not saying you should fall in the “if it fits your macros” camp where you eat nothing nutrient-dense and miss out on all kinds of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, etc that are in healthy food. Food quality still matters.
But, having some snacks here and there is perfectly fine and does not need to set us over the edge.
I like that with most macro tracking plans there are no “good” or “bad” foods!
Cons to Tracking
>>> Big learning curve
If this is the first time you’ve ever heard of a macro, it can feel like a lot of information to learn. I don’t really view this as a con since I find the information to be invaluable, and you’ll pick it up quicker than you think. But it can be a little overwhelming to start.
>>> Inaccuracy
It’s very easy to make huge errors in your tracking. You have to actually weigh and measure food, especially when you are new to this. When we guess, it’s wrong and therefore not really helpful.
This is anecdotal but from my own experience women overestimate their protein intake and almost everyone underestimates their caloric intake. This means that without weighing and measuring, most women will think they are getting more protein than they are, and will think they are eating less total food than they are.
There can also be inaccuracies in the data that is entered in food apps because the data comes from other users. Anyone can enter any information, so you’ve gotta make sure you pick the right option or even enter the data yourself.
Inaccuracy can even come from food labels since they’re allowed up to 25% inaccuracy.
These are just a few examples of common ways we get errors in our tracking, but there are ways to make your data as reliable as possible. The point is that guessing will not do the trick, we have to put forth some effort to get reliable info into our tracker.
>>> Time consuming
When you first start out you need to plan what you’re eating, prepare it, and take the time to put it in the tracker. This can feel fairly time-consuming, but I would argue whether you’re tracking your food or not, you will need to plan and prepare food to lose weight. It’s inevitable. So the only real added time is putting it in your tracker which doesn’t take up that much time.
I recommend adding your food to your tracker the day before as a means to plan out your food and keep yourself accountable. But, if you’re tracking as you go, make sure you pull out your phone and track what you’re eating right then and there.
Going back at the end of the day and recalling your food from memory is highly inaccurate. We forget about all the little nibbles throughout the day and they can really add up if we’re a grazer!
>>> Tracking isn’t always necessary
Depending on where you’re at on your weight loss journey, tracking may not be necessary and you might even do better without it.
How can that be true?
If you have a lot of weight to lose and currently eat whatever and whenever, there are many modifications you can make to your daily eating routine that will be effective.
Once you reach a certain level of leanness, it becomes more and more difficult to lose more fat. This is when you have to get down to the nitty-gritty and dialing in your macros matters.
I’m a big believer in doing things that give you the biggest return on investment with the least amount of work. When you’re starting off, you could do something as simple as cutting back on soda intake and you’ll lose weight. Save the daunting things like macro tracking for when you hit a plateau.
If you can look at your current diet and see that you eat way too much processed sugar like cookies, and you know you’re not getting enough quality protein from meat, you’re not getting enough veggies and fruit, or you’re snacking all day which is adding a lot of calories, you could make a change to any one (or all) of those things and you will see results without counting a thing!!
Making these changes and paying attention to how your body feels and what starts to happen to your weight might be even better than counting things because it’s mindful eating and very sustainable. If however, you’re not seeing progress, it may be time to track.
>>> Stressful
Tracking is great for certain personality types and it’s a nightmare for others. No matter your personality type, if it’s new it will be somewhat stressful. But for some people, that stress isn’t from the learning curve, it’s from having to track and count things and they don’t get used to it.
They actually did a cool little study showing how stressful tracking can be for some people, even if the diet wasn’t restrictive at all. The participants who were tracking and eating the same as the control group (who weren’t tracking) felt it was more restrictive even though it was the same diet.
If it’s going to stress you out, it may not be worth it.
>>> Nerotic
Some people can become totally obsessed with food when they are tracking. Or can become so fixated on it they have a hard time stopping and transitioning to a more intuitive eating plan once the diet is over. The goal in this is not to develop an eating disorder, it’s just to be a tool we can use to learn more about what we’re eating and push along in the right direction.
Should you decide to track, do your best to be accurate but understand that there will always be some level of error and you do not have to be perfect to get results! Your body isn’t going to follow your exact calculations anyways. These are estimates that you play with and tweak.
Think of this as a fun little experiment to see how your body responds to different things. Give yourself some grace when it’s not perfect because nothing ever is. And realize that a gram of this or a calorie here does not matter in the grand scope of things!
>>> Not sustainable long term
I know very few people who want to count things for the rest of their lives. Eventually, you’ve gotta make the transition back to eating without tracking. Now, I would suggest that you ALWAYS eat with purpose, but that doesn’t mean you need to weigh and measure everything from here to eternity.
>>> Losing your natural cues
In theory, we should get signs when we’re hungry that trigger us to eat and we should feel full and stop eating when we’ve had the appropriate amount of food. For many people, these mechanisms are a little wonky and not working properly, hence some of the weight gain in the first place.
Plus, hyper-palatable foods make this a real challenge. I can smash a whole bag of Dorritos with no issue at all, but taking down chicken breast with the same amount of calories would be impossible. My body knows how to tell me when I’m full from real food, just not junk food.
Learning to eat with purpose and pay attention to the cues our body is giving us is a great skill to develop and it is, in my opinion, the ultimate place we want to end up.
Tracking may actually deviate us from this a bit if we’re super rigid with our food plan.
For example, when you’re tracking you may feel as though you need to eat everything you’ve weighed and measured out regardless of how satisfied you feel while eating it. You eat it all because it’s measured out and you’re “supposed to”, overriding your natural satiety. Well you’re going to want to pay attention to those satiety cues when the tracking is over.
>>> Big picture
Macros counting gets you a heck of a lot closer to seeing the big picture than simply counting calories, but it’s still not the whole enchalada.
There’s a whole “if it fits your macros” camp which preaches you can eat anything as long as it fits your macros. You can actually lose weight doing this, but I think it sends the wrong message.
Sure, you can hit your macros with protein shakes and cupcakes but you’re going to be really hungry as those foods aren’t satisfying. Vitamins, minerals, and fiber are still important - not just macros.
Now, I’m not saying you need to be a clean eating zealot either. Eat your junk food when it fits your macros on occasion because we all need a little break here and there. But making mostly healthy food choices with some junk sprinkled in is going to lead to more sustainable results than a total junk food macro diet.
Food quality is still important, and no amount of math and counting things will change that. Your body will respond differently to slow-burning carbs than a cupcake. It can make muscle from meat much more effectively than plant-based proteins. Transfats from fried foods will be much more likely to lead to heart disease than an avocado or olive oil.
Ya don’t need to be a freak about food quality but keep in mind that healthy eating principles always apply, no matter the diet.
How To Track Macros
Ok, how do we actually do this?
Lucky for us, with tracking apps, we don’t have to do that much math. Old school way to track macros was that you had to know…
Fat = 9kcal
Carbs = 4kcal
Protein = 4 kcal
You would pick a target for your caloric intake and then figure out how much of each of the macros you could have to get to your calories.
You would multiply the amount of each macro by how many calories it has and total it up to get your total calories.
For instance, let’s say I want to eat 1800 calories on average each day and I know I want to get 125 grams of protein.
125 grams of protein x 4kcal = 500 calories. So, after my protein intake, I have 1300 calories to play with for fat and carbs.
If I wanted to get about 30% of my calories from fat I would want 540 calories from fat. 1800 x 30% = 540. There are 9kcal in a gram of fat, so 540/9 = 60 grams of fat.
So far I can have 125 grams of protein and 60 grams of fat and I’ll be at 1040 calories. I can use the remaining 760 calories from carb which would be 760/4 = 190 grams of carbs.
This math might not even be right but you get the point!
GOOD NEWS!!!
You don’t have to do any of this anymore!!!!
Now you just tell the app what you ate, or what you’re planning to eat, and it does it all for you. Magic!
All you need to know is what you want your targets to be and the app will do the math. Thank you Jesus because that is painful.
Now, how do you decide what your macro targets should be? Well, I’m not going to tell you that because it’s highly individual. There are many online calculators that will guestimate your caloric and macro needs, you can even use one of the presets on the apps like My Fitness Pal.
In general, if fat loss is the goal, I personally like to use something that is high in protein. If you’re in a calorie deficit and you’re getting high protein, fats and carbs become something you can play with.
Do you enjoy and feel good on a little more fat or a little more carbs. Just make sure you’re getting enough fat to fuel your body. Yes, there is a minimum amount of fat you should get!
If you want to know for sure what your maintenance calories are, I highly recommend tracking for a week or two and also tracking your weight. Nothing can calculate better for you than your own body!!!
>>> Budget
I also personally like to look at tracking as a weekly budget. Every day doesn’t have to be exactly the same. Who in the hell is OCD enough to pull that off? Not this chick.
But if you are a little low one day and a little over the next day and it averages out at the end of the week, you’ll still hit your goals!!
This also gives you a little flexibility. Want to splurge on a special occasion and not blow it for the week? Ok, just pull a little from the days leading up to it to balance it out.
>>> Don’t starve yourself
Don’t go crazy pulling calories. More isn’t better and neither is faster! In fact, the slower someone loses weight, the more likely they are to keep it off. Why? I have some guesses but I’m not even going to go there. Nobody knows for sure and the why doesn’t even matter. But we know it to be true.
Now, if you have a significant amount of weight to lose and you’re working with a doctor or dietician and they’re having you go fast, by all means, carry on.
For the general population who is trying to lose some weight and want to actually keep it off, don’t be frustrated with slow progress. Because slow progress is sustainable!
If you’re losing at a good pace don’t remove even more calories because you want to go faster!
Try and eat as much as you can while still losing weight, not starving yourself down to the weight you want. Taking your calories too low will cause more muscle loss, decrease your metabolism to a greater degree, and you’ll become completely burnt out of the whole process. This is a recipe for regaining all your lost weight.
Wrap It Up
This is such a huge topic, I could never do it justice in one little blog post, but let’s recap some key points here.
>>> Tracking macros can give you more info than simply calorie counting.
>>> If you’re just starting on a weight loss journey, learning healthy habits may be more beneficial than starting with macro tracking.
>>> If you’re going to track you will need to weigh and measure for accuracy.
>>> Think of your intake as a weekly average instead of something that needs to be 100% every single day.
>>> Don’t starve yourself to lose faster! Slow and steady wins the race.
>>> This may provide a flexible way to enjoy foods you love and still hit your goals, but food quality is still important.
While I find this topic fascinating I get that it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So, I’m hoping this gave you enough information to at least know if it’s something you want to learn more about or know if it’s not for you, so you can move on to something that is.
I’m going to list some resources to dive deeper for those of you who are interested, from people smarter than me who can explain it a whole lot better.
If you’re on the fence about what approach to weight loss may work best for you and you want some guidance, head over to my work with me page. One of the options there might be just what you’re looking for.
Resources
>>> My Fitness Pal
>>> Here’s a great video on getting started with tracking. How to use the apps, how to weigh and measure. It’s all here!
>>> Beginners Guide to Macro Tracking
>>> Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition Edition is my most favorite book on the topic if you’re someone who wants all the details! It’s pretty nerdy, have fun.
