“Macros” – a word you’re no doubt hearing a lot lately, in magazines, social media and in the gym – but what does it mean?
“Macros” is an abbreviation of the word ‘macronutrients’ – and controlling these ‘macronutrients’ is fundamental, if you are to achieve your body composition goals – whether they be fat loss or muscle gain.
When we start a working relationship with our clients here at ‘Energise’ and enquire as to how someone is currently eating – a common answer we hear is “I eat really well” (particularly females) – but when we actually analyse what they consume on a day-to-day basis, their ‘macronutrient’ profile is far from optimal if they are to successfully achieve their goals.
A ‘macronutrient profile’ is a structure that someone must adhere to, if they are to achieve their goals in the most optimal manner – these are not set in stone – and are calculated by the coach before every single phase – whether that be fat loss, muscle gain or sports performance.
A macronutrient profile is expressed in a ratio format of carbohydrates, protein and fats – and our coaches tailor this split to the individual, dependant on training schedule, activity level, type of employment and personal goal – to maximise nutrient intake.
These numbers will make up your daily intake of food and therefore calories – for that specific training phase.
The most important consideration to think of when considering your daily food intake is with regards to the nutritional value of what you are planning to eat…
Simply saying “As long as I consume 1700 calories I will be ok” is not satisfactory – because 1700 calories coming from a greasy takeaway and beer, does not have the same effect on the body as 1700 calories of nutritionally rich food that your body can utilise.
These ‘poor quality’ calories will provide poor output with regards to energy, a huge strain on the gastrointestinal tract when it comes to breaking down and partitioning the content of the meal, and high risk of inflammation – whereas the better quality food will be easily broken and digested, and provide a much more stable form of energy output.
Here’s some simple steps you can take to help you start to take ownership over what you’re eating on a daily basis…
STEP 1: Keeping a food diary.
Before you can start overhauling your daily intake, you need to know roughly how good/bad things currently are – and the best way to do that is to start a journal.
This can be either a physical or digital journal, whatever you prefer, but it needs to be honest and include absolutely everything that you eat or drink from the minute you wake up, to the moment you go to bed.
Many people think they know exactly what they eat/drink every day, and even guess the number of calories they are consuming. If that’s you, don’t kid yourself. The reality is, as our busy lives go on, we tend to eat a lot more than we realise.
Once you start recording your diary, you’ll realise very quickly that accuracy is difficult, because assessing portion size is tricky. Interestingly, most of the time we tend to underestimate serving size rather than overestimate.
You will also observe that snacking throughout the day or having a random biscuit with your cup of tea might seem like nothing, but can easily add up to a couple of hundred calories.
Lastly, we often underestimate the amount of calories in beverages that we drink – believe it or not, that seemingly innocent gingerbread latte contributed to over 300 calories!
STEP 2: Use a calorie tracking app – or even better THE ENERGISE APP!
A quick search through the App Store on your mobile device will uncover a plethora of calorie tracking apps that you can utilise free of charge – yes, they will try and get you to upgrade to a premium service – but this isn’t necessary for basic nutrition management.
At ‘ENERGISE’ – our personal preference is our very own app, which has over 900,000 foods in the nutrition logger and over 700,000 scannable barcodes, and we work with our clients to help them plan and plot their way through the week so that they can consistently hit their calorie and macro targets whilst accommodating social events, guilty pleasures and busy working schedules.
A scanning facility really helps if you’re following macro guidelines rather than a structured meal plan, because when you’re out shopping, a simple barcode scan will allow ease of input straight on to your daily diary – it will also allow you to input alcoholic drinks and hot beverages purchased when out and about.
TIP: For accuracy – try to input your food straight after it’s been consumed – trying to recap your intake at the end of the day can sometimes be inaccurate, and what’s the point of an inaccurate food journal!?
When you track correctly and keep an accurate log, guesswork is taken out of the equation. You get objective feedback from the data given, and know exactly how much you are consuming. This “reality check” can, in turn, inspire some positive dietary changes and help you keep on track with your personal goals.
Perhaps the biggest asset to tracking, is the fact that you automatically record the macronutrient content of everything you have consumed on the app – and it gives you a running total of where you are at any given period of the day.
Checking this regularly can help you decide the optimal content of your next meal, as you are aware of what’s been lacking and what has been plentiful up to this stage.
STEP 3: Digital food scales
For accurate results, to track your calories and macros precisely, you will need a food scale. These are relatively cheap, simple to use and will very soon become your best friend when it comes to optimal nutritional management.
If you’re currently using cups or spoons, or perhaps even ‘eye-balling’ your measurements, there is a good chance that you’re a long way wide of the mark and don’t even realise it.
Take one tablespoon of nut butter. It should provide 15 grams of total weight and approximately 100 calories. However, the idea of what constitutes a “tablespoon” can vary greatly from one person to the next and therefore so does the calories you think you’re consuming.
A small slip here and there certainly won’t sabotage your goals, but when you adding up these inaccuracies over a whole week or a month, they can have a serious negative impact on your results.
Now, we live in the real world, and it’s totally unrealistic of us as coaches to expect our clients to spend their entire lives chained to their weighing scales – however a period of weighing your food before it is eaten will very quickly help you recognise the correct serving size and what your exact calorie intake is.
You probably think weighing your food will be incredibly tedious but using a scale for an initial few weeks will help you learn what common serving sizes look like over time. In a month, you’ll know what 100g of steak looks like without the requirement for weighing.
OK, so now you have an idea of what you are consuming, what should you be aiming for with regards to your macronutrient targets
PROTEIN:
The word protein comes from the Greek word mean ing ‘the first’ and is arguably the number one macronutrient responsible for helping you achieve your body composition goals.
It’s also the number one macronutrient that most people undereat!
In Western society, most people overeat heavily with regards to carbohydrates and fats, and leave protein lagging far behind – this comes as no surprise when government guidelines for protein intake show an RNI (Recommended Nutrient Intake) of 0.35g per pound of bodyweight – which equates to a measly two portions a day.
At ‘ENERGISE’ we typically advise our clients to consume somewhere between 0.8g – 1.2g per pound of bodyweight – dependant on their individual goals.
A great starting point would be to include one source of quality protein with each individual meal – total up what that comes to, subtract that from your daily protein target, and then aim to make up the rest from either protein based snacks or supplements.
CARBOHYDRATES:
Are carbs really the devil? How many should you eat? What forms of carbs bring the best results? Fast or slow carbs? Lots of questions we are constantly asked when coaching clients…
Understand this, carbs are neither good nor bad, it’s more a matter of understanding their role in the body, how to use them, and how many to have.
At a basic level, carbs are a direct energy source for the muscular and central nervous system.
As previously mentioned, our current Western society indulges in way too many carbs. This isn’t helped by government guidelines recommending you get around 60% of your daily intake from carbs.
Your typical chair-based office worker doesn’t require anywhere near this high a percentage, hence the current epidemic of obesity and illness riddling our population.
Calculating an individuals optimal carbohydrate intake is where a coach really earns their money – as it is dependant on a person’s activity level, current body fat percentage and personal goals.
As a general rule, the leaner and more muscular an individual is, the more carbs they can handle.
The other consideration that must be made is relevant to how much fat intake a person has – ie: if carbohydrate intake is high, fat intake must be minimal, and vice versa.
At ‘ENERGISE’ our thought process is this…
1.) Set protein goal.
2.) Calculate calorie intake according to client goals.
3.) Scrutinise clients food diary to ascertain whether they prefer foods laden in carbs or fats.
4.) Set a sustainable start point for both carbs and fats that can be tweaked over the first 4-6 weeks until a ‘sweet spot’ is found.
FATS:
Long before carbs got a bad wrap, fats were demonised as the cause of obesity, hence the bombardment of ‘low fat’ products throughout the food industry.
Fat is actually essential for a healthy body, and a vital component of any diet designed to improve your physique.
However, it is important to have a tight reign over dietary fat intake, as 1g of fat contains 9 kcals – whereas 1g of carbs or protein only contains 4 kcals – meaning they are more calorie dense.
This doesn’t mean that eating fat will make you fat, it simply means it’s just very easy to over-consume calories from fat, ultimately pushing your daily calorie total into a surplus – hence the need for control.
The difference between the types of fats available to us is an article in itself – so I won’t digress here… however it is important to state that fat is important to us for numerous roles within the body, such as cell structure, hormone regulation, mineral and vitamin absorption and of course energy.
As mentioned above, a person’s fat intake is dependant on the whole dietary set-up.
At ‘ENERGISE’ we set protein target first, then calculate the individuals calorie intake dependant on personal goals.
Fat intake would then fall between 25-50% of total calorie intake, this is dependant on personal preference, food diary history and feedback on energy balance – leaving the remainder of total calories allocated to carbohydrates.
Where you fall on the dietary fat intake range depends on feedback re: cognitive performance and physical performance – some people state they have more mental focus and energy when consuming higher fats and lower carbs, whereas others report periods of lethargy and brain fog.
So that hopefully explains what ‘macros’ are all about, and how to start recording data and tweaking your intake.
Our members section have access to numerous ‘ENERGISE’ kitchen cookbooks – which are full-to-the-brim with great recipes for starters, sides, main courses and desserts – and have full macronutrient breakdown (and barcodes) for every meal.
Steve