“Should I be counting macros?” is a question I get asked at least once a week, so let’s dive into this question in more depth, shall we?
The short answer to “should” you count macros? No. You don’t have to count macros to be healthy or reach a certain fitness level/physique.
CAN you? Yes, certainly.
As with most things in the world of nutrition, it’s a bit nuanced. A blanket recommendation and approach does us all a disservice, so we will be diving into the ins and outs of counting macros in the following post. By the end, you will have a better understanding of what macros are, why people keep track of them, the pros and the cons of counting/tracking macros, how to calculate your own macros, what to do if you don’t want to track macros, and how to apply this information to your life.
Let’s get to it!
What are Macros?
The term macros refers to macronutrients, or the nutrients your body needs in large amounts in order to function optimally. The three main macronutrients that most people refer to are protein, fat, and carbs. Our bodies (and thus our organs and cells) require each of these macronutrients to work optimally and perform necessary functions.
Further, each macronutrient will provide a certain amount of calories, which is a unit of energy. On average, carbs provide 4 calories per gram, proteins provide 4 calories per gram, and fats provide 9 calories per gram. We know how many grams are in a food either by looking at the packaging and serving amount, searching it on the internet or an app like My Fitness Pal, or weighing or measuring it on a scale. It is this aspect that can be very eye-opening for some people; you can quickly become aware of things like “wait, there’s how many grams of carbs in a serving of ice cream?”, or “I’m only getting 6 grams of protein in an egg?”, or “a large Chickfila fry has how many grams of fat??”. There need not be any guilt attached to these thoughts!! But it can be a very surprising activity and one that leaves you with a better awareness of what you are consuming.
What are the benefits of macro counting?
Macro counting can help some people understand where calories in their diet are coming from and how they affect their body. Since all types of foods (think donuts AND kale AND pizza AND grilled salmon) have macros, macro counting shows some people that technically ALL foods can fit into their diet without “thwarting” their goals. Macro counting also helps some people understand that not all calories are created equal (contrary to what some might think). For example, 800 calories of carbs will have a different impact on the body than 800 calories from a mix of carbs, fat, and protein.
Additionally, macro counting is commonly use to help people reach body composition goals, whether it is losing fat, gaining muscle, or just maintaining where they are. Macro counting often reassures people of JUST HOW MUCH FOOD THEY CAN EAT!! Counting macros helps some focus on a balanced intake that includes protein, fats and carbs — this general awareness around nutrition can lead to improved eating habits and create a better awareness of any imbalances in intake (like, under-eating protein and over-consuming carbs). Macro counting also can be a real eye opener on serving sizes (OMG a serving of tortilla chips is that small!?!?).
Bottom line: macro counting mainly helps people become more aware of their overall intake and the breakdown of that intake, in order to reach a goal…or to simply just be more aware and knowledgeable in their food choices.
What are the pitfalls of macro counting?
Macro counting has benefits in some instances, but it also has some pitfalls in other instances as well. One of the big concerns or hesitations many people have with macro counting is that it doesn’t take into consideration the quality of the food or the amount of micronutrients present. When focusing on macros alone, you could very well “hit your macros” yet not consume a single veggie. Another pitfall is that it can be very time consuming weighing, logging and tracking everything you eat.
However, what I see as one of the largest concerns or hesitations with macro counting is that it can often lead to a limited or restrictive diet consisting only of “safe” foods (foods you know the macros for and how it can fit into your day). For some people, macro counting can become an anxiety-inducing act in an effort to manipulate or control intake. This can lead to obsession, striving for perfection, and a constant fixation on the macros of a food and how it will fit into your “plan”, versus learning how to listen to what your body is telling you you need…and enjoying whatever environment you’re in in some instances. Put another way, you can become out of touch with the behavioral or the emotional aspects of eating (which are just as important in an overall healthy, balanced intake (and relationship with food). Some evidence shows that even those without a history of disordered eating, who begin to count macros, are more likely to develop disordered eating tendencies.
It is important to note that macro counting in and of itself isn’t bad — it’s simply a tool! What matters more is your relationship with that tool.
Bottom line: while macro counting has benefits, it also has pitfalls, such as having a potential negative impact on your relationship with food, not taking into consideration nutrient quality of foods consumed, and being relatively time consuming.
Should YOU be counting macros?
Remember that nutrition isn’t black and white; what’s helpful for one person might be harmful for another. Counting macros is neither inherently right or wrong, but might be right or wrong for you at this moment. So, should you count your macros?
That’s something only you can decide, after being very honest with yourself and taking into consideration your relationship with food, your goals and priorities, and your personality. Some questions to consider:
- Does counting macros trigger an unhealthy habit or way of thinking for you?
- Do you have a bent towards perfectionist tendencies and all or nothing thinking?
- Do your goals require you to strictly follow a set macro count, or would you do okay with a more relaxed approach?
- Can you see yourself counting macros for the long term/forever?
- If not, how would you transition from counting macros to not?
- Do you have the time to track, weigh, and measure most of what you are eating?
If you have a history of disordered eating patterns or even just tend to lean on the obsessive side of things (hello, that’s me), counting macros might not be the approach for you. Oftentimes it can be used as just another form of control over food and/or physical appearance that eventually takes over our every thought…even if we start with good intentions.
If you choose to count macros, it should ADD to your life (mentally, physically and emotionally), not take away from it. Macro counting should be seen as a tool to liberate you and provide you with information, not as a restrictive rule to follow that enslaves you to a number to hit at all costs.
While I don’t personally count my macros nor strictly track my intake, I definitely have a general grasp (or awareness, if you will) of my overall intake; I know whether I’m eating a protein, fat or carb based on what foods I’m consuming, and aim to loosely eat them in a way that helps move me towards my personal goals, while also considering my mental health and sanity — I don’t do well with closely tracking numbers. From time to time I will try to track my intake for 2-3 days just to get a pulse on where my current intake lies. It helps me to draw conclusions and gain insight on how my intake might be influencing my hunger.
Counting macros or not, I still believe that having a baseline working knowledge of what macros are and how they work IS important in being an educated, empowered consumer and active participant in your own health.
But do I think most people need to tightly count their macros? Nope.
And, am I saying counting your macros is stupid/pointless? Not at all!
How to keep track of macro intake
If you choose to track, most people use the My Fitness Pal app to keep track of their intake. Pros? It’s an easy to navigate app that is free and already has a largeeee library of foods and their macro breakdown already included. Cons? It can take considerable time to log and track every morsel you eat.
It usually helps most people to be proactive about their meal choices, rather than taking a more reactive approach (which honestly, this could be helpful for most people regardless of counting macros…we tend to make poorer health choices when we are reactive — think of when you are STARVING and hadn’t planned!). This usually boils down to planning meals the day before, or at the beginning of the week, or having some type of plan in place.
Too daunting to consider doing for…ever? Tracking macros (loosely, even!!) for just a couple days can give you a good pulse on where your current intake lies. You may find you’re lacking in protein, easily overeating carbs, eating more than a “serving” of peanut butter, or not even coming close to your overall needs…ohhh, could THAT be why you want to eat the whole pantry every night at 9 PM!? You can then use these few days of data to see where/how you could make changes to your intake most days.
How to calculate macros
Before we move ANY further, I have one large disclaimer: if you easily fixate and obsess over numbers, please consider skipping over the following portion of this post. This doesn’t make you weak — it makes you wise, because you are taking into consideration your mental and emotional health, which are just as important as your physical health. It’s imperative to remember that the formula to calculate your macro needs is just a formula; it can’t take into consideration YOUR unique body composition, biology, dieting history, and even hormones, all of which impact how your body utilizes the macros (and calories in them)…but that’s outside of the scope of this post. Just know that while the formula does provide you with numbers, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is 100% correct. Your metabolism is much more complex than a formula, so don’t get too hung up on the numbers. Think of the formula as a tool, not a rule. It’s a tool to help you dial in your intake, but shouldn’t be the rule that drives your life. And as your body composition changes, so your macro needs will change over time.
I cannot emphasize this enough: placing so much weight and focus on hitting numbers is not the way to cultivate a sustainable, healthy relationship with food or your body. Again, if you feel easily enslaved or controlled by numbers, then I would strongly suggest opting out of calculating your needs. I cover a more intuitive, internal way to tune into your unique needs in my ebook Simple Staples which you can get HERE.
To start, we first need to calculate your daily calorie needs.
To calculate your estimated calorie needs, you will first determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), or the amount of calories you burn each day to keep up basic, life-sustaining functions. You do not want to drop calories below this, ever. Next, multiply that number by an activity factor, based on your usual activity level, to determine your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This is roughly the amount of calories you burn per day to maintain where you are. Consume more and you’ll gain weight over time, consume less and you’ll lose over time — albeit this is an overly simplistic way to look at it (remember, it doesn’t take into consideration factors like your body composition, biology and even hormones).
Let’s use the example of a moderately active, 27 year old female who weighs 150 lb (68.1 kg) and is 5’5″ (165.1 cm) tall.
1. Calculcate BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
- Women: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in yrs) – 161
- Men: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) + 5
Example: (10 x 68.1 kg) + (6.25 x 165.1 cm) – (5 x 27) – 161 = 1416 calories
2. Calculate TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)
Activity Factors:
- 1.2 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
- 1.375 = light activity (light exercise 1-3 days/week)
- 1.55 = moderate activity (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week)
- 1.725 = very active (hard exercise 6-7 days/week)
- 1.9 = extra active (very hard exercise and physical job)
Example: 1416 calories x 1.55 for moderately active = 2194 calories per day to maintain
Now you can estimate the macronutrient breakdown for the whole day. Each macro lends a certain number of calories per gram, laid out below. Note that alcohol does as well. Grams of each will be listed on packaged foods (like peanut butter or salad dressing). For items like chicken or a potato, you can do an easy Google search to get a rough estimate in the amount you consume, or can use a scale to measure and weigh your food.
Protein = 4 calories per gram
Carbs = 4 calories per gram
Fat = 9 calories per gram
Alcohol = 7 calories per gram
1. CALCULATE PROTEIN. It’s usually easiest to start with protein since that’s hardest for most people to hit. Protein is super important for those hoping to achieve body composition goals, which is another reason why protein is the best the start with, to ensure you prioritize adequate protein intake. To calculate protein, use the recommended daily protein intake of 0.7-1 g per lb of body weight. For our 150 lb female, that is 105-150 grams of protein per day. We’ll use 120 grams as an example (0.8 g/lb). Multiply by 4 (4 calories per gram) to get 480 calories from protein. So, aiming to have 120 grams of protein through the day will provide 480 calories for your total daily needs.
2. CALCULATE FAT. Now, subtract 480 from 2194 calories for a remaining 1714 calories. This will be split up between fat and carbs, which is largely personal preference. Studies show that, when protein intake is consistent and adequate, both low fat and low carb diets provide roughly the same benefits. Let’s start with fat, which is recommended to make up 20-35% of your daily caloric intake. Using 25% as an example: 25% of 2194 calories = 549 calories, or 61 grams of fat (549 calories divided by 9 calories per gram) per day. So, roughly 61 grams of fat will provide 549 calories for your total daily intake.
3. CALCULATE CARBS. Finally, subtract 549 from 1794 calories for a remaining 1170 calories that will come from carbs, which is 292.5 grams (1200 calories divided by 4 calories per gram). Having 292 grams of (round up or down) carbs will provide roughly 1170 calories for your total daily intake.
So, putting it all together, a daily intake of 120 grams of protein, 61 grams of fat, and 292 grams of carbs should allow this 150 lb woman to maintain her current weight.
If you want to lose fat, it’s recommended to slowly decrease intake, usually by cutting back either carb or fat intake by roughly 250 calories a day. Conversely, if you want to gain muscle, work to slowly increase carbs or fat by 250 calories a day. Be patient and monitor changes over the span of at least 3-4 weeks before adjusting further, and don’t neglect monitoring how you feel mentally and emotionally, as well as what your energy and appetite levels are telling you. We’re in it for the long game, not a quick fix, and you can still be healthy without being the leanest version of yourself. And of the utmost importance to note you should not chronically be in a “cutting” phase, where you eat less than maintenance. Give yourself plenty of time to sit in maintenance, or even in excess if you are wanting to gain muscle or strength.
As you might see, this can help some people realize they actually aren’t eating nearly enough! For example, if you find yourself consistently overeating and binging at night, could it be because you are unintentionally undereating during the day? But again for others, it can become extremely obsessive and controlling being constantly numbers driven. You must take into consideration your personality and past experiences (have I emphasized that enough?).
Translating your macros into food choices
So you have your macros calculated….now what? Now it’s time to make food choices to fill in those macros, baby! This is where you will have to start label reading, weighing and measuring. This will likely take some time if you are just starting out, but as you get familiar with it, you can learn to “eye ball” things; whereas they might not be the EXACT macros you need, you get pretty close, but don’t have to drag out the food scale.
Say you’re having a bowl of 1/2 cup oatmeal (uncooked) with 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp sliced almonds, and 1/3 cup raspberries. Let’s break this down.
- You can look on the label of the oats and find it has 3 grams of fat, 33 grams of carbs, and 6 grams of protein (I’m using THIS product from Bob’s Red Mill as an example).
- 1 cup of almond milk has 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbs, and 1 gram of protein (I’m using THIS product from Califia Farms)
- 1 tbsp of sliced almonds has 4.5 grams of fat, 1.8 grams of carbs, and 1.8 grams of protein (I found this on My Fitness Pal)
- 1/3 cup raspberries has 5 grams carbs and .5 grams protein (I found this on My Fitness Pal).
- In total, the meal has roughly 11 grams of fat, 42 grams of carbs, and roughly 9 grams of protein. This is close to 300 calories (11 grams x 9 calories for fat, 42 x 4 for carbs, 9 x 4 for protein).
You then would log this into an app or tracker to keep track of your intake through the day and try to piece things together to “fit your macros”. Kinda like a puzzle.
It’s important to note that cooking and preparing some foods will change its weight. This is especially the case for foods like meat and chicken, rice, oatmeal, and pasta. If you look at the macro breakdown on the labels for these foods, it will be raw weight. Meat and chicken will cook DOWN by about 25% (so if it is 8 oz raw, that 8 oz will actually cook down to 6 oz….it’s just losing water); rice, pasta, oats will do the opposite since they soak up water (so 1/2 cup of oats actually cooks up to something like a cup), and will increase by about double. So if you get 1 cup of cooked rice out at a restaurant, then you wouldn’t track the macros for 1 cup of UNcooked rice, you’d track for something closer to 1/2 cup UNcooked rice. Thankfully you can find most of these conversions already calculated out on My Fitness Pal or on the internet, but I felt it was worth mentioning. If you are cooking at home, it’s easiest to just weight foods raw/uncooked!
Do all foods fit in counting macros?
With macro counting, yes — it can show people that all foods CAN fit into your diet and realistically still reach your goals. If you know you’re going out to dinner and your favorite ice cream shop is right beside it and you just KNOW you’ll want to get ice cream after but are afraid it’ll thwart your goals, macro tracking can help some people get over that fear since they can go ahead and “factor it in” or “pre-log it”. This allows them to account for it, and adjust intake during the rest of the day/leading up to the ice cream to still hit their macros. In this case, you might find that you’ll have to drop back on carbs and/or fat intake earlier in the day (since ice cream tends to be higher in those).
Of course this doesn’t take into consideration the nutrient density of the foods consumed. Hitting your macros doesn’t mean you are also providing your body with the vital micronutrients it needs to function optimally. BUT, as with most things: there’s an ideal way and a not so ideal way to go about it. Doesn’t make macro tracking inherently “bad” or “wrong”, just depends on the approach.
What if you go over your macros?
So, you’re counting your macros and find OH SHOOT, you wayyy overshot it one day. What do you do?
Don’t freak out. No. Really…don’t freak out. And no, DON’T plan to restrict your intake the following days..that’s practically a recipe for binging. Since I don’t count macros I don’t really have much of a personal, practical approach to this; what *I* would say, leaning heavily into having grace with yourself, is to accept it and move on. It was one day, and tomorrow is a new day! Don’t see it as failure, look at it as an opportunity to collect feedback to learn from. If you aren’t prepping for a competition/bikini show, it really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. That’s life!
However, another approach others often take is to fill in whatever remaining calorie needs are left for the day with whatever macronutrients you haven’t gone over. So say you consumed more fats that allotted; you would then just eat more protein and carbs so that you are still consuming the same total calorie intake, just a different macro breakdown; you’d then go back to “normal” the next day.
What if you overate calories? Again, same approach: give yourself some grace. Look back and try to identify patterns or a trigger that led to an increase in intake. Use that info as data to drive your choices and actions in the future!
If your head is spinning (like mine), let’s talk about the other alternative: not tracking macros.
What if you don’t track?
If you don’t believe tracking macros is right for you, that’s okay! You can absolutely consume a well balanced diet without focusing on hitting numbers each day. What I love to use for myself and with clients is the Plate Method approach, shown below. It’s a more flexible (yet structured) way to consider your intake. The recommended portion sizes listed are starting points, you may need more or less of each component, and that’s okay (and expected)!
If you have a little brain space for more closely tracking one aspect, I would recommend paying more attention to protein intake, as most people are underconsuming protein — especially if the goal is fat loss or even building muscle. I like to use the recommendation of aiming for 0.7-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. This is roughly equivalent to 1-2 palms per meal, but you can break that up however you want between meals and/or snacks.
Need some examples of how the Plate Method approach would flesh out into meals? Here’s some ideas:
- 2-3 eggs (protein) with mashed avocado (fat) on a slice of toast (carbs), with a side of raspberries (carbs and fiber).
- Oatmeal (carbs) with chia seeds (fat and fiber), peanut butter (fat), strawberries (carbs and fiber), and a side of breakfast sausage (protein).
- Grilled salmon (protein and fat) and spinach salad (fiber rich veggies) with quinoa (carbs) and a vinaigrette dressing (fat).
- BBQ chicken (protein and carbs) with sweet potato fries (carbs and fat) and steamed green beans (fiber rich veggies).
- Chicken (protein) curry made with coconut milk (fat), mixed veggies (fiber rich veggies), and white or brown rice (carbs).
Utilize the rough portion sizes outlined in the Plate Method, or you can weigh, measure and track using macro counting.
You could even use a combo of the two by having a general idea of macro breakdowns of common foods and then paying attention to the “biofeedback” your body gives you — are you losing fat, gaining muscle, more satiated, etc? This allows you to flex your intuitive muscles while still having gentle structure to fall back on.
Final thoughts on counting macros
There really is no one size fits all approach to nutrition, and that relates to counting macros as well. For some people, macro counting is freeing, for others it is a sentence to slavery. Macro counting itself is not inherently good or bad — it is how you approach it that carries the most weight. Even if you don’t want to strictly track your macros, having a general understanding and awareness of your intake can be beneficial for overall health. Consider aspects such as your goals and priorities, your current lifestyle, and your personality to determine if macro counting is right for you. If you end up not wanting to count macros but still want to keep a pulse on ensuring balanced intake, utilize a flexible template like the Plate Method.
Let me know if this post was helpful, or if I left out something you’d like to know more about!