The other day, my friend and I were talking about healthy eating. We ended up on the topic of macros, and she mentioned that I should write a blog post about it. Late last night, I had the idea to make fundamental nutrition tips into a recurring series here on the blog. It was around 1am, so I wasn’t going to start actually typing anything yet… But I knew what I wanted the first post to be about. So in this post, we’ll kick off our Nutrition 101 series with the first concept: Understanding Macros.
A little backstory…
Before I get into the first concept, I wanted to share a bit of my history with nutrition/dietetics.
I’ve always been interested in health and fitness. It’s one of my biggest passions in life and something I’ve been naturally drawn to since I was a kid playing sports.
Back when I graduated from high school and had to pick a major, I knew that Dietetics was the best option for me.
I went through a rocky time during college (nothing to do with my actual studies — I absolutely loved them — but other life circumstances.) So, I ended up taking a gap year (or two…) and it took me around 6 years to finish my degree.
I graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor’s in Dietetics & Nutrition.
Even though I absolutely loved learning about nutrition throughout college, it turns out I didn’t want a career working in a hospital telling people what to eat every day…
So instead of completing a dietetic internship and becoming an RD, I pursued other career paths.
Although I didn’t become a registered dietitian, I learned so much throughout my Bachelor’s program, and would love to share some of these concepts with you.
Over the years (post-college) I’ve developed an even deeper love for nutrition, food, and overall health. I’ve had time to put the concepts learned in school into real life practice.
Figuring out what works and what doesn’t. What feels too restrictive or obsessive, what nutrition tips are sustainable, and how to be a truly mindful and intuitive eater.
Let’s be honest…
Whew! So after that long-winded backstory about me, let’s get into what you came for — some advice on understanding macros.
Understanding Macros
Disclaimer: This blog post is not meant to be used in place of health advice from a doctor or registered dietitian. Although time & care has been taken in preparing this content for you, I do not know your individualized circumstances and dietary needs, and my advice should not be taken as such.
“Counting macros” has become a huge buzzword in the health and fitness community in recent years. Let’s start things off simple by explaining what a “macro” is.
What are macros in your diet?
“Macros” is short for macronutrients. No matter what you eat, your diet is made up of macronutrients and micronutrients. Simply put, macronutrients (or “macros”) are carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
All calories you consume will fall into these 3 categories in varying amounts.
For example, a serving of brown rice (1/4 cup or 45 grams) contains 170 calories. These calories are made up of 34 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of protein, and 1.5 grams of fat.
Each macronutrient provides a different amount of calories per gram.
Calories per gram:
- Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram
- Protein provides 4 calories per gram
- Fat provides 9 calories per gram
These 3 macronutrients are the major components that make up your food.
Some foods are more carbohydrate-rich (like the brown rice mentioned above, fruits, oats, and bread.) Some are more fat-rich (like olive oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds.) & some are more protein-rich (like meats, eggs, seafood, and Greek yogurt.)
This doesn’t mean that any one food or macro is better than the others. You need a combination of all 3 macros to have a balanced diet.
What macros should you be eating?
This is where the idea of counting macros in the fitness community can be a bit too simplistic. If you’re only counting macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fats), you’re neglecting the other major component of food: micronutrients.
I’ll get into micronutrients in more detail in another post, because there is way too much to cover here.
Put simply, micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals in food needed for overall health. These include fat soluble vitamins (vitamins D, E, K, and A), water-soluble vitamins (vitamins C and B complex), and minerals (calcium, potassium, iron, etc…)
We’ll cover this in way more detail in another post, but back to the main point — macronutrients.
The “golden ratio”… :/
There’s no simple ratio for the percentage of each macronutrient you should be consuming. Everybody is different, and following a macro percentage you see online because it “works” for some fitness influencer is not the way to go. It’s great that it works for them, but that doesn’t mean it will work for you.
Doing a simple Google search for “best macro split” will prove my point here. Every result that comes up is going to say something different. Because truthfully, there is no ideal split that works for everyone.
For example, the first 5 results that come up when I google “best macro split“ are:
- 45–65% carbohydrates, 10–35% protein, 20–35% fat
- 20-40% carbohydrates, 40-50% protein, 20-30% fat
- 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, 30% fat
- 40% carbohydrates, 40% protein, 20% fat
- 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein, 20% fat
As you can probably see, these are all drastically different amounts.
Everybody is built different, and your nutrition is going to reflect your individual needs. For most people, tracking macros in this way is complicated and unnecessary.
But if you’re diving into nutrition and think tracking macros could help with educating you on healthy eating, that’s great! Be sure to speak to a registered dietitian to come up with a plan that is created for your individualized needs and nutritional goals.
Don’t worry about following random advice you see on social media.
What are my other options?
If you don’t want to track macros (which I wouldn’t blame you, I don’t want to either…) — there are simple ways to still make sure you’re getting healthy meals in.
For example, an easy rule of thumb is to make sure you include produce (vegetables and/or fruits), whole grains, and a lean protein at most meals.
This generally will cover the carbohydrate and protein categories, so you can do your best to add in a healthy fat too. For example, cooking with olive oil, choosing salmon as your protein source, or adding in some nuts or seeds to your meal.
Here’s a simple guide you can reference when cooking a meal:
This by no means needs to be an exact breakdown, the percentages and pie chart are just there for visualization. 😉
I hope this helped you with understanding macros!
This is a very general breakdown of a complex topic when it comes to the basic components of your food and nutrition.
I truly hope this was helpful in you understanding macros and how they fit into your daily diet.
As always, feel free to comment with any thoughts or questions below. I’d love to hear from you! 😊
Comments will be open for one month after a post goes live now. Unfortunately, I had to disable fully open comments due to a ton of spam comments coming in. If you’re unable to comment but want to get in contact, feel free to email me. I’d love to hear from you! 🙂
If you enjoyed this blog, you’ll also like:
