I know you’re hoping I’m going to tell you that you can stop tracking your food, but I’m sorry…if you want the best results?
You need to accurately know what you’re consume.
And most of us are really bad at estimating portion sizes and accurately remembering what we’ve eaten. Especially when we are first making a lifestyle change.
What is measured, can be managed.
If you don’t have data, you don’t know what to adjust.
It can make you feel like nothing is working without knowing exactly what to adjust.
When you track, you can make small changes based on what you’re ACTUALLY doing instead of guessing and feeling like you’re throwing spaghetti at a wall hoping something sticks.
However, I do think that a focus solely on calories in vs calories out when we track doesn’t yield the best results nor does it teach us to properly fuel our bodies for long term success.
Trust me…I’ve been down the calorie counting road.
It left me always feeling like I was starving and constantly trying to cut calories lower when my weight loss results stalled.
It led to me constantly yo-yo dieting because I didn’t truly understand the breakdown of my food and how to create a balance and a true change.
I’d create the deficit, lose weight, then increase my calories and regain what I’d lost.
And even when I lost weight, I never achieve the body recomposition results I wanted. I’d get skinny but never look leaner.
So if you want to feel fueled while also achieving amazing body recomposition results what should you be doing instead?
You should be tracking MACROS.
Now I know you’re probably thinking, “Hold up…Isn’t that the same thing as tracking calories?”
And while yes, by dialing in your macros, you will also impact your calorie intake, it honestly isn’t the same thing at all.
Purely counting calories puts the emphasis simply on calories in vs calories out over the QUALITY of those calories.
And the learning process to actually looking at the breakdown of your food is what yields LASTING results.
It’s amazing how much the amount of proteins, carbs and fats you consume can dramatically impact how fueled you feel and the results you get FROM THE SAME CALORIE INTAKE.
And it’s because we’ve also all fallen victim to the “calories are created equal” line.
While this line is a complete oversimplification of things and I know someone’s now going to say, “Calories actually are all created equal because they are a unit of measurement so one calorie equals one calorie…
The point of that statement is that purely counting calories isn’t taking into account the impact each macro, and even our food quality overall, can have on the results we get.
And that by changing the macros of those 100 calories, we can dramatically change how we feel and our long-term adherence.
The types of foods, and macros we consume impact how full we feel, but they can also impact our performance, recovery and overall hormonal balance.
Increasing your protein intake can increase satiety and help you feel fuller between meals.
And whether you’re plant based or an omnivore, increasing your protein is a key place to start.
Not only can it help keep you feeling fuller, but by increasing your protein you can help yourself build and retain lean muscle even while losing fat.
So if you’ve ever been told you can’t lose fat as you build muscle?
That’s just not the case. It’s just a process that requires us to be patient and track…something we don’t like to do.
And while I know carbs are often demonized in our current dieting world where Keto is all the rage, simply cutting carbs for some may not only hold them back from achieving the aesthetic results they want, as carbs can create an anabolic environment ideal for muscle growth, but also negatively impact their performance.
If you’re trying to train for an endurance sport while also trying to lose fat, you want to be conscious of the macros you’re consuming to make sure to get adequate protein to protect your lean muscle mass, as endurance training can be catabolic to muscle tissue, while also getting enough carbs for that instant fuel to perform.
Simply treating a calorie as a calorie could be why you always feel like you’re starving when training while also not losing any weight!
And simply treating all calories as if they are equal also ignores the differing thermic impact of not only each macro but also of processed vs unprocessed calories.
Each macro requires a different amount of energy to be digested and utilized, which isn’t taken into account when we just focus on calories in vs calories out.
Studies have shown protein actually has a thermogenic effect 5 times greater than carbs or fat!
Protein takes the most energy to digest with about 20-30% of the total calories in protein eaten going to digesting it. Then carbs take about 5-10% while fats take 0-3%.
That’s why you can feel so different on the same calorie intake based on the macros you’re consuming!
And then even how you dial in those macros can make a difference.
I know we all see those crazy food concoctions with hashtags about “if it fits your macros” and I’m a big believer in finding balance and working in those foods I love that I know aren’t as healthy for me because it helps me create a sustainable lifestyle balance right for me…
BUT when you track macros, while nothing is off limits, you’ll also find that often your food quality improves.
Not only are you able to include a diversity of foods to get vitamins and minerals from a variety of sources instead of following a restrictive list that can often come with a focus on “clean eating,” but you really aren’t able to just eat crap and hit your ratios.
While those posts may show crazy foods people work in, what you aren’t seeing is that lean protein and veggie meal they’re also eating to make it work.
And that balance not only allows for long-term adherence but can help you slowly focus more and more on whole natural foods even if your diet isn’t as focused on them currently.
By including more whole natural foods in your diet, you’ll consume more nutrient dense foods which will not only benefit you health wise, but also make you feel fuller.
Processed foods because of the caloric density easily lead to overeating. Not to mention because they are hyperpatable you tend to just want…well…more of them even when you ARE full.
Not to mention, processed foods have a lower thermic effect.
A study which actually just used two basic cheese sandwiches, showed that by simply even using a more natural cheese and whole grain bread made a difference in the thermic effect.
So even if these sandwiches both have the same technical calorie intake, because one has a higher thermic effect, your ultimate energy balance will be different.
SUMMARY:
This is why we can’t just focus on calories in vs calories out but instead need to track our macros!
You may be surprised by how changing up your macros, without even adjusting your calories to start, can get you moving forward to feeling fueled while achieving the lean, strong body you’ve always wanted.
And by taking the time to truly learn about the make up of your foods, you’ll be able to adjust over time as your needs and goals change.
Because maintaining your results can’t mean just going back to what you were doing before!
We need to stop saying that losing weight or gaining muscle is simply about calories in vs calories out.
Because that deficit or surplus we create, and the results we get from it, can be DRAMATICALLY impacted by the make up of our foods – by the macros.
Before you start arguing against this, take a second to be open and read the argument.
Also, start to think about it this way…
Yes, do you need to eat less than you expend to lose weight?
Yup.
Do you need to eat more than you expend to gain?
Yup.
But saying that calories should be the focus over macros is like saying, “SURE! You have no idea what you are doing, but you can go deadlift heavy weight. I mean if you can pick it up, it must be fine, right? Who cares about form!”
You would NEVER say that!
Because you know that while you may be able to lift it, it’s a sure-fired way to end up injured and NOT getting the results you want, even if you might see immediate benefits just from doing some sort of work out.
Saying that someone only needs to pay attention to calories is the same thing!
Maybe you’ll see some immediate results, but you’re basically setting yourself up for failure.
That’s why MACROS should be your primary focus.
And through focusing on macros, you’ll find so many other pieces of the puzzle, including your caloric intake, fall into place.
There are 3 reasons I think macros matter more than focusing on only the calories in vs. calories out…
And all 3 reasons relate back to the fact that a calorie isn’t really simply just a calorie…from how our body uses it to how we feel eating it.
A calorie isn’t simply a calorie because…
Consuming the “right” foods requires more energy.
A calorie deficit leads to weight loss, macros lead to lasting body recomposition.
Macros can help you avoid weight loss plateaus and help you avoid dramatic weight rebounding after dieting.
Now let me break down why these 3 things matter and just all of the reasons why you should make your primary focus on macros over just your calorie intake.
#1: Foods have different thermic effectsand require different amounts of energy to be used by the body.
Have you ever heard that celery is “negative” calories?
It’s because celery requires more energy to break down and use than it contains.
Now I’m not telling you to just go eat a ton of celery, but the point is…
Different foods require different amounts of energy to be processed and used by our body!
The more energy that is required to break down and use the foods we eat, the fewer net calories you are really going to end up truly consuming from those foods.
On average people use about 10% of their daily energy expenditure processing food BUT this number can dramatically differ based on the ratio of each macronutrient you consume.
Because each macro has a different thermic effect! (1)
Protein actually has the highest thermic effect at about 20-30% (meaning about 20-30% of the calories are used to digest the food).
While carbs have a thermic effect of about 5-10% and fats 0-3%.
You can see why adjusting the macronutrient breakdown you consume could now dramatically impact how many calories you should be consuming overall.
Researchers have even proposed we change protein from 4 calories per gram to 3.2 calories per gram because the thermic effect is so great. (Carbs are 4 calories per gram and fats 9 calories per gram.) (2)
Not to mention, studies of higher protein diets have even shown that when people consumed a hypercaloric diet, aka not only did they NOT eat in a deficit but they actually ate in a SURPLUS, they did not gain body fat.
So eating higher protein kept them from gaining weight even when eating 800 calories more than the lower protein group! (3)
Still think a calorie is just a calorie!?
This could mean if you ate higher protein, you may need to create what seems to be a “smaller” deficit and get better results than if you cut calories lower!
Plus, when you adjust our macro break downs, we also often dial in the QUALITY of our foods.
I know it’s become popular to see meals that “fit your macros” that aren’t so healthy, BUT what you often aren’t seeing is the veggie and protein meals being eaten to allow those people to then fit those treat meals in.
There is a balance going on there (that social media doesn’t always show). And this balance is key to getting lasting results with something that can become a lifestyle.
So by focusing on macros, often the quality of the foods you consume, in order to hit those ratios, also changes.
(Again why I think macros should be the first thing you focus on as other things will fall in line with them.)
The point is…the quality of your food ALSO matters!
Because whole, natural foods have a higher thermic effect than processed foods! (4)
Even something as simple as a more natural bread and a more natural cheese over more processed bread and cheese can make a difference (as shown by the study linked out in the (4) reference).
So even just based on this little bit…You can see that a calorie is NOT simply a calorie!
#2: Calorie deficits can lead to weight loss, but macros lead to lasting and SUSTAINABLE body recomposition.
I managed to maintain a healthy weight by counting calories. But macros changed my physique!
Most of us may say we want to “lose weight” but we don’t just want to lose weight truly…we want to lose FAT.
If you simply cut calories, you may lose weight. But that weight lost on the scale is more than likely not just going to be fat – it’s going to be muscle as well.
And while some muscle loss is to be expected when you lose weight, especially when if you have 50+ pounds to lose, or you cutting for a shoot or competition, you can minimize the amount of lean body mass lost by dialing in your macro ratios (specifically increasing your protein)! (5)
By focusing on protein, you can not only minimize muscle loss, BUT even GAIN muscle while in a deficit.
No way, right!?
Most of us have been told it isn’t possible to lose fat and gain muscle at once.
We’ve been told we need to pick one or the other.
And it’s because most of us have been told weight loss is simply about calories in vs. calories out.
Sure if you just count calories, it will be near impossible to do both.
But that’s why focusing on macros FIRST is key because then you CAN lose fat and gain muscle by including higher protein macro break downs! (6)
And not only can a diet higher in protein help you retain, and even gain, lean muscle while losing fat, but it can help increase adherence and even potentially improve your diet’s effectiveness.
Most of us want to lose weight and KEEP the weight off.
And part of doing that is finding something that doesn’t make us feel like we are starving all of the time.
A diet that keeps us feeling full and satisfied is going to be easier to stick with long term. And a diet higher in protein does just that!
(And I’m not just talking animal protein here…even vegans and vegetarians can increase their protein intake to improve their results!)
Not to mention, by focusing on macros in general, you’ll also often dial in the quality of your foods as I mentioned before.
Those more whole, natural foods will also help you fuel your body better to stay fuller feeling for longer!
If we give our body the nutrition it needs, guess what will happen?
It’s going to run better and function more optimally, which will only help us reach our goals more easily!
Also, by focusing on macros, you can make sure you get the carbs and fat you need to keep your hormones at optimal levels.
And by focusing on protein you can also keep yourself feeling fuller for longer while keeping your metabolism “healthy.” (7)
Many of us have heard that crash dieting can “hurt” our metabolism.
And while yes, extreme calorie deprivation will slow our metabolic rate, along with weight loss in general, this isn’t a permanent thing necessarily.
If you weigh less, and have less muscle, your body needs to use less energy.
Plus, when your body thinks it is “starving” it’s going to do all it can to conserve energy.
Both things result in a slowed metabolic rate.
And this is why balancing those macros can be so important over just counting calories.
When you focus on protein, you can prevent muscle mass loss to keep your metabolic rate higher AS you lose weight.
The higher protein, and macro focus, not only helps make the weight loss process easier, BUT it will also help you KEEP the weight off.
Because then as you start to adjust your calories to more of a maintenance mode range, you have the lean muscle mass on to keep you burning more calories even at rest.
You’ve set yourself up for long term success.
If you’d just focused on calories instead of macros to lose weight, when you actually hit your goal weight, you may find it is much more difficult to MAINTAIN your weight loss results!
It isn’t as simple as now just eating more because you want to MAINTAIN.
The idea that calories matter most may help us lose weight or gain it…BUT it most leads to a cycle where we are constantly yo-yoing between those two things over maintaining the results we’ve gotten.
Because it doesn’t truly teach us how to find that balance nor set us up with an ideal body composition to maintain progress!
#3: Macros can help you avoid weight loss plateaus and help you avoid dramatic weight rebounding after dieting.
Your weight loss has slowed.
So what do you do?
Either A. You give up. Or B. You try cutting calories even lower.
However, simply creating a bigger calorie deficit doesn’t always work.
And it can actually even BACKFIRE.
Ever feel like you’re barely eating anything, and are in a huge calorie deficit only to have the scale actually GO UP?
YUP…It can happen.
And this is due to many of the factors I’ve mentioned earlier.
But basically…
Your body simply is no longer burning as many calories at rest because not only have you lost muscle mass, which burns more calories at rest, but your body even “gears down” in response to the decrease in energy coming in.
You will tend not to fidget as much. Or be as active. Your workouts may even suffer.
Basically, you’re expending less so even as you increase your calorie deficit, aka cut your calories lower, that deficit may not be as big as you actually think and your body may be rebelling against further restriction.
So what happens?
The scale goes up?
And with more and more restriction often we mess with our hormone levels more and more.
This then makes our bodies scream at us to eat more, which often leads to the horrible yo-yo dieting cycle.
So how can you avoid all of this?
Guess what I’m going to say you should focus on instead?
MACROS!
If instead of cutting your calories LOWER when you hit that plateau, you simply adjusted your macro ratios, you may “kickstart” your progress again.
Our bodies adapt to what we give them.
So if we slightly adjust our energy sources, we can often avoid that adaptation and keep our results progressing.
And we don’t need to cut calories lower to do this, which can help us preserve that lean muscle mass and keep our hormones at optimal levels.
Even if you’re focusing on protein, you may adjust carbs or fats up or down to help ensure your body is functioning optimally.
Simply adding 5% to one macro, without any calorie change, can kickstart your progress, help you avoid weight loss plateaus, AND keep your metabolism “healthy” while preserving your lean muscle mass.
And you can include these variations in ratios each week or even over the course of weeks, depending on how complicated you want to make things or even on how experienced you are with macronutrients and tracking.
With Macro Cycling, I have clients adjust every 2 weeks to not only keep things “fresh” mentally, but also help them avoid plateaus and keep their bodies functioning optimally (while also not overcomplicating things with multiple ratios in a single week).
They point is, by focusing on macros over simply counting calories, you can see better and faster results and even more easily avoid those weight loss plateaus.
Now…let’s just say, you did hit that plateau and did instead decide to cut calories further instead of focusing on your macros.
Let’s even say you saw some progress on the scale after you cut calories lower.
The question is…what will end up being the cost of this even more extreme deficit?
The cost of this deficit may be more lean muscle mass lost as your body uses anything it can to fuel your activity.
So while you may see the scale continue to go down, it won’t be only body fat you’re losing.
And this reduction in lean muscle mass can result in an even lowered metabolic rate as well as hormone levels that are all out of “whack.”
Our body can begin to believe it is “starving” and it will scream at us to eat…and even actually OVEReat.
So then what happens?
We gain back all of the weight we lost and, unfortunately, often even more.
And not only do we regain the weight, but our body composition may even end up worse off than where it started!
Yup…we may end up with even more fat mass and even less muscle mass than BEFORE we dieted.
How is that possible?
Well, when we lost weight, especially because we didn’t focus on macros to maximize lean muscle mass retention, we also lost muscle.
We catabolized our muscle tissue potentially even more by eating too little.
So then when we overeat and the scale goes back up, it isn’t going up because we’re gaining muscle….
Nope…We’re just regain fat.
That muscle mass we lost during the diet is gone.
So our body composition may end up worse than where we started.
This yo-yo dieting cycle is what also leads to us feeling like our metabolism is “damaged.”
Because we have less lean muscle mass, we’re going to burn fewer calories at rest.
And it does take some time for hormone levels to normalize and our body to realize it no longer has to try to conserve energy.
All of this can make the process of trying to lose weight again even more difficult!
It can be why it seems like each time you start a new diet the process of losing gets more and more difficult!
It’s again why you can’t just focus on calories in vs. calories out!
So…to sum things up….
A calorie isn’t simply a calorie. And the calorie intake you need can be DRAMATICALLY impacted by the macro ratio you use.
It’s why if you focus on macros first, the calorie deficit or surplus you need will be created in a way that will lead to not only BETTER, but LASTING RESULTS!
Whatever your goals…whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, get lean, fuel your training OR even avoid the dreaded weight gain often associated with menopause, MACROS MATTER!
BUT it is also the BEST way to learn how to eat well and really understand what proper nutrition looks like so you can learn to eat intuitively.
Tracking is like studying for a test. You don’t want to do it. But you’ve got to if you want to really learn and understand the material.
When you study, you’ve got to read and take notes. You take practice tests even and review to really start to learn the information and soak it all in.
BUT hopefully over time studying, you begin to understand the principles and aren’t constantly needing to research or seek out the answers. You’re ready for your test because the information has become INGRAINED and LEARNED.
And sometimes we aren’t even fully conscious of how many little “bites” of something we take throughout the day.
Tracking helps us truly understand what we are doing so we can learn from it and make the necessary changes.
Changes we couldn’t make without tracking because we’d only be able to really say “Well, I’m focused on eating whole natural foods and I eat generally well while watching my portions.”
We need something MEASURABLE.
When you have something measurable, something that tells you what is truly going on, you can then more easily make changes. You can realize what you haven’t yet learned how to do.
You can see the answers you may have been missing!
You TRACK to “STUDY.” But at some point this becomes information you KNOW.
The thing is…you can’t just skip ahead to the test!
So as much as tracking may be annoying, it’s only a few minutes out of your day that becomes easier over time.
Any change is hard. But you have to give it a chance.
It’s the way to ensure you get that A+ on your test AKA actually get the results you’re looking for! 😉
That’s why I recommend all of my clients track what they eat. It’s the best way to learn to understand macros and help yourself get the results you’re looking for!
Learn why understanding MACROS is the key to making ANY diet work!
Learn how to take control of your diet!
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