What are Macros??

What exactly are macros?

The word "macros" is short for macronutrients. Macronutrients are all of the nutrients that provide calories from your food: protein, fat and carbohydrates.

Carbs are what we utilize for energy and are your main source of fuel. Carbs are converted into energy.

Fats helps protect your organs and is the most concentrated form of energy. There are three types of fats (saturated, unsaturated and trans fat). No trans fat does not equal weight loss. It just simply has been shown that unsaturated fat decreases the risk for heart disease.


Proteins are essential for growth and development. Proteins help build lean muscle mass, and are the energy source when you do not intake carbohydrates. If you don't intake carbohydrates, you must use protein for energy breaking down your source of muscle mass preservation and essentially slowing down your metabolism.

When you are keeping track of your macros or following macros, you are simply keeping track of how much of each macro you are eating a day. Example: Lisa's calculated macro numbers for weight loss are: Protein: 130g    Fat: 60g    Carbs: 150g
That is the amount of each macro Lisa will aim to eat daily to achieve her results.

How do I know what Macro numbers I should be following daily? 

-There are many different ways that you can come up with a set of macro numbers, many ways to do it online or even the app myfitnesspal calculates macros for you when you set up your goals. However, all of these automated ways to do so are using population averages and norms. They do not know your diet history and your current metabolism rate which play a huge factor in following something to lean out.  I can input my information into one online calculator and get one set of numbers, go to another calculator and input all of the same information and it will give me a completely different set. The best way to go about this is...

1. Find a human to help you.  No worrying about which set you should follow, if they are correct, should you really eat 200g of carbs like this says? You will receive custom formulated numbers based on your body, your eating habits, your lifestyle and your history of dieting.

2. High protein, lowER carb. Yes, carbs are essential to our diets, but lowering your carbs (not eliminating them) simply works and is here to stay.

3. A basic formula that seems to work well as a baseline consists of 40% protein, 35% carbs and 25% fat.

4. Learning your personal baseline and total body expenditure can often be tricky, sometimes numbers need to be adjusted a little until the perfect set is found. There is no "one size fits all" macro numbers- even if you are the same age, height and weight as someone.

What is "IIFYM"? 

IIFYM is short for "If It Fits Your Macros", and is essentially the idea that no matter what kind of foods you are eating, processed or clean, your body will metabolize them the same way.

There is of course, with most things in the health and fitness industry, great debate on this. My stance is this:

In terms of health, and what one type of food does to your body (insulin response, gut health, longevity etc) vs another type is non negotiable. Vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, lean meats and clean, whole foods are indeed healthier for you and bring in a host of essential nutrients.

But in terms of just strictly weight and fat loss, nutrients, vitamins and your total body health aside, you can essentially eat bad foods in the same macronutrient distribution and maintain the same progress.

I personally aim for 90/10. 90% of my diet is clean and whole, real foods while 10% of it is "junk".  I believe a healthy balance is imperative for lasting results and lifestyle changes. It's unrealistic for most to never have a piece of chocolate or a slice of pizza again. Thanks to macros, you can enjoy a little "junk" here and there without halting any progress or guilt because you can "fit" it into your daily numbers. 

Make sense? Following macros changed my life by helping me to find a balance and a set way that I can live and enjoy food while still continuing to lose weight and meet my training goals. Without feeling restricted or having guilt over something I wanted to have or did have. I hope this answers some of the common questions and curiosity about the macros craze! 

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