Macronutrients, or “macros”, are the three energy-producing nutrients we need to function. They are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. There’s also a super secret fourth macro only devout worshippers of the Macronomicon are familiar with, but we’ll get into that later. Let’s break it down…
In this article…
- What Are Macros?
- Why Should I Care About Macros?
- How To Determine Your Macro Ratio
- How To Calculate Your Macros
- The Super Secret Fourth Macro
- Macros: The Takeaway
What Are Macros?
As mentioned above, the three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates (carbs), and fat.
At their most basic level, macros are energy. They provide calories.
Protein is most commonly known for building and repairing the tissues in our body. A single gram of protein provides four calories of energy. This is also, arguably, the most challenging macro for people to meet since it is expensive by comparison and usually requires additional preparatory time before it is edible.
Carbs are the body’s primary source of energy. Like protein, a single gram of carbs provides four calories of energy. Carbs are often vilified during weight loss, but they are an important part of your overall health. They are, however, easy to over-consume because they are cheap, easy to find, and often added to food as sugar.
Fat is responsible for storing and transporting many of the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Unlike protein or carbs, a single gram of fat contains nine calories of energy. Because of this, even a small amount of fat adds up quickly in regards to calories, and different sources of fat can actually be harmful to your health.
You can explore each of these macros in greater detail by clicking the links above. For our purposes, it is important to understand the amount of energy each macronutrient provides and that none of them are evil. They all serve a purpose, but can cause problems if not balanced properly.
Why Should I Care About Macros?
Have you ever tried counting calories or looked at the back of a nutrition label and wondered what all that crap meant? It can be a confusing pain in the butt. The good news is, once you understand macros it makes the entire process much more simple.
As far as your body is concerned, a calorie is a calorie. Your body will use calories in whatever ways it can to keep you alive and functioning. Calories consumed over your total daily expenditure are stored as fat, and if you use more calories than you consume in a day you’ll burn stored fat to compensate. But the macro distribution of those calories affects what your body can accomplish.
For example, Jim, your local gym bro, lifts super heavy one day. Jim’s the kind of guy that never skips leg day, and today is no exception. We’re talking, like, 10 plates on the bar. No chalk or wrist straps. Jim’s a beast.
Jim causes the necessary tissue damage through exercise to facilitate muscle growth and is totally looking forward to his massive gains. He finishes his workout and goes home to eat six bags of potato chips and a gallon of ice cream, because he knows serious body builders need a TON of calories.
After all, a calorie is a calorie, right?
Eating tons of carbs and fat, but not protein, will not give Jim’s body the resources it needs to facilitate his massive gains. In fact, his body is likely to catabolize his own muscle proteins to try to repair the damage, making him weaker than before.
The solution? Eat more protein! “Duh, Coach Winter. I’m not THAT dumb.”
I know, dear reader, bear with me a moment.
Obviously Jim needs some protein. If he were to go home and eat a pile of steaks, he will absolutely provide his body with the protein necessary to repair and improve his muscles. The problem now is that steaks (red meat) are often attached to saturated fat. The bad kind. Over time, this could create heart problems, not to mention his complete lack of carbs, which he needs for energy later.
So… add carbs?
Yes, but carbs are easy to overload on. Too many carbs or fats and Jim will continue to build strength and size, but now some of that size will be stored as fat that will ruin his jacked physique. Even if Jim is in a bulking phase, this could lead to the dreaded ‘dirty bulk’, which may not be Jim’s goal.
See how it gets complicated? Any time you add something, you have to subtract another. If you subtract the wrong macro, it could make achieving your goals more difficult.
So what’s the solution?
Balance.
How To Determine Your Macro Ratio
The good news is there are plenty of resources and tools to help you balance your macros and lead a healthy lifestyle, no matter your goals. Also, they become much easier to count than calories if only because the values are smaller.
There is no one-size-fits-all distribution of macros because different people want different things, but a bunch of food nerds have attempted to give you a ballpark idea.
So what ranges should we choose?
It all depends on your goals, and in any case some experimentation will be involved.
For example, individuals primarily looking to gain muscle will probably want their protein and carbs in the higher range of the suggested distribution, meaning their fat intake will be on the lower end. Endurance athletes may favor carb intake, sacrificing some protein and possibly adding fats for long-term energy. Those with heart issues may favor a diet skewed toward (healthy) fats to improve their overall health.
It all depends.
You may also try one distribution, let’s say high protein and low fat, then realize your body isn’t reacting well to it. You get gastrointestinal upset and your energy levels start dropping. There’s no reason you can’t course-correct and fiddle with your macros until you find a ratio that helps you achieve your goals and feel great doing it.
How To Calculate Your Macros
There are several ways to calculate how much of each individual macronutrient you should be eating in a day. The easiest method is to use an app like MyFitnessPal to do all the math for you. It will ask some questions and attempt to give you what their developers think is an appropriate macro distribution and / or calorie count.
For many people, this is adequate, although it will never be as accurate as having a trained professional listen to your goals and come up with a solution tailored for you. As I mentioned before, there is also experimentation involved, which an app can’t really provide (although the RP Diet Coach App has done a pretty good job of trying).
One way to calculate macros on your own is to first determine how many calories you wish to eat in a day. For the average adult looking to maintain a healthy weight, 2000 calories is often recommended.
Let’s say I want 50% of my calories coming from carbs, 30% from protein, and 20% from fat.
50% of 2000 is 1000 calories of carbs. 1000 calories of carbs divided by 4 calories per gram equals 250g of carbs.
Continuing with this math, 30% of 2000 is 600. 600 divided by 4 calories per gram is 150g of protein.
Finally, 20% of 2000 is 400. 400 divided by 9 (remember fat has more calories than carbs or protein) equals about 44g of fat.
This puts my macro distribution at 250g of carbs, 150g of protein, and 44g of fat. Divide that by 4 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) and I can eat 62g of carbs, 38g of protein, and about 11g of fat per meal.
Phew, that’s a lot of math! But once calculated, it makes meal planning a lot easier than counting calories all day.
For giggles, let’s look at another way to calculate your macros.
Let’s say you are trying to put on some muscle, and your trainer has told you to eat your target weight in grams of protein each day. If I’m hoping to be a jacked 180, that means I want 180g of protein. 180 times 4 calories per gram means I’m eating 720 calories of protein a day.
If I’m keeping the same macro distribution as above, that 720 calories should be 30% of my total calorie intake for the day.
If you failed algebra growing up (like I did) this becomes a terrifying equation that may trigger a PSTD episode and have you curled up on the floor rocking back and forth contemplating why anyone cares about the water content of watermelons being transported by train on a sunny day.
Let’s keep it simple and start by figuring out what 1% is.
We know that 720 calories is 30% of our target, so 720/30 equals 1%. In this case, 24 calories equals 1% of our target.
24 calories times 100 percent equals 2400 calories in a day.
50% (our carbohydrate allowance) of 2400 calories is 1200 calories in carbs, or 300g (1200 calories / 4 calories per gram).
20% (our fat allowance) of 2400 calories is 480 calories, or 53g of fat (480 calories / 9 calories per gram).
Our final calculated distribution in this case is 180g protein, 300g carbs, and 43g fat.
If your brain is melting, someone like me can do this for you, or you can always use an app for the heavy lifting.
The Super Secret Fourth Macro
I teased you at the beginning of the article that there was a top secret fourth macro.
It’s true, and honestly me even mentioning it will probably have the FBI tracking me and the Illuminati pulling strings to quietly scrub my identity from the internet. This is a risk I’m willing to take, because quenching your thirst for knowledge is more important to me than my safety.
Without further ado, the fourth macro is…
Alcohol.
Anti-climactic?
I never said it was interesting, just that nobody talks about it.
Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, making it a ‘better’ energy source than carbs or protein, but not as efficient as fat. The fundamental problem with alcohol is that it doesn’t come attached to any other valuable nutrients. Sources of protein, carbs, and fat mostly come with added micronutrients and minerals to aid in our health.
Alcohol does not.
For this reason, it never gets talked about as a macronutrient. Mainly because it’s not nutritious. We know already that, while fun and perfectly acceptable in social situations, alcohol has little benefit to the body. Especially in large quantities. Yes, some studies have shown minor health benefits related to small doses of alcohol, but the risks far outweigh the benefits in most cases.
If you’re trying to lose weight, keep in mind that alcohol has calories. It may be fun, but it won’t help you lose weight or improve your health by any significant degree.
Macros: The Takeaway
Eating a balance of protein, carbs, and fat each day is the key to a healthy lifestyle. Your diet should usually consist of mostly carbs, followed by protein, with smaller quantities of healthy fats by comparison. Calculating the exact amounts can be tricky, so use a free app or hire a professional to help you. Alcohol, while technically a macronutrient, is not actually that good for you and should be enjoyed sparingly.
