In my mind, I’m telling myself that this will be a short post this week.
I know that many people either currently are tracking or have tracked macros before for fat loss success.
One thing I’ve found over the years is that it’s easily over-complicated and not only can it ruin your relationship with food but you find yourself playing “macro Tetris” (Credit to my friend and client, Theresa for that one).
So, let’s start with a quick foundation.
Using an online calorie calculator to estimate what your body burns in a day, find a deficit that works for you.
I’ll use myself as an example.
I burn approximately 2800 calories in a regular work day. If I wanted to lose fat but I wanted to keep up with a higher activity level, I would aim for a smaller deficit (let’s say 10%). That would put me loosely in line with 2500 a day.
If I wanted to lose fat but I wasn’t particularly active, I would experiment with a larger deficit (let’s say 20-30%). That puts me in line with 1960-2240 per day.
The very first macro I want to set (regardless of the size of my deficit) is my protein. I personally like macro ranges as opposed to macro targets. For one, agonizing over each and every gram isn’t worth the frustration and in all honesty, close enough is good enough.
To find a decent protein range, I’ll take my bodyweight in kilograms, multiplied by 1.2-1.6g. In my case, that puts me somewhere between 76-102g per day. I know myself pretty well and I’m well acclimated to a high(er) protein diet, so on average I already consume 120-140g per day. That’s an amount that satisfies me.
For the purposes of fat loss, setting calories and protein are the two most important variables. Literally anything can be done with carbs and fats to fill out the rest of my daily intake and as long as I stay in a deficit, I’ll be fine.
I’ll slip in a few little details which can make fat loss more sustainable during the dieting process:
-Try not to let fat drop below 20-25% of total calories. Ideally, saturated fat should make up less of the total intake with more fat coming from poly/mono-unsaturated fats.
-Within carbs, aim for a variety of fiber sources and limit your added sugars.
-If you’re not losing fat, you are not in a deficit. And, it is much easier for some people to stay in a deficit than it is for others.
-Calorie counting and macro tracking have been found to be contraindicated for those who struggle with disordered eating. Please consider the help of a therapist to work through the disordered eating behaviors first.
Need my help? Drop me a line.
(Photo courtesy of Gardie Design)