Howdy folks! I’ve been really nervous to make this post, but here we are. Disclaimer: I am not a licensed dietitian and I cannot prescribe you a meal plan. All the information in this post is from my experience and research. I do not have any underlying medical conditions that restrict me from eating certain foods. Please consult your doctor before starting a new diet regimen.
Understanding and calculating your macros is something that can be a great tool to help maintain a healthy diet and is crucial if you have a fat loss goal. Macros can be very confusing and overwhelming to some because our relationship with food is a part of our core being. With that being said, I recognize that eating disorders are real. Using food to cope with our feelings is real. Using food to cure boredom is real. Food deserts are also real as well as communities having limited access to healthy food. Your mental health and well-being is important to me – so please know that you can only do what you can with what you have and no matter how skinny you get if you don’t heal the mind you will never be happy. ILY.
Now, let’s get into it. Macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This is the general makeup of your food. Calories are units of energy your body uses to function. Most people glorify being consistent in the gym when the body of your dreams is actually made in the kitchen. Lifting heavy weights is going to contribute to this dream body, but in order to reveal that work you have to address the diet. You also cannot spot reduce fat on areas of your body without surgical help. The body will lose fat where it wants to and in women, the tummy area is typically the last to go. I can attest to this. My back, legs and arms slimmed down much quicker than my mid-section, but it will happen if you keep going!
If you want to find out what your macros should be, do a quick Google search and find a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator. Google will provide you with many options – pick one and enter your info. Age, current weight, height, and activity level. (When they say activity level, this does not include exercise. If you have a sedentary job, enter sedentary!)
The result you get is essentially your maintenance calories. This would be the amount of calories you should be consuming to maintain your current weight. The calculator will give you options of the type of balance you prefer like high protein or low carbs. I recommend you go for the balanced carbs and fat. If you are interested in fat loss, start by taking a 15-20% reduction of your total calorie result and this will be come your daily calorie target. This will be a trial and error process – if you are constantly overeating and you’re feeling hungry you may need to increase your daily target to become more compliant. Remember consistency is key.
Next, find somewhere to track your calories. There are many apps to help you do this. A couple of my favorites are My Fitness Pal and Lose It. Now, I know that tracking calories is a task. It takes time and effort, BUT knowledge is power. When starting, you need to find out what your baseline is. Are you eating in a deficit, at maintenance or in a surplus. Eating ‘healthy’ means nothing if you are overeating the amount of calories your body requires and based on your activity levels. If your goal is to maintain, work toward your maintenance calorie target. If your goal is fat loss and 15-20% seems like to big a jump, start small – reduce your calories 100-200 calories (this is roughly one snack a day). Finally if you are in a building/bulking season (to build muscle you have to feed your body for it to grow) increase your calories from maintenance 100-200 calories.
I want to reiterate that counting macros is trial and error and everyone’s macros will be different. Even if you and I ate the exact same things and hit the gym and did the exact same workouts – we would still look completely different. These calculators have an error variance of up to 20%, but they are a great tool to get you started. Ultimately, you need to find out where you are currently and adjust as needed. I also advise if this is too overwhelming for you, hire a coach to do the work for you. They will calculate your macros and give you a plan – all you have to do is execute.
Your success is totally dependent on you. How often to you adhere to the plan? Do you eat well balanced meals Monday-Friday then go all-out on the weekends? Do you under eat, then over eat then have a few days of eating according to plan? All these factors play a part in how quickly you get results. When you settle on your diet plan stick to it for at least a month to gauge how your body responds. Changing things up too often will give you crappy data. Weighing yourself daily can help you see where you are and if the calorie targets are in the right spot. The scale is just a tool – try not to be too emotionally attached to it. Also take your measurements and notice if you clothes fit differently. These are also good indicators of whether you are losing fat even if the scale isn’t moving much.
With that being said, in order to see progress without being perfect (because perfection is an illusion) adopt the 80/20 philosophy. Keep your nutrition on point for 80% of the time and allow yourself to be not so perfect 20% of the time. That means if there are 30 days in the month, you need to adhere to the plan 24 days out the month and if you overeat a few calories for the remaining 6 days you should still see progress! Remember, your progress will reflect what you do MOST of the time, not 1 or 2 days out the month.
Fill your diet with whole, nutrient dense foods but incorporate your favorite fun foods as well. The expectation is that you live a healthy lifestyle that includes going out with friends and family and enjoying treats every now and again. Not restricting yourself so much that you binge every few days because it’s miserable.
Now go out there and be great! This journey has been a wild ride, but I have enjoyed bringing you all along with me! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or let me know if there’s anything from this blog that has helped you in any way! I’d love to hear from you!
Until next time.
xo, Siara
