Are you curious about macronutrient counting but feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? Macronutrient counting is a huge trend and has brought results to a lot of people. It can be intimidating though. The first time I started, it was without any experience with food tracking at all, it was so overwhelming it did not last long. Don’t make it so complicated, start small, and take gradual steps. That will allow yourself to build on habits that will stick.
If you don’t have any experience with food tracking, start there. Begin by simply writing down everything you eat and drink in a day. Awareness can start to bring about a shift in your relationship with food and lead to developing good habits around nutrition.
Once you are comfortable and in the habit of tracking your food, start tracking calories. After you are used to tracking calories, try to hit a certain calorie goal each day based on your goals and activity level.
After you are coming close to reaching your total calorie goal each day, break that down into recommended total grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Once you are tracking the total grams of macronutrients, you are automatically sticking to the total calories since grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fats each have a certain amount of calories. A gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories, a gram of protein contains 4 calories, and a gram of fat contains 9 calories.
Here is an example: If you are consuming 140 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbohydrates, and 40 grams of fat, you are consuming 1300 calories.
Once you are tracking the grams of carbohydrates, protein, and fat you are eating, you are macronutrient counting!
A lot of people like macronutrient counting and have seen results in reaching their wellness goals by doing it. It is versatile because it can work for any food type diets someone might be on for any reason. If someone is vegan, is sensitive or allergic to any foods, or is following a ketogenic diet, macro counting well work since you can eat any types of food, as long as you are meeting the macronutrient goals.