Rant..counting macros

halimaiqbal00

Is so time consuming and a royal pain in the *kitten*. Fiddling about with numbers to make sure they're within 5g of protein, carbs and fat. I've been tweaking my eats to get the numbers to match all day it seems. What a bother!

If I just keep my protein up, does it matter where my carbs and fats fall as long as I meet my calorie allowance?

kimny72

Depends on your goals.
There is no reason to fiddle all day with them - they don't need to be exact, it's just a guide.

diannethegeek

Depends on your goals.

Personally, I view protein as a minimum to reach every day and I let fat and carbs fall where they will as long as I'm in my calorie goal. No need to get within 5 grams of each unless your goals dictate that it's necessary.

sijomial

That degree of precision is totally unnecessary. Relax a bit!
Protein and fats as minimum goals for me when I can be bothered even logging food at all.

cwolfman13

I never particularly obsessed about them that much...great to be aware of generally...hardly anything you need to be precise with.

crzycatlady1

I've never paid attention to macros and things have turned out ok for me

rybo

Outside of a physique competitor or someone needing specific breakdowns for medical reasons, the average gym goer doesn't need to obsess over perfect macros. A general idea is more than enough.

MonkeyMel21

I've never looked at my macros, just my over all calorie count and I've not had any issues reaching my goals (not that I have very strict goals).

jgnatca

Diabetics have to care too.

I find if I include all macros in each meal it balances out in the end. Or close enough.

Yesterday was an exception; a carb-fest. I lived.

bellaa_x0

its really not that difficult once you've been doing it for a while - you get used to it. time consuming? don't see how it is any more time consuming than counting calories. plus its like a puzzle when it comes to finding what foods you can eat to meet your macros.

halimaiqbal00

Phew, that's reassuring! I watched some vids concerning macros on YouTube and one fitness lady specifically stated that you haven't met your macros if you're not within 5 percent of all 3. Started obsessing once I heard that

halimaiqbal00

Of course it's more time consuming than hitting calorie amount. Trying to stay under 2000 calories for instance, is much more simple than trying to hit a specific number of carbs, fats and protein. Or am I missing something?

lorrpb

I found that when I focus on getting enough protein, that carbs and fat fall into line. Then I evaluate on a weekly basis using the pie chart in the phone app.

ronjsteele1

I typically eat higher fat, lower carb. I have to make sure my protein intake is adequate (which is hard for me!) because I have pancreas damage and have to be very aware of blood sugar. I'm not diabetic but am trying to avoid it bc of the pancreas damage. That said, I only pay attention to protein and the fat and carbs tend to just fall in line where I want/need them too. I spend little to no time thinking about macros. Maybe it will matter when I get closer to goal???

sijomial

halimaiqbal00 wrote: »

Of course it's more time consuming than hitting calorie amount. Trying to stay under 2000 calories for instance, is much more simple than trying to hit a specific number of carbs, fats and protein. Or am I missing something?

Yes you are missing that your body is incredibly efficient and capable of thriving on a very varied diet and is also able to squirrel away macros for another day.
Protein and fat are essential which is why minimums make sense - if you go over it doesn't matter in the slightest. Carbs are the most variable - you will notice there are successful people eating low/medium/high carb....
Let enjoyment and performance be your guide to carbs IMHO.

Hit your calories first (even that can be averaged out) then don't obsess over the little details.

You can find all sorts of people on YouTube trying to make a living out of making something simple more complex than it needs to be.

Skyblueyellow

I do eat to my macros because I'm diabetic. I fiddle around with them but I pretty much know what I need to add to my evening snack to get pretty darn close. I don't worry if I'm over or under by a few percent here and there. It's not going to add up perfectly every day. What matters for me is being aware of my carb intake. I use my macros as another tool to help control by blood sugar.

Personally, barring medical issues, I'm not sure that most people need to pay too much attention to macros as long as they hit their calorie goals.

cwolfman13

halimaiqbal00 wrote: »

Phew, that's reassuring! I watched some vids concerning macros on YouTube and one fitness lady specifically stated that you haven't met your macros if you're not within 5 percent of all 3. Started obsessing once I heard that

The fitness industry at large tends to make things far more complicated than need be, particularly when we're talking about gen pop. They tend to take things that may have some impact for, say, a competitive bodybuilder and extrapolate them out and exaggerate those benefits to gen pop...when in fact, in many cases, they're mute points for gen pop.

SlothLady_97

It's alright to be picky and anal about macros, but, when it comes to weightloss at its core, macros don't really matter. I never try to track my fat, carbs, protein. All I do is stay within my calories and obviously make some sort of effort to get fruits and veggies in there for health and nutrition. If you don't have any sort of deficiency, it's nothing to worry about.

trigden1991

Calories > Macros > All else.