Can somebody explain "macros" to me?

iowalinda

I've read a little about them, but it's just not registering. Just saw the term mentioned again, but am not understanding exactly what they are or how they are used. Can someone help?

karahm78

Macros are the 3 major food types: Fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Depending on your personal needs and what gives you satiety, people monitor these macros.

1 gram carbs = 4 calories
1 gram fat = 9 calories
1 gram protein = 4 calories

Falklang

Short for Macro-nutrients which are your proteins, carbohydrates & fats. Pretty much all to say really lol.

livingleanlivingclean

Macros is short for macronutrient.
All of your food is made up of different combinations of protein, fats, and carbs. (There is also alcohol.) Many foods have all 3, a lot have 2, some have just 1 macronutrient.

Each provides your body with a different amount of energy (calories). Protein and carbs give you 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram, alcohol is 7 calories per gram.

The grams of macronutrient isn't related to the weight of the food - eg. 100g raw chicken breast is not equal to 100g protein. It has about 23g protein, and 1g fat. (calories would be 23g x 4, plus 1 x 9).

4legsRbetterthan2

Macros is short for macronutrients which are fat, protein, or carbs. Calories are in macronutrients, carbs and protein are 4cal/g and fat is 9cal/g.

Micros or micronutrients are all your vitamins and minerals.

Some people focus on their macro split, or the percentage of their calories that come from each macro group. If you are pretty new to calorie counting I usually advise you just worry about your overall calorie intake first and once you get the hang of that you can start worrying more about macros. But, you may chose to do it earlier depending on medical needs or specific fitness goals.

Unknown

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JeromeBarry1

Alcohol isn't a necessary macro. It is 7 calories per gram, and a person's body metabolizes only alcohol if alcohol is present. You can include alcohol in your weight loss, but you have to account for the calories.

iowalinda

Thank you to each person who took the time to respond. Now I know what they are, but still not sure how to determine how to use the macro stats or information. Is this used more by body builders or is this important for others to understand and use?

rheddmobile

iowalinda wrote: »

Thank you to each person who took the time to respond. Now I know what they are, but still not sure how to determine how to use the macro stats or information. Is this used more by body builders or is this important for others to understand and use?

That depends on what your goal is. If you're primarily interested in weight loss, it's calories which determine weight loss, not macros. However, for many people, a different ratio of macros results in a diet which is more satisfying and easier to follow.

If you want to grow muscle, or even keep the muscle you already have while dieting, it's important to include enough protein. Your body needs a minimum amount of fat to function properly. And if you go below a certain number of carbs, your body will start breaking down other nutrients to use for energy - which may or may not be what you want. So it does help to have an idea what you are eating is made of.

If you aren't interested, many people can ignore the whole subject and do just fine eating a "balanced diet" of different foods. If you find yourself hungry or tired while eating at a deficit, consider taking a closer look at your macros. But if you are mainly concerned because MFP is saying you ate too much of this or that macro, you don't need to worry about it too much.

lynn_glenmont

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Macros is short for macronutrient.
All of your food is made up of different combinations of protein, fats, and carbs. (There is also alcohol.) Many foods have all 3, a lot have 2, some have just 1 macronutrient.

Each provides your body with a different amount of energy (calories). Protein and carbs give you 4 calories per gram, fat is 9 calories per gram, alcohol is 7 calories per gram.

The grams of macronutrient isn't related to the weight of the food - eg. 100g raw chicken breast is not equal to 100g protein. It has about 23g protein, and 1g fat. (calories would be 23g x 4, plus 1 x 9).

Just for anybody confused about the missing 76 grams in the 100 g raw chicken breast, after subtracting the 23 g protein and 1 g fat (well, the entry I use says 3 g of fat, but that's a pretty minor detail): The missing 76 grams would be mostly water, with various minerals and vitamins combining for about a gram total.

iowalinda

rheddmobile wrote: »

iowalinda wrote: »

If you find yourself hungry or tired while eating at a deficit, consider taking a closer look at your macros. But if you are mainly concerned because MFP is saying you ate too much of this or that macro, you don't need to worry about it too much.

Can you recommend some online reading material, maybe on the order of "Macros for Dummies"? I know I am not going to become an expert on this stuff, but would like to be able to make the best choices healthwise for my hubby and me.

lemurcat12

iowalinda wrote: »

Thank you to each person who took the time to respond. Now I know what they are, but still not sure how to determine how to use the macro stats or information. Is this used more by body builders or is this important for others to understand and use?

Your body uses the macros somewhat differently.

Protein isn't used for energy, but to build and repair muscle. It is an essential macro, meaning that if you don't get enough your body can't make it (so you need to consume a minimum), but it's really impossible to eat so much you have a deficiency in the US unless you really try. BUT, for maximum health and, especially, some goals many dieters have -- maintaining muscle -- it's important and you want more than the minimum. Many of us also find that it can be satiating (or especially may be satiating at specific meals -- I find it much easier to stay within my calories and not want to snack if I have plenty of protein with breakfast, but people vary on this).

MFP gives you 20% protein, I think, which is enough for health but at a low calorie goal may not be enough to minimize muscle loss or for satiety -- I say think of it as a minimum and experiment, and one option is to calculate a goal between .65 g-.85 g per lb of your healthy goal weight (or current weight if you are a healthy weight).

Fat is also an essential macro meaning that there are certain types of fat you need that your body cannot manufacture, but it's again really hard to be too low without trying hard. Fat is mostly used for fuel and energy and helps with hormonal functional. How much people need for feeling good/health seems to vary -- there are cultures that traditionally have been quite low (Japan) and been fine. That said, many find a good amount to aim for to be around .35-.45 g per lb of goal weight. (MFP's estimate is 30%, which has generally been in the same range for me.)

Carbs aren't an essential macro in that they are SO important (what your body runs on) that you will manufacture them if they are lacking. Their main function is energy, but being very low can affect hormone levels too. Also, many carbs (like vegetables and fruits) provide lots of micros. In most worldwide diets (including very healthy ones) they tend to be the largest portion of what is consumed.

Some find that picking a particular ratio of macros helps them feel satiated. I've always found that for fat and especially carbs WHAT I am eating makes more difference than the macro alone, so for the most part I think it's helpful for me to watch protein, and not worry about the other two.

Some find watching macros (a basic ratio like MFP's or 40-30-30) can be helpful just in learning to structure meals. Often a good structure will be something like protein source, starchy carb source, vegetables, some fat with the protein or in cooking, and that tends to also fit macro ratios, but again there's nothing special about these -- low carbing or even (unpopular as they are) low fat diets can work too, depending on the person.

For certain goals macros may matter more:

for T2D or those who are IR, mixing carbs with fiber (counted as a carb in the US and Canada, not Europe) plus protein and maybe fat can be helpful, and thus limiting carbs per meal.

for SOME bodybuilders who are cutting weight maximizing protein and carbs (as a source to fuel exercise) may be important, and thus things like the traditional chicken breast, broccoli, rice diets.

for someone preparing for a bodybuilding competition, cutting carbs can lead to water losses (and thus show muscles better).

Many, many others.

FlyingMolly

iowalinda wrote: »

Thank you to each person who took the time to respond. Now I know what they are, but still not sure how to determine how to use the macro stats or information. Is this used more by body builders or is this important for others to understand and use?

There are people who control their macro ratios for a variety of reasons, but I think it can also be interesting to just keep an eye on and see how things go for you. I happened to be getting 50-60% of my calories from fat during a time when I felt great, routine bloodwork came back much better than when I was eating low-fat, and I was at a great weight for my body.

So even though the generic recommendation for everybody is to eat a diet significantly lower in fat than that, I could speculate that a higher-fat diet works well for me, as an individual. Every time I've come back to tracking macros over the following decade that pattern has held, so now I'm comfortable ignoring "ZOMG it has fat in it!" So keeping an eye on my macros over time has helped me to figure out what diets are likely to work for me, versus the ones that would be a waste of time.

Actually making good on that is sort of another thing because holy horseshoes do I ever LOVE carbs, but knowing what I need to do is still one step forward.

iowalinda

Such interesting, informative posts! Thank you!