Macros? What macros?

FlowerFairy493

I've been reading something interesting here.

That your body's hunger signals are not enough for telling you what nutrition you need. For example if you undereat but don't feel hungry. So your own body doesn't know what's good for itself? It would purposely underfeed itself?

While I somewhat agree with it in terms of the nutrients in healthier and unhealthier food, how is it then that some people who don't need to count calories and maintain naturally, don't even know what the heck a macro is?? Yet they seem to be healthy and well? :ohwell:

Jetta_C

I do think sometimes we over-complicate all this...

sculli123

I'll just say this from my experience. When I was younger I didn't care about counting calories or macros. I just ate by portions and 'healthy' foods and it worked for me for a long time. As I got older (I'm 41) I started to realize that I had to be more careful in both my diet and exercise to get the same results I got when I was younger. I basically look the same as when I was in my 20s but I have to be much smarter and detailed about what I do these days.

FlowerFairy493

I'll just say this from my experience. When I was younger I didn't care about counting calories or macros. I just ate by portions and 'healthy' foods and it worked for me for a long time. As I got older (I'm 41) I started to realize that I had to be more careful in both my diet and exercise to get the same results I got when I was younger. I basically look the same as when I was in my 20s but I have to be much smarter and detailed about what I do these days.

Well you see you ate healthy. Which means nutrient dense food I presume.

One of the people I'm talking about in my above post, is a 53 year old lady. This is her diet.... breakfast - all bran. Lunch - some veggies, rice and a piece of meat. dinner - a fruit. And maybe inbetween she will snack on a granola bar.

I'm sure you can see that that's quite low calorie and not very well balanced. Yet she's healthier than me (medically wise) and kicks my *kitten* in the gym. And I'm 21. How????

ETA: I try to meet my macros everyday. I'm sure she's not. Because for one thing...one piece of meat seems very low protein. And where's the fats? Everything she eats is fat free or low fat.

ana3067

You don't need to meet your macros to be at your target weight. I'm sure plenty of people maintain simply because they only eat when actually hungry, even if this is actually lower than what they should be eating. The body generally likes homeostasis, eat too little for too long and it will affect your BMR and maintenance intake.

I eat the same type of food I ate when I was in high school (only GF since I graduated, but same types of foods) and I am losing weight, whereas I gained weight trying to eat as healthy as I could (previously had lost weight "eating clean" but could not keep up with the lifestyle). You eat more than your body burns, you will gain weight. So people who do not track calories/food intake likely have other ways of doing so without realizing, such as eating less after a day of heavy eating or eating small portions etc.

Meat contains fat, especially dark meat, fish, and red meat. She may use other calorie-dense things like oil, butter, nut-based food. Are you watching everything she eats? are you weighing out her portions? A piece of cooked chicken breast that I can fit into my whole extended hand can easily have 40g of protein and will have some fat in it. For all you know, she's currently eating at what has become her maintenance, and because she's not carrying excess weight she has an easier time at the gym. Or she's been working out longer and thus doesn't tire out as much. OR she doesn't really push herself much at the gym and you just assume she's giving it her all.

itsbasschick

does she have milk on her all bran?

FlowerFairy493

does she have milk on her all bran?

Yeah milk and sugar