What are macros?

luvdachs

I keep seeing posts of people referring to "staying within your macros"..... does this have anything to do with calories? Sorry, this may be a stupid question....but I'm a little confused. :ohwell:

seashman

Your macros are the amount of carbs, protein, and fat you consume (as opposed to micros, which are things like iron). 1g of carbs or protein typically has about 4 calories, whereas 1g of fat has about 9.

saxmaniac

It's short for "macronutrients".

126siany

Your macros are the amount of carbs, protein, and fat you consume (as opposed to micros, which are things like iron). 1g of carbs or protein typically has about 4 calories, whereas 1g of fat has about 9.

What she said^

So when people talk about "staying within your macros", they're talking about the distribution of your calories across protein, fat and carbs rather than the number of calories.

Paying attention to your macros will help ensure you get good nutrition.

You may want to adjust your macros, as MFP tends to recommend very low protein and very high carbs.

claritarejoice

Question 1) Is sugar a macro? Question 2) I would like a simple tool (I thought MFP was it) to help me track my nutrition. It feels stressful that the protein might be low and the carbs high on MFP. Staying healthy shouldn't feel like rocket science.