Counting Macros for dummies

sarahp86 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if someone could either give me foolproof information or point me in the direction of some simple articles for counting macros.
Or an example of a diet plan. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MFP will count them for you.

The macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrate. (Fiber is a subset of carbohydrate and alcohol could technically be viewed as a macronutrient).

They are called macronutrient because of the quantity we typically consume them at.
Micronutrients are consumed in much smaller quantities.


MFP will track these for you when you log your food.
You can go into your food diary settings to select which nutrients are tracked but I believe the default will be Carbs/Fat/Protein. MFP typically also tracks sugar but you may benefit by replacing that with fiber.

kristyn927 wrote: »

What should our macros be set at? I was low carbing so I changed them and now I don't know where they should be.

Tons of individual factors at play.

But generally speaking, for MOST people I'll set protein anywhere from about 1.6g/kg bodyweight to 2.2g/kg bodyweight (note that in lean athletes getting leaner it may make sense to go higher but that's a limited circumstance in the context of the general population). I'd typically set fats between .3 and .5g/lb bodyweight or 20-30% of total calories. I'll stick the rest of calories into carbohydrate.

From this base template I would then consider preferential factors AND training demands when adjusting from here. For example some people experience better diet adherence and satiety going with much lower fat intake and higher carb intake and vise versa.