Why macros matter

muscleandbeard wrote: »

Wetcoaster wrote: »

The Macro Experiment Interviews: Dr. Layne Norton

http://www.themacroexperiment.com/blog/the-macro-experiment-interviews-dr-layne-norton

Cait: I enjoy the IIFYM lifestyle because it allows me to maintain sanity and not feel guilty about eating “unclean” foods. There are just so many theories floating around out there about the long term effects of eating highly “processed” foods that it’s hard to know what is truth and what is bogus. Is there any valid scientific evidence regarding the long-term effects of eating organic/unprocessed/”clean” vs a diet that allows for some artificial sweeteners and ”processed” food?

Dr. Norton: When consumed in moderation, there is zero scientific evidence that I'm aware of demonstrating that 'processed' foods or artificial sweeteners cause any negative health outcomes. Any research I've seen is either correlation and can be explained by many other factors OR is using massive doses of the compounds that are in question. Way more than someone would ever get through a normal diet.

This post isn't about eating "clean". This post is about importance of protein and nutritional balance to achieve your results. I don't care if you cook up your protein in a meth lab, as long as you're consuming enough protein. I can tell you didn't read the original article I posted and just wanted to throw in your Dr. Norton propaganda at us. In fact, I don't eat organic, most of my supplements are made in a chemistry lab and it doesn't bother me one bit. Ask Dr. Norton if he got all that muscle eating rice cakes and cookies?

The post is about macros though

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Re @kshama2001's post:

I always say more than that, but part of the problem is that the right choice for me is not the right choice for others. For example, I find it frustrating when people say you must cut carbs or eat more fat. I don't find fat satiating, and right now I want to eat increase my carbs (because of marathon training) and struggle to do so -- needing to cut carbs once I cut calories was never an issue. And it's important to understand that there are no magic macros and the MFP macros in particular have nothing to do with weight loss. You need to figure out what works for you, so often just logging, seeing what percentages you tend to hit, if anything is way high or low, or if you are hungry or not (I personally never had a problem with hungry when cutting calories, so I don't assume people will). Once you do that, you can start to adjust and find what works for you.

More than macros I think it's good to eat a nutritious diet (if someone cares to), but I can't imagine people really don't know what a nutritious diet is. When they ask I tend to think they think there's a magic way to eat that will take the weight off faster or that you have to eat in a special way to lose (as they've been trained to do from much of the weight loss media and gurus).

What really helped me was realizing that I should not eat as if "on a diet" -- by which I mean boring tasteless food, extremely restrictive. Instead, I could just eat normal, delicious, balanced meals, much like we did when I was a kid (my parents being all into the meat, starch, potato model), but also with my own personal tastes and creativity added. When I realized dieting didn't mean I had to feel deprived the whole time and not enjoy normal meals is when doing it for long enough to get the weight off started to make sense.

So eat what you like, but cut calories, kind of works with that. When people say "how do I cut calories" one approach is to look at what you are eating and it probably will jump out to you. It did to me.

Yes, you are very good at putting things in context

Regarding your first paragraph, on all the "I'm hungry!" threads I've seen, when the person's diary was available, except in one case, they've been high on breads, cereals, baked goods, and other non-legume or non-starchy veg type carbs, and low on protein. So I always suggest they try eating more protein. I realize protein isn't satiating for everyone, but these people are complaining of hunger, and eating relatively low protein in relationship to carbs.

As to people not knowing what a nutritious diet is, I think you're giving too much benefit of the doubt. I would think that everyone knows what a tablespoon is, but time after time I run into people who think it's a soup spoon.

Ugh, 8 million typos! Here's the last post corrected for readability and accuracy:

I always say more than that, but part of the problem is that the right choice for me is not the right choice for others. For example, I find it frustrating when people say you must cut carbs or eat more fat. I don't find fat satiating, and right now I want to increase my carbs (because of marathon training) and struggle to do so -- needing to cut carbs once I cut calories was never an issue. And it's important to understand that there are no magic macros and the MFP macros in particular have nothing to do with weight loss. You need to figure out what works for you, so often just logging, seeing what percentages you tend to hit, if anything is way high or low, or if you are hungry or not (I personally never had a problem with hunger when cutting calories, so I don't assume people will). Once you do that, you can start to adjust and find what works for you.

More than macros I think it's good to eat a nutritious diet (if someone cares to), but I can't imagine people really don't know what a nutritious diet is. When they ask I tend to think they think there's a magic way to eat that will take the weight off faster or that you have to eat in a special way to lose (as they've been trained to do from much of the weight loss media and gurus).

What really helped me was realizing that I should not eat as if "on a diet" -- by which I mean boring tasteless food, extremely restrictive. Instead, I could just eat normal, delicious, balanced meals, much like we did when I was a kid (my parents being all into the meat, starch, veg [potatoes are a starch, my brain apparently needed carbs when I wrote this] model), but also with my own personal tastes and creativity added. When I realized dieting didn't mean I had to feel deprived the whole time and not enjoy normal meals is when doing it for long enough to get the weight off started to make sense.

So eat what you like, but cut calories, kind of works with that. When people say "how do I cut calories" one approach is to look at what you are eating and it probably will jump out to you. It did to me.

muscleandbeard wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed it. I see posts in which people constantly ask about macros and don't understand the importance of them. Too many times I see comments like "eat whatever you want, just stay in deficit" and it's such horrible advice.

if you're trying to get ultra ultra lean, macros would matter as you get closer to goal.............If you're in a deficit and you hit the gym 3-4 times a week, the results will be amazing..............when you get under 12% BF, the rules would change quite a bit

I am one of those people who doesn't pay much attention to macros, only to calories. After reading this article, I will be paying closer attention. Thank you for sharing.

Wetcoaster wrote: »

SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »

I am one of those people who doesn't pay much attention to macros, only to calories. After reading this article, I will be paying closer attention. Thank you for sharing.

2000 posts and you have never thought about macros?

Nope. Hey, I'm bad at math, okay?

macros schmacros

just hit your minimum protein requirement for the day

AnabolicKyle wrote: »

macros schmacros

just hit your minimum protein requirement for the day

Ya, when I take care of protein, the rest takes care of itself.

Carlos_421 wrote: »

AnabolicKyle wrote: »

macros schmacros

just hit your minimum protein requirement for the day

Fats matter.

I don't have to work to get in fats