How often do you hit your macros and...

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dolcezza25
dolcezza25 Posts: 136 Member
How do you do it? I'm always close-ish but usually over a bit in fat and under more than an bit a protein by just a bit no matter how hard I try. I'm generally only eating whole unprocessed foods.

I usually can't hit my protein without a protein supplement. Looking for advice here...

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,741 Member
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    Set your macros thoughtfully. IMO, it's fine to go over on protein and/or fat, bad to lowball them by much. I also advocate a bare minimum of 5 varied fruit/veg servings daily (10 is better) for fiber and micronutrients, but that's just me. I let carbs fall where they may, to meet calorie goal.

    It's fine to use protein powder, if needed. (I don't - I prefer food tastiness-wise.) For many folks, it's easier to hit the overall protein goal if they get a solid amount in each meal/snack.

    Improving one's eating is an evolutionary process. Diary review and gradual adjustment helps.
  • VioletRojo
    VioletRojo Posts: 596 Member
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    The only macro I track is protein and I make sure to hit that one every day. I don't worry about the others.
  • jessica43062
    jessica43062 Posts: 12 Member
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    Yes, this is hard for me, too.

    Are you eating much meat?

    I'm a longtime vegetarian, which seems like the obvious difficultly, but many diets recommend eating largely veggie, and it's common advice for a healthy lifestyle, so it seems more difficult than I thought it'd be. My current focus is to practice eating whole, balanced foods and keeping my protein goal. And I think a nutritionist would high five my menus. But I always have to plan my meals, enter them, and then go back and make swaps to get to that goal. Like, this week, I had what I thought was a super veggie-heavy, low dairy, high protein setup, but I was 15 g over in carbs and 11 over in protein. Dang it!

    This week, it wasn't really possible to get rid of any of the carbs - no white bread, rice, etc., only sprouted whole grains, beans, veggies, etc. Even though I was at calorie target and proud of my healthy plan, I had to decrease my dinner serving size and add an extra egg to breakfast to wiggle up into "compliance".

    Gotta figure out a better way. Trying to build habits and this isn't really habit friendly.
  • Luna3386
    Luna3386 Posts: 888 Member
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    Most days.

    I chose macros that are the ones I can stick to (40/30/30).

    I pre-plan and include protein at every meal. I use a premier protein shake when needed.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    dolcezza25 wrote: »
    How do you do it? I'm always close-ish but usually over a bit in fat and under more than an bit a protein by just a bit no matter how hard I try. I'm generally only eating whole unprocessed foods.

    I usually can't hit my protein without a protein supplement. Looking for advice here...

    As long as you're close. I pay more attention to protein and calories than anything else. If I hit my protein then I feel like it was a win for the day, especially if that wasn't made up of protein bars and shakes. I usually hit my pre-workout goal everyday (working out adds like 30-40 more grams of protein and I already get 110 grams so I don't eat the additional)
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
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    I have managed to meet my lofty protein goal a few times. I'm not sure I've ever been close to my carb or fat goals. I've decided macros are too complicated for my life. I'm just happy when I meet my calorie and exercise goals.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    I pre plan food, that way i can play around with amounts until it works out to the numbers I want.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I pre plan and hit within 5 grams. I keep various foods on hand that let me get close (e.g.,both fat free and whole Fairlife milk.) I normally end up topping things off with my evening snack.
  • dolcezza25
    dolcezza25 Posts: 136 Member
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    Yes, this is hard for me, too.

    Are you eating much meat?

    Not sooo much. Chicken, fish, eggs, beans..
  • dolcezza25
    dolcezza25 Posts: 136 Member
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    I've decided macros are too complicated for my life. I'm just happy when I meet my calorie and exercise goals.

    agreed! haha.

  • Shellybear70
    Shellybear70 Posts: 9 Member
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    Probably never. I'm just starting so I'm happy to be meeting my calorie goals right now. A couple of times a day I get one of the "warnings". Lol.
  • nyponbell
    nyponbell Posts: 379 Member
    edited July 2017
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    I too use protein shakes to reach closer to my protein goals, but I am also a vegetarian and don't want to eat tofu every day. I am slowly transitioning from looking at calories only to mostly macros, but will probably have to pick which macro is the most important to focus on (for me, and many others, protein) as I think it will be hard enough for me to get a good balance I am happy to live with, much less reach a daily goal!

    Edited for spelling! Blame my phone!!
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Every single day (with a few exceptions).