Trying to understand macros

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Do you count Macros the same as you count calories? Or is it different?

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  • fitmird1
    fitmird1 Posts: 2 Member
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    I just started this too so anyone please correct me if I’m wrong....to my understanding macros are a breakdown of the actual calories consumed. Each food has x calories and in those calories are your P/F/C which is what we are really keeping track of..not the overall calorie count. Hope I’m right lol otherwise I’m doing this wrong. The app has been useful so far
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Your calories are made up of macros. All foods are broken down into macros. Carbs and protein are 4 calories per gram and fat is 9 calories per gram.

    So for example and I'm totally making up these numbers, but if your yogurt is 150 cals, 70 of those cals would be carbs, 40 calories of protein, and 40 cals of fat. Sometimes the numbers won't add up exactly right because of rounding.

    So basically you can count calories without counting macros, but if you're counting macros you're counting calories too without actually counting them

    Hope that makes sense!
  • fitmird1
    fitmird1 Posts: 2 Member
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    Formula to get macro count
    Protein x 4
    Carbs x 4
    Fat x 9
    And that’s your macro intake
  • dansamy2
    dansamy2 Posts: 22 Member
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    The basic premise is that you need a minimum amount of protein, a maximum amount of fat, and all the other calories in your budget should come from carbs and most of your carbs should be from plants.