Do Macros Really Matter in Losing Weight?

Excess protein (or any food/macro) leads to weight gain if it puts you over your calories.

Calories are King for weight loss.

Macros are important too, for nutrition and satiety. Stay in calories and weight management happens.

Macros make a big difference to me in terms of satiety or feelng full - a meal of 600 calories of mostly carbs is going to mean I get hungry much more quickly that 600 calories of mostly either protein or fat will, and that will make it harder for me to stick to a calorie budget. I appreciate this doesn't address what the gremlins inside the body may be doing in processing food, storing fat, etc., but in terms of whether macros really matter for me in sticking with a diet and losing weight, the answer is a big yeppers.

sparky00721 wrote: »

Macros make a big difference to me in terms of satiety or feelng full - a meal of 600 calories of mostly carbs is going to mean I get hungry much more quickly that 600 calories of mostly either protein or fat will, and that will make it harder for me to stick to a calorie budget. I appreciate this doesn't address what the gremlins inside the body may be doing in processing food, storing fat, etc., but in terms of whether macros really matter for me in sticking with a diet and losing weight, the answer is a big yeppers.

And for me, too much fat means I'll get hungry very quickly again, protein still fairly quick, and 600kcal of carbs will keep me full the longest.

mgobluetx wrote: »

Carbs, fat, protein....or just calories? I’ve been a life-long dieter and seriously never knew until today that excess protein is stored as fat. My sister told me and we argued about until she challenged me to look it up online and she’s apparently correct.

I’m trying to make sense of it all after 20 years of being wrong (and also sleeping only 1 hour last night). There are so many high protein products, recipes, meal plans...are these just for hard core athletes because they burn off the excess?

Please enlighten me. Thank you!!

A calorie is a unit of energy...it is the unit of energy that runs our bodies. We require XXXX amount of energy daily dependent on our stats and activity level. When you consume energy (calories) in excess of your needs, that energy is stored for later use as body fat. When you consume energy that is commensurate with what your body needs, you maintain the status quo. When you consume energy that is less than your body requires, you are in an energy (calorie) deficit...that energy deficit has to be reconciled as your body still requires the same amount of energy to operate...so your backup generator kicks on (fat stores) and you burn body fat to make up the deficit and you lose weight as you deplete your energy stores. So...yes...weight loss, and weight management is about energy balance (calories).

Your macros are just the breakout of your high level nutrition...carbs/fat/protein and make up your calories (4 calories per gram of carbohydrate, 4 calories per gram of protein, and 9 calories per gram of dietary fat)...which are further broken down into micro-nutrients...vitamins, minerals, fiber, sugar, sub-types of fat, etc. They are more or less irrelevant to weight loss and there is no universally optimal macro breakdown...a marathon runner is going to have a different optimal macro breakdown compared to a bodybuilder who is going to have a different optimal macro breakdown from a recreational exerciser, etc.

Macros can make a difference in helping you achieve overall nutrients, satiety and fullness, performance, and in some cases body composition (though a lot of that is your exercise and workouts as much if not more than some macro breakdown).

TL/DR: Calories are the energy...calories govern weight management. Macros are just the breakdown of those calories and a picture of your nutrition at rollup level.

The reason there are lots of high protein items is mainly that it's currently popular to get protein, largely because it is seen as beneficial for gaining/retaining muscle (which is true, to a point -- there's likely no benefit above 1 g per lb of lean mass, and people in the US not eating at a deficit or following a vegetarian/vegan diet on average get plenty of protein) and for satiety (which depends on the person, but is often somewhat true). Beyond that, people may see something that is basically a candy bar and has "high" protein and so choose that item, since it can be justified as nutritionally beneficial.

Nothing to do with some calories not counting or not leading to weight gain if one is over maintenance cals.

To be a bit pedantic; It's much more likely that the over-consumption of calories will decrease fat oxidation leading to increases in fat storage from dietary fat, then your body storing carbohydrates or protein, since our body can't store amino acids (proteins). Overfeed de nova lipogenesis studies on carbs only show a storage capacity of like 3%. And even during 1000 calorie overfeed studies, it only raises to 10% IIRC. Proteins would have to process to glycogen and then follow the same process as carbs to then store as body fat.



Additionally, when calories are equated, a high protein diet, vs a lower protein diet will yield slightly better results in terms of overall fat loss and body composition improvements. High protein being defined as 1.6-2.2g/kg or roughly 25-30% of calories vs protein at 15%. But we are not talking significant amounts of fat loss differences. I think most studies equate for 2-5kg extra depending on length and average body weight. Definitely not something to stress about unless you are trying to maximize everything, but then training has to be discussed as well.


Again, the moral of the story is controlling calories, but there are slight differences but often in the noise and may not be applicable to the individual dieter.